Feminism, Narrative And Psychoanalysis - 1991 Words

Published in 1974, Juliet Mitchell’s essay, ‘Femininity, Narrative and Psychoanalysis’, was originally a lecture delivered by the British second-wave feminist at a conference in Australia. One of the first proponents of Psychoanalytical Feminism, Mitchell fiercely defended the merits of psychoanalytical paradigms in feminist analysis at a time when they were largely considered two widely disparate and incompatible disciplines; especially since Mitchell’s contemporaries believed the former undermined the latter. Mitchell’s work was largely a reaction to Kate Milletts’ 1969 influential rejection of (particularly Freudian) psychoanalytical methodologies in feminist work as inherently reactionary and patriarchal constructs. Mitchell’s book, Psychoanalysis and Feminism, reclaimed post-Lacanian psychoanalysis for feminist critical methodology. She claims, â€Å"Psychoanalysis is not a recommendation for a patriarchal society but an analysis of one. If we are interested in understanding and challenging the oppression of women, we cannot afford to neglect psychoanalysis.† Instead of finding it crippling, Mitchell believes psychoanalysis is conducive to reconstructing and re-evaluating the position of women from a different vantage. She perceives the apparent ‘chauvinism’ in Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis as an ‘is-ought’ problem, i.e. prescriptive moral statements cannot be derived from purely descriptive premises. Defending Freud, Mitchell claims that he in no way perpetuates aShow MoreRelatedWhy Stories Matter Convincingly Questions The Belief That Securing More Accurate Narratives Of The Past Essay1388 Words   |  6 PagesThe postcorrective historiography of Why Stories Matter convincingly questions the belief that securing more accurate narratives of the past is possible and desirable. Hemmings intentionally sidesteps the philosophical question at the heart of most histories a nd historiographies: Are more accurate and unexpected renderings of the past in existence, waiting to be uncovered? Hemmings’s concerns are epistemological: what matters is how the past is depicted and what is remembered or forgotten as a resultRead MoreEssay on Patriarchal Structure of An Active Male Gaze 1678 Words   |  7 Pagesand Hollywood. Mulvey’s project is to use psychoanalysis to uncover the power of patriarchy in Hollywood cinema. Patriarchal influence upon cinema is found primarily in pleasure (pleasure in looking) or as Freud’s has put it, scopophilia. Mulvey suggests that it may be possible to create a new for of cinema due to the fact that patriarchy power to control cinematic pleasure has revealed. 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