Ok. Remember that "romance" here just means "story" (its an older word for it).
A common fantasy children have is that they are really not the children of their parents but instead have a "real" family somewhere else, a better family. Like the fantasy that you're really the long-lost daughter of the King of Bavaria and someday you'll be found and restored to your rightful and glamorous position.
Freud mentions that no only do you see actual children having these fantasies, but they are also reflected in many of the folktales and stories written for children. So it seems to be a kind of story that people find useful in some way or must have some reason for its popularity.
Freud's interpretation is this: On the one hand, its a way that children can criticize their parents, work out their frustrations with them. But, on the other hand, he says it may not primarily be a negative story. He thinks its actually a way that children are working through their experience of once seeing their parents as "gods" or "kings" and then later, wanting to symbolically restore them to that through this fantasy. In other words, Freud argues that this may not be about hating your parents, but wishing they could be the perfect creatures we once thought they were.
Myself, I tend to think that Freud's view is a useful insight, but may play down too much the way the narrative can empower children, can give them a way to "fight back" against the dependent and subjected role they (necessarily) play in relation to parental authority.
Of course, perhaps my view says a lot about me and my relation with my parents. I know Freud would say that and there is some truth in it!
So the question I'm putting to you in this final essay is, Is Fun Home a kind of Family Romance? A variation of it? A Family Romance in reverse? (Instead of creating a new family, Bechdel recreates her original one, but maybe for the same goal: to replace one version of her father with another (better) one).
Ok. Remember that "romance" here just means "story" (its an older word for it).
ReplyDeleteA common fantasy children have is that they are really not the children of their parents but instead have a "real" family somewhere else, a better family. Like the fantasy that you're really the long-lost daughter of the King of Bavaria and someday you'll be found and restored to your rightful and glamorous position.
Freud mentions that no only do you see actual children having these fantasies, but they are also reflected in many of the folktales and stories written for children. So it seems to be a kind of story that people find useful in some way or must have some reason for its popularity.
Freud's interpretation is this: On the one hand, its a way that children can criticize their parents, work out their frustrations with them. But, on the other hand, he says it may not primarily be a negative story. He thinks its actually a way that children are working through their experience of once seeing their parents as "gods" or "kings" and then later, wanting to symbolically restore them to that through this fantasy. In other words, Freud argues that this may not be about hating your parents, but wishing they could be the perfect creatures we once thought they were.
Myself, I tend to think that Freud's view is a useful insight, but may play down too much the way the narrative can empower children, can give them a way to "fight back" against the dependent and subjected role they (necessarily) play in relation to parental authority.
Of course, perhaps my view says a lot about me and my relation with my parents. I know Freud would say that and there is some truth in it!
So the question I'm putting to you in this final essay is, Is Fun Home a kind of Family Romance? A variation of it? A Family Romance in reverse? (Instead of creating a new family, Bechdel recreates her original one, but maybe for the same goal: to replace one version of her father with another (better) one).
Does this help?