Here is another short essay I wrote for an assignment for Graduate School. It is about how the Avengers refer to God and what this might mean in terms of language and what they meant.
The Avengers and God and Lacan
Reading
Lacan’s lectures has opened a whole new world of literary interpretation,
especially in terms of the signified and the signifier, the One and the
Other. Yes, Lacan’s ideas were centered
around feminism and the female in The
Seminars of Jaques Lacan: On Feminine Sexuality; the Limits of Love and
Knowledge, but the ideas of the unconscious and language can bring new
light to pop culture, opening up interpretations to otherwise genre bound
movies, screenplays, and stories. “What is narration a la Lacan? It is certainly
the work of the signifier as it can be known in its metaphoric and metonymic
operations, the fortunes of the signifier, its history, in relation to its own
repressed origin in unconscious discourse.” (Con Davis, 853) For instance,
let’s take the movie The Avengers and how the theories of Lacan offer a new
light into religion in the world created by Marvel (the comic book company that
created all the characters in the Avengers).
The main members of the Avengers include Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and
Captain America. And, there is something
deeper in the movie in terms of a higher being, especially that of the God from
the Bible, especially when we do a linguistic analysis, which “is in fact the method appropriate to
the study of the unconscious.” (Miel, 107)
The prime example from The Avengers comes in the Quinjet, right after Thor had taken his
brother Loki out of the Quinet, and Iron Man had quickly flown after them. Captain America, with all his patriotic
drive, wanted to follow. He grabbed a
parachute and was strapping himself in when Natasha ‘The Black Widom,’ from the
co-pilots seat,, stopped him, and the following example took place.
NATASHA
I’d
sit this one out, Cap.
CAPTAIN
AMERICA
I
don’t see how I can.
NATASHA
These
guys come from legend, they’re basically gods.
CAPTAIN
AMERICA
There’s
only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that. (Whedon, p. 46)
There are two big points here. One is the idea that some in the Marvel
Universe link Thor and Loki with gods.
Thor and Loki were higher beings from another planet, having travelled
to Earth through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge (a wormhole). They have much stronger powers than humans. For instance, when Thor came on the scene, the
screenplay direction said: “Thor stands,
summoning a bolt of lightning as Loki watches in the distance. Thor sends the
bolt at Iron Man.” (p. 49) Controlling the weather is something way beyond the
reach of any human, but the power does not make Thor a god in any sense. He was deemed ‘worthy’ and so he was able to
hold the hammer, but he was just a higher level being. Thor in The
Avengers is an allusion to the Thor of Norse mythology. Loki was the same—Loki was the Norse god of
mischief and Thor was the Norse god of thunder.
Natasha, uses the phrase “basically gods,” which shows she did not, in
fact, look at Thor and Loki as gods in the traditional sense. As
Lacan pointed out, “[W]hat the signifier brings with it by way of meaning
effects far from accepted on the basis of the lived experience of the very
fact.” (Lacan, p. 43) Natasha, when saying that Thor and Loki were “basically
gods,” she was just using a tag for Thor and Loki, but her life experience of
seeing such things as the Hulk and Thor would have probably led her to search
out other signifiers for what Thor and Loki were than just saying ‘people,’ or
some similar word. “Narration's manifest
content is a product of the unconscious discourse that is both the precondition
of narration and the site of its appearance. This says essentially that the
subject of narration, what gives it form and meaning, will always be other than
what is signified in narration, or what is signifiable as narration.” (Con
Davis, 854)
In the end of the movie, Nick Fury
says, to the Security Council, “I didn’t make it. I just didn’t argue with the
god that did.” (Whedon, p. 128) Whether
he was just being fasitious or if he really believed it comes back to Lacan’s
idea of language and writing, especially when he said, “Ontology is what
highlighted in language the use of the copular, isolating it as signifier.”
(Lacan, p. 31) The Real behind Fury’s
word was that Thor and Loki were aliens from a different planet (as The Avengers screenplay and the movie Thor clearly showed), but the signified
showed that Thor and Loki were considered gods by many humans—probably Fury
himself. But, we must look closer into
the character of Fury and work with a psychological interpretation of this
literary character. Was he just being fastidious
when he said ‘god’—was he just trying to prove a point—or did he actually
believe it? We can only go with the
evidence that a deep interpretation of Fury’s words (using Lacan’s ideas) and
his actions (using Freud’s ideas) to find out what we really meant. Or, we could go after the writer/director of The Avengers. His name is Joss Whedon, and we can use the
same interpretation ideas to find some meaning in terms of religion in the
world of the Avengers. Where is God in
this fictional universe of super-heroes?
Captain America believes in God (as referenced by his statement), but
that makes no claim as to whether God actually exists in the movie world other
than through Captain America’s faith. Captain
America commented: “There’s only one
God.” He came from the 1940’s, having
been frozen for about fifty years, coming back out of the deep sleep when he
was in his 90’s, but he still retained his youthful appearance and his strength
from the military experiments were all still intact. He still retained in his faith in God even
after being confronted with two beings that could be considered gods or god-like
by many of the lay public upon seeing them.
God, as the theological God goes, is infinitely more powerful than the
characters or Thor and Loki, and the implication of what Captain America said
opens up the idea that regardless of the world they live in, his faith was
never shaken or diminished. When looked
deeply into the Signified of “God” to Captain America, we are looking at the
Protestant God of the Bible. The
Signified (meaning) is very individual to Captain America, because Tony Stark
was confronted with the same god-like/higher power beings as Captain America,
but he retained his Atheism. And, when
we look at that screenplay itself, which says “God” with an uppercase ‘G,’
there is not much leeway in the meaning of “God” other than general tag for the
Protestant God. But, when The Avengers
is watched with subtitles, the word “God” loses its meaning and grasps a
completely different meaning to those non-native English speakers. The subtitles for Captain America saying,
“There’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that”
became “내가 아는 신은 하나고 저런 옷도 안 입어.” The word “God” (하느님, 하나님) became “god” (신), which changes the
Signified completely to refer to any, general god in the universe. In the case of ‘god’(신),
Thor and Loki in the movie would fit closer to that definition and Signifier
than they would with the Signifier “God,” (하나님, 하느님). Let’s look at this
in a diagram:
And, let’s think about if a Muslim
watches the movie. The Muslim would take
the Signifier to be a different god than the one they believe in. For them, ‘Allah’ is the only acceptable term
for “only one God.” Captain America had
faith, but his faith would have been in the Christian God. Many Bible verses have a similar idea
to what Captain America said in the Quinjet, but the Signified behind the
Signifier gives completely different meanings, and crossing the bar between the
Signifier and the Signified brings various interpretations. When we take the words and potential,
intended meaning of what was said about ‘gods’ and ‘God,’ there is an ambiguity
about what ‘god’ Signifies in that fictional universe. The words ‘god’ and ‘God’ are thrown around
without much thought about the specific meaning behind the words. The meanings float from one extreme to the
other. And, the words ‘god’ and ‘God’
become synonymous with ‘alien.’ Captain America commented, toward the climax of
the movie were: “An army, from outer
space?” (p. 53) Captain America and the rest of the Avengers were debriefed
about the situation and danger of the approaching army from some distant part
of the known universe. Nick Fury also
said, “a visitor from another planet,” (p. 64) when explaining the back story
behind the creatures that were waiting for the wormhole from their planet to
Earth to open. If the characters just
listened and paid attention to the details around them, they would have realized
that if Thor and Loki were god-like (angels,
of sorts), then the Marvel universe would fall into no set pattern of
thought and concreteness. Thor and Loki
(whatever they were labeled), came
from Asgard, a planet in a very distance part of the whole universe. In the beginning, when the Einstein-Rosen
Bridge was opening, Barton “Hawkeye” told Nick Fury, “Yeah. The Cube is a
doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides.” (p. 2) Throughout the rest of The Avengers, there are numerous examples of where Thor and Loki
came from and how they travelled to Earth.
They did not come from Heaven or Paradise, but a different planet. Many people mistook them for gods. Loki makes a comment about this idea: “The humans think us immortal. Shall we test
that?” (p. 86) And, Nick Fury told the Security Council: “Our intelligence says Thor is not a hostile,
but he is worlds away. “ There is no set
pattern to what they believe in the way of a God (expect for Captain
America). There is an Oneness of God—the
same oneness that Captain America commented on in the Quinjet when he said, “There
is only one God, mam.” Let’s look at a
breakdown in the style of Lacan using Captain America’s words:
I have been harping on the words of
Captain America like he was a real person or that the writer (Joss Whedon) had
carefully chosen each and every word in the screenplay for the maximum amount
of meaning and significance. “The
ontological difficulty here is that Lacan as a post-Saussurean psychoanalyst
offers a paradigm of possibilities which seemingly scandalize common sense,
especially as seen in the tradition of American Freudian thought.” (Con Davis,
856) But, we have to remember that The
Avengers is a pop culture action packed super hero movie—this genre usually
reduced to campy, cheesy one liners and the plot is usually put second, behind
the CGI and large budget. We can look
deeper into the words and dialogue of a movie, like The Avengers, but we still need to understand that the meaning
behind the words (in a Deconstructualist
idea) is probably not as deep as we want to think. “The abstractive nature of language, which in fact
makes human knowledge possible, amounts to a similar denial of reality. The
imposition of single forms or terms on the disparate variety of what we
experience is what enables us to know and control our environment, and is
essential to intellectual development.” (Miel, 109) But, as Lacan stated, the ‘bar’
is there and this brings the interpretation and discussion. If the Signifier is Captain America’s
statement “There is only one God, mam,” and we are to take this is the symbol—the
expression—then the meaning is ambiguous and heavily abstract at best. Joss Whedon was probably not trying to build
a Muslim reality in this fictional Marvel universe of superheroes.
This idea that
Joss Whedon didn’t mean anything by any individual dialogue in The Avengers falls into a Postmodern
framework of literary interpretation, leaving the Signifier blank and empty—a
void, of sorts. But, one could look into
the psychology of Joss Whedon and show that his written word is a link into his
subconscious. But, we cannot fully
understand either Joss Whedon’s writings or subconscious if we accept Lacan’s
idea that: “The bar, like everything involving
what is written, is based only on the following—what is written is not to be
understood./ That is why you are not obliged to understand my writings. If you don’t understand them, so much the
better—that will give you the opportunity to explain them.” (Lacan, p. 34) This
is exactly what I have been doing this whole essay, to much futility. Lacan also pointed out that “[e]very
dimension of being is produced in the wake of the master’s discourse—the
discourse of he who, proffering the signifier, expects therefrom one of its
link effects that much not be neglected, which is related to the act that the
signifier commands.” (Lacan, p. 32) When
Joss Whedon pushed forward the words ‘god’ and ‘God’ and ‘alien,’ he was
pushing forth a Signifier that we as readers can only attempt to dissertate
through psychological and Structuralist interpretation of the screenplay,
movie, and writer. Regardless though,
meaning is produced—albeit this meaning is highly enigmatic. Let’s go back to Captain America for a moment. If Captain America was standing up for his
beliefs with the hope of correcting Natasha when he said those words about ‘only
one God,’ then his faith remained strong, despite the odd and amazing occurrences
around him. His little joke about “and I
am sure He doesn’t dress like that” can fall into the realm of cheesy
one-liners inherent in most all action movies—this is probably because much of
the young audience that would see this movie probably don’t like to much
silence in a movie. This is a simple
pop-culture look into the Signified of Captain America’s statement, but with
the enigmatic meaning of the screenplay writing and the misuse of words by the
characters, many interpretations could all be valid. We must also look at Lacan and his belief in a
God, too. Biographers have noted Lacan’s
many references to the Jewish God: “Benamozegh's book! Lacan, then more than 70
years old, voiced the high regard he had for this work, which, according to
him, was ‘the best introduction to the Kabbalah,’ and invited his audience to
read it.” (Haddad, 204)
But, let’s go back to the combination of dialogue
added together to show a religious reality to this mindless genre of
movies. The Truth is that Heavenly Father exists,
but the language, and the inherent mysterious meaning, leaves us to only
discuss the central truth—as we see it—in the Real of this Marvel universe. In the beginning of the movie, Loki was
talking to Nick Fury, trying to puff himself up and appear better than he was,
saying, “Of course it does. I've come from very far for anything else. I am Loki from Asgard. And, I am burdened
with glorious purpose.” (p. 3) The idea
that he came from another planet is clear—straight from the mouth of the one
who people mistake as a god. So, why do
the other characters throw around the word ‘god’ and ‘alien’ so
interchangeably? What was Joss Whedon intending? When we look at it all from our own
personality, we can derive some sort of set meaning to the Signified, but that
is not the same meaning as the Other intended.
We can look on the surface and say that the Signified under the
Signifier was about Loki’s plan for domination and submission—to regain his
kingdom back and become the King that he so desired to be, and this is the
reason why he mentioned ‘glorious purpose.’
Yes, the Signifier means something, and in reference to Platonic
realities, there is a specific meaning, but it is ethereal—almost unobtainable. But, this is the nature of the subconscious
and language, isn’t it?
Let’s move on to Iron Man. He talked to Loki before the big battle
started at the end of the movie. Iron
Man is a known Atheist (in the comic books and movies), but he refers to Thor
as a demi-god, saying:
TONY
Yeah, takes us a
while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one. But, let’s do a head count
here. Your brother, the Demi-God; [...] (p. 100)
Why would an atheist refer to an alien as a
demi-god? What is going with the
language of these characters—these super heroes? Iron Man’s words add to the paradoxical
nature of the heavenly world and the existence of gods/God in this Marvel
universe. When the locus of an atheist
believes (somewhat or all) in demi-gods, he ceases to be an atheist. But, we must consider Lacan and the S(A). The locus of the Other is heavily cryptic and
an absolute knowledge of the psychological workings of Iron Man to know the
Signified of his words. But, that would
still not provide any real Truth to the Signifier, just a concrete meaning.
Joss Whedon did intend to portray Loki and
Thor as the gods they were believed by many to be. He wrote, in the directions for the
scene: “There seems to be a shadowy
figure holding onto the quinjet. We make
it out—this is THOR ODINSON, God of Thunder. He is serious. There’s another flash
of light.” We, as viewers, know from the
story that the Thor in the movie was not the actual god of Norse mythology,
because we know his and Loki’s back story from the two Thor movies. This is all a
little contradictory, but it all leads credence to the idea that Whedon was
just trying to write a superhero genre movie—the Signified was not something he
considered. Appealing to an American
audience that is predominately Christian should be accounted for when making any
movie. Joss Whedon is a known Atheist,
as he has stated numerous times in interviews.
But, he offers certain allusions, symbolism, and metaphors from the
Bible. Iron Man said, “Jarvis, you ever
hear the tale of Jonah?” (p. 120) Iron
Man flew into the mouth and out of the anal region of the flying serpent
creature, somewhat imitating Jonah when he was swallowed by the large fish
(thought to be a whale in common pop culture). The Bible story is as follows: “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to
swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three
nights.” (Jonah 1: 17) As the screenplay notes said, “Iron Man’s knee plates
open, pushing out blades. He is heading directly toward the creature’s mouth. He flies through it. Blowing up the
creature’s insides and out the tail end.” (p. 120) Such a clear allusion to
Jonah adds strange Signified to the whole idea of spirituality in The Avengers. Iron Man, a known Atheist, knows the basic story
of Jonah. We could look into the psychology
of Tony Stark (Iron Man) and see that he grew up in America and was probably
exposed to Biblical stories from pop culture.
But, there is no reference to Iron Man’s perception of what he thought
of Thor and Loki besides irritants from another plant. And, this leads to the fact that four
different characters (Nick Fury, Natasha, Iron Man, and Captain America) all
use a very different Signified for the Signifier of ‘god’ and ‘God,’ which all
causes rampant paradoxes throughout the movie.
And, there are paradoxes in the ideas of Thor and Loki actually being
gods if he go about breaking down their characters and psychology.
If Loki and Thor were gods or demi-gods or
god like (any similar Signifier), there were some contradictory parts to The Avengers plot. Thor said to Loki upon first meeting him on
Earth, “I thought you dead.” (p. 47) Can
a god/demi-god/god-like being die? If
they have life, doesn’t that mean they can experience death? If a god has ‘life’ (as the Signifier) doesn’t
‘death’ naturally follow as a common part of the Signifier?
And, when Loki tells Nick Fury: “Please, don't I still need that.” He was referring to the Tesseract—the energy
source the humans were trying to harness.
If Loki was any kind of a true god, why would he need that kind of
energy source? The Scriptures point out numerous qualities of God. If Loki had such limits
as the movie portrayed him for having, it would make him ‘god-like,’ but
nothing close to a demi-god—he wouldn’t even be close in semblance to the Norse
god of Viking myth. Loki does consider himself
to be higher than humans and he gets the idea he is, in fact, a god of some
sorts.
LOKI
ENOUGH! You are, all
of you, beneath me! I AM GOD, YOU DULL CREATURE, AND I WILL NOT BE BULLIED BY―(p.
118)
Loki didn’t finish his monologue, because
the Hulk beat him down easily. But, first it must be pointed out that in the
movie, Loki said, “I am a god,” and the screenplay has him saying, “I am
god[God].”
The implication of both of the statements
is deep if we take into account the ideas of Lacan and language, and in terms
of the One and the Other. From the point
of coming to Earth, Loki saw an inferior race of humanoids (the Other) than him
and so he ceased to think of himself as just Asgardian royalty, but started to
see himself (the One) as god-like (and then a god), putting the meaning (the
Signified) of the word “god” as a higher being.
Yes, the creatures from Asgard are higher than humans in many ways—the
top of which was their superpowers. Nick
Fury commented on Thor and Loki’s powers, saying: “The world’s filling up with
people who can’t be matched, they can’t be controlled.” (p. 69) Thor fulfilled
some of the qualities of the Norse god of myth:
“Thor lands at to the top of the Chrysler building and summons a bolt of
lightning. He sends it shooting out towards the portal, taking out warriors and
Leviathan.” (p. 113) And, Thor had equal
powers to Loki, but he couldn’t defeat Loki.
This is high odd, because two god-like creatures fighting should have resulted
in an equal fight, but it was the Hulk (a super human; the Übermensch)
who easily overcame and overpowered Loki.
All of this could give someone a headache, and I feel that I am going
around in circles trying to make sense of the spirit world of The Avengers.
After Loki was defeated, the Hulk said, “Puny
God.” (p. 119) In that scene, the Hulk was
throwing Loki around like he was a little child’s play doll. Loki had most of the Avengers fighting hard,
offering an equal opponent, but to the Hulk, Loki was nothing.
There are many levels to what the Hulk
said. First, I must point out the difference
between the screenplay and the subtitles.
Joss Whedon wrote “God,” (하느님, 하나님)
thereby refereeing to the One God, The God—probably a reference to the
Protestant God of the Bible. The
subtitles used the word “god,” (신) thereby referring to
any general god of belief and myth. The
Signified behind the two statements, just from a cultural standpoint, are
worlds apart. The Signifiers were too
exclamations, proclaiming the inferiority of an opponent, but a deeper,
Structualist look into “Puny” and “God,” reveal a strange paradox, of
sorts. If the Hulk is stronger and
greater than a god (if Loki is one), then what does that make the Hulk? The Hulk (in the movie—which is different
from the original comic book story) was created while failing to duplicate the successful
experiment that Steve Rogers into the super soldier known as Captain
America. The “Puny” is not so important
for this essay, so let’s just leave it as a derogatory adjective. It is the word “God” that is important—both
in the way it is said and the way it is written. Joss Wedon wrote it as “God,” not “god.” The S “God” would be a symbol for the one God
of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. To
Lacan, the “God” would signify the Jewish God—deeply and emotionally Signify.
“One must therefore appreciate that Lacan-who had been
formed by Christianity, that is, in a necessarily deep-set tradition of hatred
of Judaism-had confronted this feeling instead of turning away from it. He
recognized the importance of Judaism at a time when nothing would have pointed
him in this direction, allowing himself to be drawn into the whirlwind. Lending
support through his interest in the Talmud, the Midrash, and the Kabbalah, he
contributed to the ferment of Jewish studies in France indirectly, at a
distance, reaching beyond his own circle of students.” (Haddad, 216)
Joss Whedon did not write “god,” which can
refer to any demi-god or mythical god of history (like the Thor and Loki of
Norse mythology). If Joss Whedon was
intending for the Hulk to refer to Loki as God in Heaven, then the rationale
and intellect of the Hulk is seriously in question. The Korean subtitles also used the vague word
“신” to refer to Loki, thereby taking away the direct
reference to the God of the Bible. The
Hulk serious hurts Loki—as the screenplay said:
“Loki whimpers in pain. He has been beaten into submission.” (p. 119) We could look at Joss Whedon’s writings as
just sloppy or a common typo made by many in America. It would be the same as when we look at Loki’s
saying: “This is the basest
sentimentality. This is a child, a
prayer.” (p. 65) The idea that he would say “prayer” would show that he is
either copying an expression from humans or that there is prayer on
Asgard. And, if there is prayer on
Asgard, then who would a god pray to?
Thor and Loki were advanced beings—super
heroes, god-like humanoids, but they were not gods under any shape of the
word. They both had an egotism to them,
looking down on humans as inferior. Loki
even attempted to have a group of people kneel to him just as a believer would
kneel to God (Allah; a god). Let’s look
at one line by Thor:
THOR
So you take the
world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? No. The Earth is under my
protection, Loki. (p. 47)
Just like his brother Loki (a similar
relationship to the Thor and Loki or Norse mythology), Thor saw Earth as puny
and in need of protection. But, he also
humbled himself in front of the other Avengers in another scene, saying:
THOR
They were better as
they were. We pretend on Asgard that we’re more advanced, but we- we come here
battling like Bildschneip. (p. 63)
In conclusion, the ideas of Lacan
placed onto pop culture movies, there are many levels of many that can be grasped
from a simple look at the Signifier and Signified. Lacan pointed out three main points: “[T]he Imaginary, an extension of the visual image of the body; the
Symbolic (of language or of the signifier); and the Real defined as impossible
(to represent, to manipulate.” (Haddad, 208) The whole movie The
Avengers is a hodge-podge mess of dialogue that leaves a Structualist
Interpretation very difficult—yet, some insight can be gauged from implementing
Lacan’s theories about the Signifier and the Signified, especially in terms of
the psychology of the characters and the writer Joss Whedon. I want to take a look at the problems with
meaning and the chaotic mess of Signifiers and Signified throughout The Avengers.
Let's break it down:
There is Captain America, who has a belief in the God of the Bible—the Protestant God. We can tell this by the Signifier of him (the One), obviously Signified with the God of the Christians and Catholics, not the Jews or the Muslims. Despite being confronted numerous times with other members of the Avengers throwing around whimsy Signifiers for Thor and Loki, he never saw the same Signified as any of his teammates did.
Natasha used the Signifer “basically gods” when referring to Thor and Loki. We can gauge no Signified meaning from her words. Crossing the bar—finding a meaningful connection between her Signifier and the Signified can only be basically attainted through a comparison with what we can interpret through the Signified of other members of the Avengers.
The Hulk’s religious affliation is unknown, but he used the Signifier to when referring to Loki. We can only assume the Signified to be just an exclamation—a macho show-off—more than any real Signified of a God or a god. Crossing the bar Structually would only result in some Post Modernist look into The Avengers that is a far cry from the pop culture hero film Joss Whedo intended to make.
Nick Fury’s blatant disregard for any specifics in language leaves any attempt at finiding a suitable Signified meaning to his references to Loki and Thor useless. He threw around Siginifers for Thor and Loki that all had very different, basic Signified meanings, like: ‘god,’ and ‘alien.’
Iron Man referred to Thor as a demi-god when talking to Loki (whom wasn’t given the same Signifier as his brother). A known Atheist; who, like Captain America, didn’t have his lack of faith shaken by the god-like creatures around him. The Real Signifiers of the Wormholes and aliens and higher beings didn’t cause him any problems with the Signified meanings he grasped from the other Avengers and by what he saw around him.
Loki was more troubling with his words and Signifiers than Nick Fury was. He referred to himself as “a god” and “God,” seeming to have a Signified meaning which worked for his benefit—a selfish Signified meaning. His idea of ‘god’ was very different than that of Captain America, but somewhere close to Nick Fury’s intended meaning of ‘god.’
And, finally, there was Thor, who had the interesting frame reference from the writer of the The Avengers screenplay of being the ‘god of thunder.’ But, unlike his brothers, Thor never referred to himself with a same Signifier, instead choosing to keep quiet over the whole matter of spirituality in reference to himself.
What
can we refer from all this? When I was
watching The Avengers, Lacan’s theories
came to my mind, and I saw a real-world application for Lacan, finally. The American novelist William S. Burroughs
famously said, “Language is a virus,” and Yi We-Soo commented
that “언어는 생물이다/Language is a living thing. ” “As
manifest content, this "literal" story or plot is "real,"
just as it is "real" when it displays the traces-"gaps" in
meaning or "lapses" of logic-that represent the unconscious system
that produced it.” (Con Davis, 853) While writing this essay, my mind kept reeling from
the implications of the ficitional world The
Avengers was set in along with the idea of Joss Whedon, as the screen
writer, fusing his psychology with that of the characters—all of which cannot
be easily seperated from the conscious, just as Lacan stated. Pop culture is not immune or separate from
literary criticism, esepcially the Structualist and Psychological criticism I
vaguely applied. The oversimplication I
gave for the word “god” and “God” in The
Avengers can be worked out more, but just the basic idea can give knowledge
into the workings of the characters.
Freud was right with his philosophy of the id, ego, and superego, but
Lacan had the right idea when he mixed it with Saussare’s theory of language to
make a much more well-rounded idea of why we do what we do. Fictional characters are representations us,
not quite the Other, but something that reflects who we are
psychologically. The Imaginary and the Real still confront each
other with the langauge of the screenwriter and with the characters
themselves. The Real for a believer like
me is that God is part of the Real, in agreeance with Captain America, but not
the same Signified God as Captain America referred to. The Imaginary is a world (literary or
otherwise) with other ‘gods’ that exist.
But, my idea of the Real is still infected heavily with the Symbolic,
something we all far pray to—and pray Lacan did: “’This is why, especially why, the religion of the Jews must be
questioned within our hearts.’” (Haddad, 209)
Bibliography
Con Davis, Robert.
"Introduction: Lacan and Narration." MLN, Vol. 98, No. 5, Comparative Literature (Dec., 1983).
de Carteau, Michel; Logan,
Marie-Rose. "An Ethics of Speech." Representations, No. 3 (Summer, 1983).
Haddad, Gérard; Guynn,
Noah."Judaism in the Life and Work of Jacq"ues Lacan: A Preliminary
Study." Yale French Studies, No. 85, Discourses
of Jewish Identity in Twentieth-Century France (1994)
Lacan, Jacques. "The Insistence
of the Letter in the Unconscious." Yale
French Studies, No. 36/37, Structuralism (1966)
Mehlman, Jeffrey. "The 'Floating
Signifier': From Lévi-Strauss to Lacan." Yale French Studies, No. 48, French Freud: Structural Studies in
Psychoanalysis (1972)
Miel, Jan. "Jacques Lacan and
the Structure of the Unconscious." Yale
French Studies, No. 36/37, Structuralism (1966)
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