Who's That Pretty Girl in That Mirror, There

This week we discussed Freud and Lacan, the Oedipus complex and the theory of the phallus. Also, we talked about how The Lion King is basically a Disney version of Hamlet, what with Mufasa being killed by Scar, and Simba being unable to take action against him due to his own desire to kill his father and take his father's place, as Scar does. Interesting, but also sad, as I will probably never be able to watch the movie again without putting a Freudian spin on what I am watching.

Doing this made me think, though, about the clip that we watched the first day of class. In the clip from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we saw first a woman singing about being a doll on a music box, and then we saw a man come out of a box and begin dancing and singing. There is one point in the scene where he stops, caught by his own reflection. He stares for a moment, and then snaps himself out of it, returning to his song and the play that is going on for the people around him. Relating The Lion King to Hamlet and the Oedipus Complex made me think about this moment's relation to Lacan and his theory about the mirror image.

Before the man sees himself in the mirror, he seems to have no idea what he looks like. He is utterly without shame, dancing like a fool for the amusement of the people around him. Then he catches sight of the woman on the music box, and his world narrows to her, much as the child's is narrowed on his or her mother during the first stage of its life. Soon enough, however, the man catches sight of his own reflection in the mirror. He now sees himself, or at least a version ot it, just as the infant will see their reflection and realize themselves as separate from the mother. From that point forward, even though the man gets back into his song and the play to distract the king from his real purpose in his palace, he is changed by seeing his reflection, just as the child is changed by seeing their own. From that moment on, the man is fully aware of himself and what he is doing, the same way that a child, after registering their own reflection, realizes themselves as a seperate entity from their mother, the concept of I occuring to them for the first time.