Turner's Use Of The Superego In The Movie Regarding Henry

The movie “Regarding Henry” follows Henry Turner, a dedicated lawyer, through a major life changing process of recovery after being shot during a robbery incident. Henry is shot in the head putting him in a comma, leading him to wake with an erased memory. Before the incident, Henry was a very harsh parent to his young daughter, and was not a very emotionally supportive spouse to his wife. While overcoming this misfortune, Henry is heavily influenced by both his superego and ID parts of his brain. The use of these two leads to both positive and negative consequences. The superego, which operates on morality, leads Henry to making so called the “right’ decision. One example of this is when Henry has physically gained strength and his ability

A negative in this is when Henry is first told he is returning home, and first arrives home he holds some resentment because his ID drives him to want to stay in his comfort zone. Similarly, Henry strongly expresses his ID when he admits to cheating on his wife, doing so because of his desire. This leads Henry to a strong negative, expressing repression by pushing down his memory of doing this, possibly to convince himself it did not happen. However, the superego part of his brain comes into action, leading him back to his wife and facing the reality of his actions and their powerful effects. When Henry and his wife resurface their love and marriage, Henry points out how he has changed and now he likes and dislikes differently than in the past. This is a strong positive of the Superego because it shows a change in his character for the better, as well as his improvement in recovery. Through the movie, Henry is in constant trouble of finding and obtaining a healthy balance between the use of his superego and ID. Overall, the complex use of the two will create both positives and negatives in Henry’s