The Mirror Phase as Formative of the Function of the I by Jacques Lacan

The theories of Lacan have been influential in the field of psychoanalytics. The course invites us to read this paper, make notes and then:

• find two examples of Surrealist work that might have echoes of the mirror phase, and then annotate them to show how;
• find two examples of the way contemporary media make use of Lacan's ideas and show how.

Lacan based his theory of the mirror stage on work by Henri Wallon, who noticed that both chimpanzees and humans seem to recognise their own image in a mirror but while the former seem to lose interest quickly, the human baby becomes increasingly engaged in the connections between their bodies and their images (Evans 2005). The infant is transformed by the fact that is can now conceive an image of itself:

"This jubilant assumption of his specular image by the child at the infants stage, still sunk in his motor incapacity and nursing dependence, would seem to exhibit in an exemplary situation the symbolic matrix in which the I is precipitated in a primordial form, before it is objectified in the dialectic of identification with the other, and before language restores to it, in the universal, its function as a subject."

This is the form that Lacan terms the Ideal I: the I infant is experiencing is untainted as the infant has no language skills or means of interacting with others. This form "....will always remain irreducible for the individual alone...".

It later transpired (Lewis, Brooks-Gunn and Jaskir 1985) that toddlers do not recognise themselves until 15 months; arguably Lacan over reaches himself here.

Lacan points out that humans, unusually in nature, demonstrate specific prematurity of birth. Humans require a long period of pre adulthood; consequently while we are forming our ideas of self, we incorporate our awkwardness, our jerky and imprecise movements into our I. This "fragmented body" manifests itself in dreams of "disjointed limbs" or "broken wings". The formation of the I is symbolised in dreams by a fortress or stadium: its inner area and enclosure, surrounded by marshes and rubbish tips." The subject "flounders in quest of the lofty, remote inner castle...".

These are vivid images, clearly very relevant to the world of visual culture, as Lacan provides an imaginary pictorial manifestation of his theory.

The theory builds on those of Freud. Lacan sees the mirror stage as the point where the ego (the part of our personality that engages with reality in order to get our needs met and subject to the influences of the norms of the world around us) starts to control and mitigate the desires of the id (the part of our personality driven by unconscious basic human desires). Lacan's dialectic is between I and Other; the mirror stage being the point where the child realises the boundary between the two - where he or she is an individual and not just a body reliant on others. The child develops an identity that is distinct but yet builds on images of others to define him or herself. The mirror stage defines the point where psychological development ends and language development begins.

This is a difficult read, replete with ambiguity and opacity. Webster (1994) summarises thus:

"Lacan's prose is thus liable to conquer its reader by its sheer power to overawe and intimidate. The intimidatory power of his formulations is heightened by the sheer obscurity of his prose. His writings convey the impression of an unremitting miserliness with meaning, as though any meaning conveyed to the reader would be a precious substance lost to the writer.

In short, there is an air of superiority, arrogance even, in Lacan's writing; a sort of "catch me if you can". It does not help, but hopefully the key points of his thesis for visual culture have been noted above.

Examples of works that might have echoes of mirror phase

Girl Before a Mirror, Pablo Picasso 1932

Picasso's work of 1932 shows Picasso's young mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter looking at her reflection as a death's head. Her beautifully curved pregnant self becomes distorted in the reflection, her face darkened. She fears for her future as reflected in the mirror even while there are changes in her existing self: between the natural colours and complexion on the left hand side of her face to the rougher, made up side, perhaps representing the transition from innocent girl to worldly woman (MOMA, 1999).

The mirror phase is echoed by the woman as an I engaging with a reflection of herself as an Other, indeed engaging to the point of reaching out to the reflection in an endeavour to unify the two selves. Levine (2008) suggests that the painting is an example of Lacan's extension of the mirror stage dynamics: his development of Freud's super ego concept. Lacan theorises that the super ego was the combination of the Ego of the Imaginery other that the emerging ego aspires to be like, and the Ego Ideal, from which the aspiring ego wishes to be judged; the distinction is perhaps the subjective view of me as how I wish to be, and an objective view of how I wish the world to see me. Levines sees this painting as Walter anxiously confronting her Imaginary other.

Not to Be Reproduced, Margritte 1937

Not to be reproduced  was commissioned by Margritte's patron, poet Edward James and is considered to be a prtrait fo James, albeit the poet's face is not evident. Again, we have echoes of Lacan's mirror image, but this time the "reflected" image is identical to the person. Is this saying that there is no difference between the I and the Other? I aspire to be exactly as others see me, i.e. my imaginary and ideal egos merge?The clue may be in the title as much as in the painting - I am as I am, and I wish no different.

Two examples of the way contemporary media make use of Lacan's ideas

 

The image I used for the previous Assignment can be used to show how contemporary media utilise Lacan's ideas. Lacan extended Freud's ideas that sexuality and sexual behavior are indicators of unconscious desires. Lacan further theorized sexuality to suggest that people must be taught desires and are always learning what to desire. Advertisers use this to perpetuate the concept that desire is external to individuals, rather than emerging organically from within. This is demonstrated by luxury goods manufacturers in particular. In this example, Patek Phillipe use the catchphrase to suggest that beauty is something extrinsic to the individual - that they can 'find' everlasting beauty by indulging in their expensive watches.

As as second example, I would add simply the use of social media. We are invited by all the major players - Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many others - to write our profile, to tell the world of our interests and personal details. Pictorially, the use of 'selfies' (famously used by three world leaders below) has become common place. Do we consciously paste a view of ourselves as we believe we are or how we wish the world to see us? In practice, we probably do both - setting out who we are but tailoring our profile to the medium in which it is represented; realising both ourselves as individuals, but at the same time part of a community on whom we rely.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt poses with UK PM and US president for 'selfie' at the Johannesburg memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Available from The Guardian. Accessed on 27 July 2014.

References:

Evans (2005) From Lacan to Darwin in The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative, (Gottschall and Wilson, eds), Evanston, Northwestern University Press

Levine (2008) Lacan Reframed: Interpreting Key Thinkers for the Arts Available from Girl before a Mirror Accessed on 27 July 2014.

Lewis, Brooks-Gunn, and Jaskir (1985) Individual Differences in Visual Self-recognition as a Function of Mother-infant Attachment Relationship. Developmental Psychobiology 21.6 

MOMA (1999) Girl before a Mirror, Pablo Picasso collection notes


Webster (1994) The cult of Lacan, Freud, Lacan and the mirror stage. Availalbe from
http://www.richardwebster.net/thecultoflacan.html. Accessed on 28 July 2014.