The Lacanian Mirror: Reflections on Oldboy
The Lacanian Mirror: Reflections on Oldboy
According to Jacques Lacan in the “The Mirror Stage”, the stage is “an identification” in which the subject undergoes a transformation by assuming an image in the mirror (34). There is a “jubilant assumption of his specular image by the child” (34) as he admires the wholeness of the reflection and longs to identify with it. At the same time, however, the wholeness of the image is compared to the fragmented condition of the child’s body and is, thus, met with envy and a desire to dominate the threatening and sinister double. This early stage of development “situates the agency of the ego, before its social determination, in a fictional direction, which will always remain irreducible for the individual alone” (34). As Lacan elaborates, “this moment in which the mirror-stage comes to an end inaugurates, by the identification with the imago of the counterpart and the drama of primordial jealousy… the dialectic that will henceforth link the I to socially elaborated situations” (37). This entry into the Symbolic Order together with the restoration of language to the child brings the mirror stage to an entirely different level. The individual then undergoes a lifelong series of identification between his ego and the imaginary attributes of the object, thus contributing to the dynamism of the self. Therefore, the ability to think of the self as other and vice versa defines the idea of I and is the fundamentals of selfhood. Often seen as a metaphor for subjectivity, the mirror stage highlights an individual reflection and perception of the subject being studied. Oldboy, by Korean director Park Chan-Wook, is a dark and compelling film about the idea of revenge which blinds the characters into violence. Oh Dae-su, the male protagonist, was held captive for no apparent reason in an isolated room, being constantly watched by his captors. After 15 years of solitary confinement, he is released and he seeks to find the truth which
According to Jacques Lacan in the “The Mirror Stage”, the stage is “an identification” in which the subject undergoes a transformation by assuming an image in the mirror (34). There is a “jubilant assumption of his specular image by the child” (34) as he admires the wholeness of the reflection and longs to identify with it. At the same time, however, the wholeness of the image is compared to the fragmented condition of the child’s body and is, thus, met with envy and a desire to dominate the threatening and sinister double. This early stage of development “situates the agency of the ego, before its social determination, in a fictional direction, which will always remain irreducible for the individual alone” (34). As Lacan elaborates, “this moment in which the mirror-stage comes to an end inaugurates, by the identification with the imago of the counterpart and the drama of primordial jealousy… the dialectic that will henceforth link the I to socially elaborated situations” (37). This entry into the Symbolic Order together with the restoration of language to the child brings the mirror stage to an entirely different level. The individual then undergoes a lifelong series of identification between his ego and the imaginary attributes of the object, thus contributing to the dynamism of the self. Therefore, the ability to think of the self as other and vice versa defines the idea of I and is the fundamentals of selfhood. Often seen as a metaphor for subjectivity, the mirror stage highlights an individual reflection and perception of the subject being studied. Oldboy, by Korean director Park Chan-Wook, is a dark and compelling film about the idea of revenge which blinds the characters into violence. Oh Dae-su, the male protagonist, was held captive for no apparent reason in an isolated room, being constantly watched by his captors. After 15 years of solitary confinement, he is released and he seeks to find the truth which
Cited: Lacan, Jacques. “The Mirror Stage”, Contemporary Film Theory. Alan Sheridan, trans.. Ed. Anthony Easthope. New York: Longman, 1993. 33-39 Sarup, Madan. “Lacan and Film”, Jacques Lacan. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992. 146-160 Metz, Christian. “Identification, Mirror”, Film Theory and Criticism. Ed. Leo Braudry and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford University Press, c2004. 820-825 Oldboy. Dir. Chan-wook Park. Perf. Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu and Hye-jeong Kang. 2003.