Fetishism and Transitional Object

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Fetishism and Transitional Object
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Outline

• Freuds Fetishism
• What is a fetish?
• Fear of Castration? narcissism
• Substitute for the penis
• Transitional Object
• Transitional Character of Religious Art
• Transitional Character of the Material of Art
• Lacan and the Power of the Gaze

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What is a fetish?

• It revealed itself so naturally
• The fetish is a substitute for the penis . . .
  But for a particular and quite special penis that
  had been extremely important in early childhood
  but had later been lost ( Freud 953).
• The fetish is precisely designed to preserve a
  special penis from extinction (953).
• ? the womans (the mothers) penis that the
  little boy once believed in and does not want to
  give up.

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Fear of Castration? narcissism

• If a woman had been castrated, then his own
  possession of a penis was in danger. ?
  narcissism, attached to that particular organ.
• Laforgue would say. . .
• The boy scotomizes his perception of the
  womans lack of a penis ( Freud 953).
• ? to form a mental blind spot about.
• But, Freud does not think the perception is
  totally wiped out. (it has persisted)

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Substitute for the penis

• A reached compromise of the conflict under the
  dominance of the unconscious laws of thought? in
  his mind, the woman has got a penis, but this
  penis is no longer the same as it was before
  (Freud 954).
• ? something else has taken its place, has been
  appointed its substitute.
• Set up a memorial to itself in the creation of
  this substitute.

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Other examples

• (Freud 954-955)
• Stopping memory in traumatic amnesia
• Failed cognizance of death
• (a piece of reality is disavowed by the ego, just
  as the castration of women is disavowed in
  fetishists.)
• Two current (situation bet. Two assumptions)
• -in mental life, fathers death is not recognized
• -another current, took full account of the fact

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• Subtle instance both the disavowed and the
  affirmation of the castration
• Affection and hostility in the treatment of the
  fetishwhich run parallel with the disavowed and
  the acknowledgement of the castrationare mixed
  in unequal proportions in different cases, so
  that the one or the other is more clearly
  recognized (Freud 956).
• the woman has still got a penis and my father
  has castrated the woman

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Transitional Object

• A special object (teddy bear, blanket)
• Purpose of symbolizationseparation from mother,
  absence of mother
• A part of ego/ self
• Ex Linus experiences the anxiety of an assault
  on his ego, when he is separated from the
  blanket.

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Transitional Character of Religious Art

• Gods are up (in the sky or mountaintop)Transition
  al architecture to relate people with their gods
  ( Adams 201).
• The Mesopotamian ziggurates
• The Egyptian pyramids
• The Gothic cathedrals
• Literally rise toward God and the heavens
• Visual reminders of another level of existence

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• The Mesopotamian ziggurates

• The Egyptian pyramids

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• Exterior architecture ? interior image of god
• Temples and churches express the transition
  between material, exterior world of the worshiper
  and the interior sanctuary housing an image of
  god.
• The architectural journey from exterior to
  interior replicates the childs developmental
  journey from interior to exterior, from the
  mothers body to the outside world
• ( Adams 202).

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life and death

• Death masks and portraiture
• Presence and absence of mother
• Image? real person
• Self-portraiture plays a special role in regard
  to the transitional object. In the case of a
  straightforward self-portrait, the artist seems
  to be communicating directly with the audience,
  bridging the gap between artist and viewers (
  Adams 204).

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The Transitional Character of the Material of Art

• Formation and becoming through forming is a
  part of the transitional character of art.
• Artists ideanatural materials (transitional
  character)artists product.
• The transitional is like a bridge
• ideas? images

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Lacan and the Power of the Gaze

• desire is the instinct aroused by a gap, or a
  perceived absenceby something not seen ( Adams
  207).
• The fort/da game is predicated on childs
  perception of mothers absence / presence (207).
• Mirror phase
• Desire is from permanent lack (losing the sense
  of totality)
• Childs castration anxiety is the result of a
  lack, or an absence.

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• Lacans theoretical emphasis on what is seen and
  not seen, what is present and absent, informs his
  related concepts of the gaze and desire. The
  gaze rivets the subject to something that is
  present, whereas desire is the instinct for what
  is absent (208).
• gaze? should be present
• (the imaginary of perception expression of the
  condition and the linguistic structure of the
  symbolic.)

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Works Cited

• Freud, Sigmund. Fetishism. The Norton
  
• Anthology of Literary Theories and
• Criticism. Eds. Vincent Leitch, William
  Cain,
• Laurie Anne Finke, and Barbara Johnson.
• New York Norton, 2001. 952-956. Print.
• Adams, Laurie Schneider. Psychoanalysis II
  Winnicott
• and Lacan. The Methodologies of Art An
  
• Introduction. New York HarperCollins,
  1996. 200-
• 210. Print.