Lars and the Real Girl
Nick DeCandio
Lars and the real girl
December 5,2011
The character of Lars seems to be a fantastical person who couldn’t really exist in real life. Truth is, there are many people like him who struggle to have relationships with others due to mental illness. Lars is able to find a way to channel his insecurities of personal relationships onto Bianca, whom is a realistic looking sex doll. Ironically, Lars never has sex with Bianca, he treats her as a real human being and forces his community to accept Bianca in ways he never imagined. This acceptance from the community turns out to effect how Lars views Bianca over time, and they unknowingly help Lars grow to have feelings for a real girl named Margot.
Community is a very important part of Lars’ healing process. As described in the article A Therapeutic Community, the subject needs to have supporting individuals around so they may express themselves openly. Lars’ Doctor realized this from the beginning and told his Lars Brother that he will have to accept this no matter how hard it is to play along. It is important for Lars to express himself openly with no harsh judgment. This will allow repressed feelings to surface, which is the greatest therapy used in psychoanalysis. We can see this process taking effect when Lars takes Bianca for her weekly checkups, which is really therapy for Lars. We learn how his mother Died giving birth to him, and he fears for his brothers wife because she will soon be delivering a child. This is an example of a repressed fear that has taken long term unconscious effects on his relationships with others, especially women. Because Lars was left in the care of his father, whom is described as a weak broken hearted man, and his brother left him as soon as possible, Lars missed out on crusial parts of his development into a normal person. A child needs to go through the Oedipus complex in order to become a socially acceptable person. Lars was never able to establish a connection with
Lars and the real girl
December 5,2011
The character of Lars seems to be a fantastical person who couldn’t really exist in real life. Truth is, there are many people like him who struggle to have relationships with others due to mental illness. Lars is able to find a way to channel his insecurities of personal relationships onto Bianca, whom is a realistic looking sex doll. Ironically, Lars never has sex with Bianca, he treats her as a real human being and forces his community to accept Bianca in ways he never imagined. This acceptance from the community turns out to effect how Lars views Bianca over time, and they unknowingly help Lars grow to have feelings for a real girl named Margot.
Community is a very important part of Lars’ healing process. As described in the article A Therapeutic Community, the subject needs to have supporting individuals around so they may express themselves openly. Lars’ Doctor realized this from the beginning and told his Lars Brother that he will have to accept this no matter how hard it is to play along. It is important for Lars to express himself openly with no harsh judgment. This will allow repressed feelings to surface, which is the greatest therapy used in psychoanalysis. We can see this process taking effect when Lars takes Bianca for her weekly checkups, which is really therapy for Lars. We learn how his mother Died giving birth to him, and he fears for his brothers wife because she will soon be delivering a child. This is an example of a repressed fear that has taken long term unconscious effects on his relationships with others, especially women. Because Lars was left in the care of his father, whom is described as a weak broken hearted man, and his brother left him as soon as possible, Lars missed out on crusial parts of his development into a normal person. A child needs to go through the Oedipus complex in order to become a socially acceptable person. Lars was never able to establish a connection with