Catharsis may be defined as “the first full realization and expression of emotions surrounding significant occurrences in one’s past; emotional release.” (Psych Central entry by Renée Grinnell.)

On his blog Screenwriting from Iowa, Scott W. Smith includes this interesting quote on the topic:

“Robert McKee, in his excellent book Story, defines the goal of the screenwriter as ‘a good story well told.’ A story must also be the vehicle for an emotion. The audience wants to be moved. Those elements that contribute to an emotional experience are valuable: those that aren’t are extraneous and probably dispensable.

“According to Aristotle, ‘catharsis’ (emotional and spiritual cleaning) is the goal of tragic drama and is produced by the strong emotion of ‘pity and terror.’ But why do we need cleaning, and what impurities—and why do we need such extreme emotion to burn them away?

“To ask this is to ask why we like to tell and hear stories at all. Perhaps, we need to be cleansed of the aimless chaos of our lives. The characters and actions of real life are raw, in unorganized state; Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman) wrote, ‘The very impulse to write springs from an inner chaos crying for order, for meaning…’”

[From his post Artistotle, Catharsis & Extreme Emotion. (sic)]

The quote is from the book Screenplay: Writing the Picture, by Robin U. Russin, William M. Downs.

Related book: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee.

As a fan of Diablo Cody – her imagination, theatrical verve and appearance, and screenwriting talents (“Juno,” “Jennifer’s Body” and the TV series “United States of Tara”) – I was interested to read a recent newspaper article about her new movie “Young Adult” – directed by Jason Reitman, and starring Charlize Theron.

In their article Going for the visceral in ‘Young Adult’ (Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2011), Nicole Sperling and John Horn note that Cody began developing “Young Adult” two years ago, about “an unlikable protagonist who, while writing the last chapter of her young adult series, spends hours watching reality TV and eavesdropping on the conversations of teenagers. She pulls at her beautiful blond tresses, constantly has a scowl on her face and has a penchant for treating others dismally.”

Cody said, “Mavis is a projection of my worse self. I’m a woman in my 30s who writes about teenagers, who has been accused of being immature and emotionally stunted. And I’m guilty of some compulsive, vindictive behaviors. I saw myself in her, but I thought, ‘What’s the worst possible version of that?’ It was really cathartic to write that character and to channel bad qualities into someone who had no filter.”

Her script features an eight-minute intro scene with little dialogue, and Cody also wrote many very specific stage directions for the movie — the kind of dog Mavis (Charlize Theron) owns, the type of car she drives, her behavior such as sending fake texts from her phone.

Cody said, “I remember writing those little things into the script and feeling like this is great because I’ve been pigeonholed as somebody who only writes a certain kind of dialogue. To do all these things that require no dialogue is freeing for me.”

In an earlier interview, she declared, “Everything I write is an emotional catharsis. It’s my way of exorcising demons. With Juno, people think the pregnancy being the major plot point. But for me it was the chance to work out some issues about a relationship I had in high school with a guy. The movie is a ninety-minute apology to this guy—so it does feel good.”

From Marie Claire interview by James Mottran, quoted in blog post “Emotional Catharsis”—Diablo Cody, by Scott W. Smith.

Cody was famously a stripper in her past, and said of the experience: “Stripping toughened my hide, but exposing myself as a writer has been a lot more brutal.” (imdb.com)

In my earlier post Diablo Cody on Developing Creativity and Writing Honestly, I include a quote from her blog about the value of being candid and revealing:

“The stuff that polite folks confine to the pages of padlocked journals, I’ve treated as a matter of open discussion. … When you possess the courage — or blunt, gourd-smacking stupidity — to be totally candid, you silently amass thousands of allies.”

All this relates to being willing to explore and perhaps reveal parts of our hidden, shadow sides in creative work. That is one of the topics I have been interested in for many years, collecting quotes and articles etc. – see my page: The Shadow Self.

Also see more quotes from writers on writing on my site The Inner Writer.

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I am continually amazed at the work of the unconscious in the minds of creative artists.

The capacity to hold many details in the conscious, wakeful mind may seem limited; the unconscious is capable of holding far more.

An actor prepares for a new role, learning to truthfully inhabit the imaginary circumstances under which the character lives.

Many actors will attest that their best performances are borne out of careful preparation, followed by a period of incubating (or gestating) the new information, and then “throwing it all away” – meaning letting go of the need to hold all the details in the conscious mind, freeing the actor to be fully present, alive and spontaneous in performance.

This is an excellent example of preparation and gestation leading to a multilayered unconscious processing that allows for a fresh, spontaneous flow state in performance.

Psychologists have long made the connections between the unconscious material communicated to us through our patients’ dreams and fantasies, and the conscious intentions, thoughts and feelings of waking life.

Continued in article The Artist’s Unconscious and the Metaphor of Birth.

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But many writers and other artists choose the experience of analysis and other forms of therapy as a way to both become healthier and to better access their creative talents…

In her Psychology Today article The Idea That Wouldn’t Die, Molly Knight Raskin discusses how therapy can help access those unconscious creative impulses and other material.

Continued: On The Couch for More Creativity

In his Psych Central article “Black Swan” and the Recovery of the Shadow Self, Joseph Burgo PhD points out that the “decor of Nina’s room is juvenile, in pastel shades, with a herd of stuffed animals on her bed; the mother treats her as if she were, in fact, a young child.

“The atmosphere feels asexual and repressive; beneath the false and saccharine sweetness, one has the sense of emotions unacknowledged, words not spoken.”

Nina “has clearly disowned an important part of her emotional experience, undoubtedly because her false and brittle mother couldn’t tolerate its expression.”

Burgo goes on to note this kind of suppression / repression “has enfeebled Nina: the choreographer tells her she’s perfect for the role of the white swan but lacks the passion needed to dance the black swan with real conviction.”

From my Creative Mind post Dancing With Our Shadow to Develop Creativity

In the movie Black Swan, the ballerina Nina Sayers (played by Natalie Portman) is asked by the director to “lose herself” in the role of the black swan in the ballet Swan Lake.

During the course of fully immersing herself in the role, she experiences visual hallucinations, lesbian sexual fantasies that she thinks are real, and paranoid delusions.

Many of the hallucinations involve images of her self, as she represents her self.

As Dr. Steve Lamberti notes, Nina experiences a number of risk factors that may have tipped her over the edge, especially if she already had a genetic vulnerability to psychosis (which it appears she had).

Lamberti is right. Nina Sayers does experience many risk factors, including the intense pressure of competition, a controlling mother, a fellow dancer who appears to be after her, and a flirtatious, aggresive director who encourages her to embrace her dark side and lose her self-control.

Add that in with a bit of ecstasy, and you have the recipe for psychosis.

As Nina drifts further and further away from reality, she is dipping deeper and deeper into her default network, unable to differentiate her self representations from actual others, and reality from fantasy.

She has become fragmented, losing touch with her protective mental functions.

From his post Black Swan, Creativity, and Artistic Expression at the Edge of Madness

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The dangers of the creativity-madness conversation

When I added a link to the above post on my Facebook profile, performing arts educator Vivian Giourousis responded with these thoughtful comments about the main Scott Barry Kaufman article [used here with her permission]:

“This is an interesting article. But I am somewhat tired with the common pysch-oriented conversations which seem to express that creativity must be linked to madness. This idea (that genius and madness are one) can influence artists in a negative way.

“Linking artistic genius to madness over and over again, can have the potential of making artists believe they are inherently defective for being creatively gifted.

“Or on the other hand, an artist might feel they must some how push themselves over the edge (for example, through a destructive lifestyle) in order to create something of value. The artist, in whatever medium, is in his best form to create his absolute best work, when mind, body and soul are functioning harmoniously.

“If history provides examples of many madmen and madwomen who created genius works, we can only imagine the heights of artistic achievement they may have reached if their “madness” had been healed and health nurtured.

“I teach acting. Most of my students are very young. I do not instill this idea of “madness” in them – this idea that the greatest force of creative intensity comes through that channel. After viewing “Black Swan” in the theater, this is what I said to them: “Don’t be a black swan. Don’t be a white swan. Just don’t be a swan at all.” Great art comes when body, soul, and mind are unified and functioning at its healthiest peak.”

Vivian Giourousis :
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/i.am.VIV.G
Site: http://www.vivg.com/

Romanticizing illness is dangerous

In part of their review of the book Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature (by Daniel Nettle), “Twilly” comments:

“I’m a writer with manic depression who is bothered by the way mental illness is romanticized within the writing community. So many people I know believe that writers with manic depression should not take medication because it will ‘kill’ their creativity.

“I find this attitude really offensive — not just because it is false — but also because it puts manic-depressive writers and artists in danger. I have found very few resources that adequately address this issue, very few books that explain why allowing full blown psychosis to develop is a bad idea, not just for the health of the person in question, but for his or her creativity as well. Daniel Nettle really hit this one on the head as far as I’m concerned.”

Follow the link above to the Amazon page for more interesting reviews and comments.

Another post of mine, in addition to those below: Do We Need to be Crazy to be Creative?

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See a number of related posts on TalentDevelop, in the Mental Health category, under the Psychology tab in the menu at the top.

Is creativity a universal trait?

Is creativity possible for any of us? Yes, it is a pretty dumb question, but it can be all too easy to take on some form of belief that only kids or “artists” or “professionals” can use their minds in truly creative ways.

In one of his sermons, Reverend David Herndon argues, “Some people assume that creativity is a gift, bestowed or withheld by some capricious divinity.

“But I would invite us to consider another point of view, that creativity is a talent widely distributed among human beings, a talent which can be cultivated and developed, if one understands something of how creativity works.”

Born in the unconscious

He quotes three people who know from personal experience about developing creative talent: “Whence and how [my ideas] come, I know not; nor can I force them,” said Mozart.  “The role of this unconscious work in mathematical invention appears to me incontestable,” said Poincaire.  “Because the thing has already taken form in my mind before I start on it,” said Van Gogh. Leonardo da Vinci also attested to the role of the unconscious..”

Continued in article Creative Ability Development.

Many artists and psychologists acknowledge our shadow side, or unconscious, as a source and power for creativity.

Author David Richo, in his book Shadow Dance: Liberating the Power and Creativity of Your Dark Side, quotes Carl Jung: “The shadow is the negative side of the personality, the sum of all those unpleasant qualities we like to hide, together with the insufficiently developed functions and the contents of the personal unconscious…. [The shadow] also displays a number of good qualities such as normal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses, etc.”

Also see the pages on Depth psychology and The Shadow Self.

Collaboration

Creativity also involves going outside of ourselves.

R. Keith Sawyer, PhD, a leading expert on the science of creativity, says in his article The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind that one of our cultural myths about creativity is that of the lone genius.

But, he notes, “Ideas don’t magically appear in a genius’ head from nowhere. They always build on what came before. And collaboration is key. Look at what others in your field are doing. Brainstorm with people in different fields. Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that distant analogies lead to new ideas—like when a heart surgeon bounces things off an architect or a graphic designer.”

Also see more Creativity enhancement articles, as well as many books, quotes and programs on this site on how to nurture creativity growth.

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David Richo, developing creativity, unconscious book, personal growth book

A new look at the Wizard of Oz

John Beebe, MD is a Jungian analyst, and co-author, with Virginia Apperson, of the new book, The Presence of the Feminine in Film. In a Shrink Rap Radio podcast interview, he talks about how movies bring to life female characters and the feminine aspect of our psyches, whether we are male or female.

“Somehow in The Wizard of Oz, the pretensions of patriarchy are exposed,” he says, “it allows the feminine in the form of that little girl to come forward and the good to assert the power of the feminine.

“And I think the whole drama turns on an intuition that American culture was getting inflated in a masculine direction and going much too much into power and development, and it needed to keep itself balanced and remember feminine values.”

Active vs passive imagination

Dr. Beebe comments, “Film works by having the consciousness of someone interact with the unconscious presentations of the characters so that something very odd happens – a kind of dialogue takes place between conscious and unconscious.

“And that’s what Jung means by active imagination as opposed to passive imagination.  Now, to be fair, half the films that are released are simply passive imagination, of wishful fantasies – what it might be like to go on a date, or get married, or have an adventure. …

“But when you introduce that element of a consciousness, dialoguing and the meaning of the story keeps changing as the consciousness engages with it, then I think you have active imagination and you have this auteur cinema, and you have this cinema being used as a kind of psychological exploration.”

Continued in transcript article: A Jungian View of the Feminine in Film

Related :

Movies to explore our inner life

Michael Chabon: Entertainment has a bad name

Cinematherapy

Guillermo del Toro on the power of fairytales

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entertainment psychology, healing and art, unconscious book, film book

Being mindfully aware of our reactions to movies can be a potent way to explore our inner life, and enhance our mental health and personal development.

A Psychology Today article, Reel Therapy by John W. Hesley, notes, “Although people might be surprised when a therapist recommends a movie, using fiction as a clinical tool is not actually new. Since the 1930s, when a doctor named William C. Menninger first assigned fiction to psychiatric patients, therapists have introduced literature—novels, short stories and poetry—into the therapeutic process.

“Movies are simply the latest, most accessible and time-saving addition to what has become known as bibliotherapy.”

The image is from the book Reel Therapy: How Movies can Help You Overcome Life’s Problems, by psychotherapist Gary Solomon, MPH, MSW, PhD.

Tool for therapists

Birgit Wolz, Ph.D., MFT, is another therapist and author of E-Motion Picture Magic: A Movie Lover’s Guide to Healing and Transformation. She has a site Cinematherapy.com, which includes a Professional Directory of therapists.

One of her publications on the site is Theory and guidelines for therapists in which she explains, “Watching a movie with conscious awareness can be similar to experiencing a guided visualization. The therapeutic effect and the theoretical basis for both modalities are therefore closely related.

“In fact, the use of films in therapy allows us to draw from and can be integrated into a range of psychotherapeutic orientations, from depth psychotherapy to cognitive-behavior therapy, to systems oriented therapy.

“Since films are metaphors, the depth psychologist can utilize movies in therapy similar to the way in which we utilize stories, myths, fables and dreams. The unconscious communicates its content to the conscious mind mostly in symbolic images…

“Since films are consecutive images, feeling touched by a movie scene with pleasant or unpleasant emotions shows client and therapist that this scene symbolically reflects relevant unconscious material.”

[The image is from the post Guillermo del Toro on the power of fairytales.]

A guide to the unconscious

A UK therapist who uses EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), Silvia Hartmann-Kent also uses cinematherapy in her work with clients.

She says, “Now it has long been my contention that movies and TV are the most wonderful aid in personal development, because your likes and dislikes are so clearly reflected back to you by your own emotional responses to what goes on there on the silver screen.

“Many times our deepest angers, fears and all manner of emotions that we can’t even put a label to are really out of reach during our every day lives; they are hidden away so that we don’t have to deal with them and so we don’t even know we have these emotions.

“Then we watch a TV show or a movie and all of a sudden – there they are! — revealed, making their presence known along with their desire to get our attention… this is an excellent way of dealing with unconscious material by yourself with control and safety.

“It is excellent for therapists too, because asking about the themes of movies and shows that have produced such a reaction in the past can be a most valuable entry point into unconscious subject areas.

From article Movies to explore our inner life.
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use movies for personal growth, entertainment psychology, personal growth books, personal growth resources