How Is American Sniper Related To Psychology

American Sniper is an award-winning film produced by Clint Eastwood, a world-renown actor, and producer. Eastwood uses the principles of Psychoanalytic Theory to take on the story of an enraged 30-year-old Chris Kyle who enlists in the Navy because he witnesses the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Kenya. Kyle not only becomes a sniper with pinpoint accuracy but becomes the deadliest Sniper in U.S. military history. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory is the strongest theory in relation to the movie because of the main character's inner conflict displayed throughout the storyline. Chris Kyle, the main character, realizes that the traumatizing events of the war are something that he can’t escape and finds himself in a hopeless loop he is desperately

Chris Kyle displays many defense mechanisms in the movie, most of them being the effects of PTSD from the war. Towards the end of the film, a scene is shown of a dog jumping on Kyle’s son's back in a playful matter which triggers Kyle to react in an uncanny matter; he runs over and rips the dog off of his son and prepares to strike it before his wife quickly stops him, this causes Chris to look around at the crowd of people surrounding him with a scared and confused look on his face. When the dog jumps on his son, It reminds Kyle of a time a dog tackled him in Iraq. This clearly is an effect of Chris’s P.T.S.D., which is a defense mechanism he developed to prevent him from the same harm that traumatized him in the past. Although common in the film, Kyle’s defense mechanisms aren't always displayed through his P.T.S.D.; in fact, they are present before he even goes to war in a scene where he witnesses attacks on the United States embassy in Kenya. When Kyle witnesses terrorists attacking the embassy on television, he feels a moral responsibility to protect his country. He believes that if he joins the military he can make an impact to prevent attacks like this from happening again. Although Chris is motivated to protect himself and his country, he isn't fully aware that he is developing these defenses, instead, his mind

As a child, his father explained to him that it’s important he acts as a leader and protects his own from the cruel side of the world like a sheepdog protecting sheep against wolves. Since Chris was given this talk, he’s held a moral responsibility in his mind to protect and save his own kind against danger and it begins to haunt him when he is unable to do so. Chris is even willing to put himself in the line of danger in order to attempt to protect his own. In a scene where Chris goes to therapy to try to cease the damaging effects of the war, he talks to his therapist explaining to him that he feels a responsibility to protect his own kind. The therapist states “Do you ever think that you might have seen things or done some things over there that you wish you hadn't?” in which Chris responds with “Oh, that's not me, no… I was just protecting my guys. They were trying to kill our soldiers and I'm willing to meet my creator and answer for every shot that I took. The thing that haunts me are all the guys that I couldn't save. You know, I'm willing and able to be there, but I'm not. I'm here. I quit” (Eastwood, 1:56:40). Towards the end of Chris’s tour in Iraq his friend, Biggles is shot by a sniper. Chris refuses to go home knowing that the person who killed his best friend is still alive so he gathers a team to put together a risky mission to take out the sniper, who happens to be a