Hello dear reader, after my hugely enjoyable conversation with Mary Wild on her Patreon about my journey to psychoanalysis and film, I started to think about the key texts that initiated me into this theoretical coven. Mary and I discussed how psychoanalytical theory can seem quite inaccessible and abstract so I thought it might be useful to share this list, especially as I’m someone who is not a psychoanalytical professional and essentially just follows it as a hobby.
Of course, this is an extremely subjective (and ever evolving!) list and mostly geared towards those interested in the intersection between psychoanalysis, horror films and feminism. But hopefully it might be useful for anyone out there who is interested in learning more or just wants to refresh their knowledge!
1. Introducing Freud: A Graphic Guide by Richard Appignanesi – This is a really wonderful and entertaining introduction to Sigmund Freud’s biography and lays the foundations to his key concepts. I found this book very effective at situating Freud’s cultural context and consequently how it affected his thinking and conceptual progression. It’s also visually striking, quite funny and irreverent at times. If you enjoy this text, as a next level recommendation I would point you to the British psychoanalyst Ernest Jones’ biography The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud which of course goes into much more detail and is completely fascinating.
2. The Freud Reader ed. Peter Gay – Collecting all of Freud’s texts is quite a physical and financial feat so this reader is a helpful compilation of all the greatest hits! Given that Freud started writing over a hundred years ago his style can seem quite heavy and scientific, however my best advice is just to take it slow and don’t worry if everything doesn’t make sense straightaway. Over the years I have found that I return to certain essays or passages multiple times and gain new insights and inspirations from them. It’s definitely a slow-burning pleasure, if you will. The only thing missing for me is the all-time classic essay The Uncanny which is a must for any psychoanalytical horror fan, or quite frankly anybody for that matter.
3. The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2006) – Sophie Fiennes’ documentary explores Slavoj Zizek’s psychoanalytical approach to cinema, popular culture and life. I’m a big fan of Zizek’s iconoclastic and impish style and the documentary is very funny as well as being extremely illuminating. I can honestly say this documentary changed my life in the sense that it really opened my eyes to looking at cinema and even the world in a different way. I have watched it numerous times (admittedly the first few times lots went over my head!) and I still find something new to appreciate on every viewing. There’s a lot of movies covered (unsurprisingly plenty of Hitchcock) and there are spoilers galore, but this shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the documentary because, as April Wolfe says, it’s not what happens but how it happens that is important. If you enjoy this documentary as much as I do, my next level suggestion would be Zizek’s book – Enjoy your Symptom! Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and Out (1992) which essentially contains similar material to the documentary but with much more detail and further fascinating examples.
4. Sigmund Freud by Pamela Thurschwell – This book is part of the Routledge Critical Thinkers series and it saved my arse on numerous occasions throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Thurschwell breaks down all of Freud’s key concepts and elucidates some of the harder ideas extremely well. I used to feel guilty about relying on these type of texts, but now I say fuck it I don’t think there’s anything shameful in utilising them. Of course, it’s important to read the primary sources where you can, but realistically that’s not always possible and even if you do, it really helps to have someone explain it in simplified terms. But having said that it’s important to make sure you read other people’s interpretations with a critical eye and continually ask yourself – what do I think?
5. Psychoanalysis and Feminism by Juliet Mitchell – Occasionally I get asked how can I be a feminist but also be keen follower of psychoanalysis. I always find this a bizarre question (akin to my other favourite – but how can a feminist love horror films?!). It would be daft to claim that Freud was a straight-up feminist hero although he was largely a progressive in his day (wait, letting women speak and listening to them?! HO-LY FUCK), however, as Mitchell argues, the point is that Freud’s work is an analysis of patriarchal society (like the one we still live in today) not an endorsement of it. Therefore, for me Freud’s concepts are still a crucial part of feminist discourse. Mitchell’s book is a fantastic place to start exploring these ideas and it also explains why misconceptions around Freud’s theories made him a problematic figure for many feminists, especially in North America.
6. The Monstrous Feminine: Psychoanalysis, Film, Feminism by Barbara Creed – This text is the Big (Archaic?) Mother of horror, feminism and psychoanalysis. I found this book randomly whilst procrastinating over writing a completely unrelated essay during my postgraduate days. It blew my goddamn mind. It helped me make the full connection between the kind of horror cinema I love, my own questions around femininity and psychoanalytical theory. A ground-breaking text at the time, Creed reinterprets Freud’s work to reveal how he was perhaps himself repressing certain ideas about women, repurposes Julie Kristeva’s theory of the abject and writes engagingly about the different representations of women in horror (there’s all your favourite monsters – witches, vampires, female castrators, ‘bad’ mothers). Some chapters go deep into psychoanalytical theory so it definitely helps if you have a basic knowledge of the subject, but there’s plenty of other chapters that are engrossing, illuminating and powerful for everybody to enjoy.
7. Feminist Film Theorists by Shohini Chaudhuri – This is another brilliant Routledge Critical Thinkers text which covers all the feminist film classics like Laura Mulvey’s visual pleasure theory, Kristeva’s abjection and Creed’s monstrous feminine, amongst many others. Inevitably it grapples with psychoanalytical theory and provides really useful explainers along the way. I’ll be honest, it covers a lot of material and it is quite dense so this isn’t something you can read cover to cover in a weekend. However, it is hugely rewarding and gets your brain spinning in many exciting, new directions and will no doubt greatly expand your feminist film theory reading list!
Enjoy your reading (and your symptoms)!
Psychoanalytical Podcast Recommendations
Not in the mood to do too much reading or just prefer your knowledge in podcast form? Then I would highly recommend these psychoanalytically themed podcasts below:
1. Mary Wild’s Patreon – I absolutely credit Mary with re-igniting my interest in psychoanalysis and horror cinema. My fascination with the subject had lain dormant for some years (partly because I was living and working abroad), but I had the good fortune to spot her excellent Women in Horror course, attended and I have never looked back. Therefore, I highly recommend following her Patreon channel because she effectively communicates psychoanalytical concepts whilst connecting them to popular culture (I recently loved her Villain Profile of Cruella de Vil), and it also has some wonderfully thoughtful discussions about cinema, psychoanalysis and life.
2. Projections Podcast – Without meaning to fangirl Mary too much, I would also recommend Mary’s podcast with writer and researcher Sarah Kathryn Cleaver (also the co-curator of the excellent Zodiac Film Club). Projections is absolutely fantastic, they choose some intriguing themes/movies and there’s also a really lovely dynamic between the two presenters. I obviously particularly loved their Women in Horror series, but to be honest all the series are brilliant. I found Fashion Films super compelling and the Work and Money series gave me a lot to chew on mentally!
3. Rendering Unconscious Podcast – I’ve only recently started listening to psychoanalyst Dr Vanessa Sinclair’s podcast about psychoanalysis, art and culture, but I’ve really enjoyed the episodes I’ve heard so far. Dr Sinclair interviews a wide variety of guests about their work, process and perspective. As someone who has focused mostly on psychoanalysis and film, it’s a great way to approach other topics such as art, the occult and social justice to name but just a few.
So what do you think of this list? Do you have any other texts or podcasts to recommend? Let me know in the comments below or send me a cheeky DM/email!
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