Thoughts by Wheeler

  Objective Review The acid western Dead Man,  is a drastic departure from the typical western movie. Dead Man shows contrasting existences of sedentary and nomadic people which is illustrated through the character of William Blake. These contrasting values or perspectives can best be described as a schizo, especially when they reside in a single person such as William Blake. There is a progression through the movie of Blake shedding his sedentary belief system and adopting a nomadic one. This progression, or the schizo, isn't necessarily apparent as it is happening, but is ultimately revealed in the scene at the trading outpost.  The interaction between Blake, Nobody, and the missionary trading post clerk depicts the collision of both realms that Blake resides in. Nobody embodies the rhizomatic nomad, while the clerk represents the arborescent sedentary person. The dialogue that begins this scene in the trading post starts to reveal schizo dynamic when the clerk exclaims...

  Objective Review The movie "Identity Thief" provides and accurate depiction of the Lacanian psychoanalytic concept of the collapse of the symbolic through the character of Diana. This depiction is portrayed most explicitly when her and the character Sandy are having dinner at a high end restaurant in Saint Louis. In this scene, Diana is pressed by Sandy to tell him her real name, leading her to confess that she does not know. Diana reveals that she was abandoned as an infant, leaving her without a name or ultimately an identity. This abandonment created a lack of the symbolic, causing her to rely heavily on the imaginary making her a petty but effective identity thief. This revelation through a Lacanian perspective transforms Diana from simply being a thief to a vulnerable and fragile person that survives off of her utilization of the imaginary to earn a living. This scene is further illustrative of the collapse of the symbolic as Diana abruptly resumes the imaginary person...