Oedipus Complex Movie Analysis

1539 Words7 Pages

i.) For Freud, sexuality is a term that is much broader than that of intercourse between male and female. He argues that sexuality takes many forms and shapes and that these forms are dependent on the sexual development during the infant years of life. Freud explains that sexuality is not simply the connection between genitals and pleasure but rather that it determines our behaviours and personalities due to infant sexuality which occurs between birth and the age of 6 and is described by Freud as the psychosexual stages of development. Freud therefore claims that sexuality is a concept which develops from birth and not at puberty as it is widely been claimed and for many years has been accepted. During Freud’s studies, he observed children’s behaviour during the predictable stages of early development and he observed that their behaviour was directed towards …show more content…

The Oedipus complex comes from the Socrates story where the main character (Oedipus) unconsciously falls in love with his mother. This theory is often applied in psychology when a child develops an unusual attraction towards one of their parents (Chabert, 2011). A modern day example of this Oedipus theory is seen in the movie ‘grown up’s’. In the movie, a 4 year old boy who should have been weaned off breastmilk a long time ago still finds himself constantly at his mother’s side demanding her milk. It is evident that he has strong feelings for her and he is often portrayed as protective and selfish. Towards the end of the movie, the father denies the boy his mother’s milk and forces him to drink regular milk. In doing this, the boy responds with “I’m just like daddy” which according to the Oedipus complex is the stage where the child begins to identify with the father and become more like him rather than eliminating him and seeing him as a threat for the mother’s