RELG 456 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Oedipus Complex, Erectile Dysfunction
15 Jun 2018
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THE SARAGHINA
- There is an initiation rite, pubescent boy discovering sexuality for the first time
- Comic effect introduced with the priests chasing them. Making fun of the situation and de-
dramatizing it.
- The narrative has nothing traumatic about it
- It is a fantasy, imaginative world.
- It has mythical resonances but in a fun way.
- Story of shame, guilt and punishment
- Women are excluded but the men are androgynous in a way of being neither male or female.
- Narrow understanding of sexuality introduced by the priests
- The Saraghina earthiness, eminent in everything she is doing, sensual element to our life
inherently
- Access to his mother is barred. Clearly the first fundamental experience of intimacy is with the
mother. That is barred and becomes a mirror for all the shame and guilt of sexuality
- Temporal inconsistencies between her appearance , clearly how Guido is remembering her
but not actually how she was at the time. She also seems to be performing. She appears as a
puzzle that Guido has never solved.
- Difficult intimacy between Guido and his mother
- The confession: The child
- Interesting sequence, image of the virgin mary then he is beckoned by the Saraghina
- Repression of sexuality
- Its all a little self-serving isn't it? Of course he turned out this way because of his upbringing?
- Is the fact that he has no children linked to his anxiety about failure, linked also to idea of
impotence.
- Harem Scene
- Everything is forced to coalesce
- Confusion
- He says that he wants to be able to say i have had all these affairs and you should all be
happy about it. It reduces the issue of having a complicated life to sex. He wants to betray
every woman, the primary issue of life is being faithful to your wife. Banalization of issues
- The issue is what you are looking for in these women, what makes you desire these different
things?
- These women all represent something that you want from life= you should not reduce that
complexity to a mere issue of infidelity, reflecting catholic obsession with sexuality.
- Lets move past reductive questions
- this is a fantasy about impotence and being stuck in his situation
8 1/2 - The End
- Failure that ends with a symbolic suicide, imaginative suicide provoked by trying to get the
artist to yield some kind of truth
- A very stinging accusation of the kind of role society expects artists to have, we constantly
want artists to find meaning for us.
- Fellini is saying that he cannot provide us with the meaning of life
- If you cannot provide meaning, what does meaning provide?
- Fellini is part of the audience as well
- How cruel is this demand from oneself to oneself
- If we are not here to provide meaning, what can Guido do? What can Fellini do? What can a
filmmaker do?
- The ending is in fact a way back in, he doesn't leave these people behind , he is celebrating
them. He is linking past and present. He wants to accept himself and celebrate him in a way
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Document Summary
There is an initiation rite, pubescent boy discovering sexuality for the first time. Comic effect introduced with the priests chasing them. Making fun of the situation and de- dramatizing it. The narrative has nothing traumatic about it. It has mythical resonances but in a fun way. Women are excluded but the men are androgynous in a way of being neither male or female. Narrow understanding of sexuality introduced by the priests. The saraghina earthiness, eminent in everything she is doing, sensual element to our life inherently. Clearly the first fundamental experience of intimacy is with the mother. That is barred and becomes a mirror for all the shame and guilt of sexuality. Temporal inconsistencies between her appearance , clearly how guido is remembering her but not actually how she was at the time. She appears as a puzzle that guido has never solved. Difficult intimacy between guido and his mother.
