From Freud to Film
The Influence of Psychology in Creating Relatable Characters
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Everyone always says, “Read tons of screenplays!” Now It’s gotten to the point where people brag about how many scripts they’ve read. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a hell of a lot of value you can get from reading screenplays, but there’s really only so many you can look at before saying, “Okay, I get it.”
The real value, of course, comes from actually writing over and over, again. But beyond that and maybe a “How to” book, one subject that writers should be exploring is Psychology because this can help you make your characters more interesting and realistic. In fact, all non-fictional literature from every discipline can inspire all sorts of ideas and different ways of executing them.
But Psychology, in particular, is a very special subject for storytellers as it helps us create characters that allow us to understand ourselves better, which can help us make our stories better.
For instance…
Freudian Psychology
Most of us have heard about the late 19th/early 20th Century Sigmund Freud and know that his big idea is about human behavior being shaped by unconscious thoughts, memories, and urges. But as soon as you ask someone to explain his comprehensive Psychoanalytic Theory Of the Human Condition, they shrug their shoulders because they don’t know…Or, at least, they think they don’t know. In reality, his theory has been shoved down our throats within cinema for god knows how long, all of us intuitively know about this.
Take his theory on the structure of the human mind. Remember that cartoon where an angel appears on the character’s shoulder to convince them not to do something bad, only for a devil to show up on the other shoulder to convince them to do it? That’s a visual representation of what Freud believed to be the structure of our minds, which consists of the id, ego, and superego.
The id, which is represented by the devil on the shoulder, is the primal unconscious part of our minds that seeks immediate satisfaction from instinctual urges and drives. The ego, which is represented by the character in the story and influenced by reality, tries to meet the desires of the id in a socially acceptable way. The superego, which is represented by the angel, is the moral conscience, influenced by societal rules and parents' ethical standards.
We see the influence of Freud’s Theory in this classic cliche all the time, but it’s present in more subtle ways within many other films such as The Lord of the Rings. Specifically, it’s expressed in the relationship between Gollum, Frodo, and Gandalf.
The id is embodied by the character Gollum, driven by his irrational, addictive desire for the Ring, regardless of the consequences to himself or others. Frodo represents the ego; he understands the reality of the situation and the dangers of the Ring. He does his best to balance his own temptation of using the Ring (his id) with the greater good and his responsibility to destroy it (his super-ego). Gandalf, who serves as a wise, guiding figure and stands for moral righteousness, represents the superego. He is the moral compass of the story, often pushing for actions that conform to a higher ethical standard.
This can also be found in the movie, Fight Club, where the protagonist's id is Tyler Durden, a character who acts out the protagonist's most primal desires and ambitions, free of societal constraints. On the flip side, the superego is represented by the protagonist's original, rational persona that is restrained by societal norms and rules. And the ego can be seen as the internal conflict the protagonist experiences twisting these two sides.
Another theory Freud invented that is commonly used in storytelling to enhance the characters is his Psychosexual Stages of Development. This theory states that our personalities are developed through five childhood stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
In the Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year), the primary source of pleasure and comfort is through the mouth via sucking, biting, and chewing. Issues related to this stage might result in problems like smoking, nail-biting, overeating, or gullibility later in life due to a fixation on pleasure.
The Anal Stage (1 to 3 years) is all about control and autonomy as the child begins to learn to control their bladder and bowel movements. Succeeding at this stage results in a sense of accomplishment and independence. If parents are too strict or start toilet training too early, this could lead to the development of an anal-retentive personality (stubborn, overly organized). Conversely, if parents are too lenient, this could lead to an anal-expulsive personality (reckless, careless, disorganized).
In the Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years) the focus shifts to the development of a child’s unconscious sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent. Children typically resolve the conflicts of this stage by adopting the characteristics of the same-sex parent, leading to the development of the superego or conscience. Unresolved issues during this stage could lead to confusion regarding sexual identity and relationships in adulthood.
In the Latency Stage (6 years to puberty), a child’s sexual impulses are repressed, leading them to focus more on education, social skills, and other activities.
Finally, in the Genital Stage (puberty to adulthood), a person develops a strong interest in the opposite sex. If the previous stages have been completed successfully, the individual should now be well-balanced, warm, and caring. Otherwise, they may have a personality disorder.
This is essentially a guide for writers to create deeper characters that an audience can make better sense of, and like many other psychological theories, we see this expressed in many popular films. One of the best examples is from Psycho, the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie created in 1960. Although we don’t see the main character develop as a child, the personality traits he shows in the movie suggest that there were disruptions in his life.
We see a man who seems to be overly dependent on his mother (or at least in his head) and has an inability to maintain a separate identity from her, which are all signs of a disrupted oral stage when he was younger. It’s speculated that such disruptions could lead one to become suspicious, sarcastic, manipulative, and aggressive, which are traits expressed by Norman’s character.
A disruption in the anal stage is also shown in Norman's obsessiveness with cleanliness and control over his motel, which suggests that he may have become fixated at this stage, possibly because his mother may have been overly harsh or strict in potty training him. Then there’s his childhood experience at the phallic stage, which can be found in his strange, fascinated interest in his mother, suggesting an unresolved Oedipus Complex. His confusion about his identity and sexual feelings becomes apparent when he assumes his mother's identity.
There isn't much depiction of the latency stage in the movie, but Norman seems to have focused his energy on non-sexual pursuits like taxidermy during the years that would have typically comprised this stage. Arguably, Norman fails to reach a healthy genital stage where he would establish successful intimate relationships because his development was halted by his fixation in the phallic stage, which was evident from his bizarre relationship with his mother. This halting of development eventually leads to psychotic tendencies and violent incidents.
There are many other examples you can look into like Matilda, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Precious because even though there’s a lot of criticism surrounding Freud’s theory, it still works remarkably well with regard to character development and connecting complex personality traits with past events that happened in their lives.
The last theory from Freud that a lot of writers use to enhance their stories is on human defense mechanisms. He proposed that when people experience thoughts or feelings that are too difficult for the conscious mind to deal with, the mind will unconsciously employ one or more defense mechanisms, such as repression, projection, denial, or rationalization in order to keep those thoughts or feelings suppressed.
Freud argued that overreliance on these defense mechanisms can have a negative impact on mental health and believed that a person must confront and come to terms with the repressed feelings in order to achieve a healthier psychological state.
Of course, we see this human defense mechanism all the time in movies. For instance, in Good Will Hunting, the protagonist, Will, repressed traumatic memories from his abusive childhood, and It’s only through therapy that he’s finally able to confront these memories.
In The Shining, Wendy refuses to accept the fact that her husband, Jack, is going insane, rationalizing that his behavior is due to stress from writer's block.
In American Psycho, Patrick Bateman projects his violent thoughts and desires onto others, believing that they, not he, are the true monsters.
So it’s clear that Freud’s ideas were huge, not just in the World of psychology, but also in the World of cinema. However, he wasn’t the only player on the block. An equally powerful thought leader around that time was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst named Karl Jung, who founded analytical psychology and invented an extremely powerful tool for writers to use when developing a dynamic ensemble that can get an audience to really connect with their stories. Of course, I’m talking about…
Jungian Archetypes
According to Carl Jung, our personas or archetypes within stories, characters, themes, mythology, dreams, and scenarios are constructs of the "collective unconscious,". The collective unconscious is the highly developed structures of the unconscious mind, which are shared among beings of the same species, across different cultures and epochs.
I know. This sounds like voodoo magic. That’s why he got a lot of criticism for his “Lack of academic rigor.” In many ways, he was seen more as a philosopher rather than a scientist. Regardless, the archetypes he describes have been used in stories since the beginning of storytelling as they actually do a great job of moving people. So while we don’t have any proof that a collective unconsciousness exists, we do have proof that his archetypes work, universally, across every type of story.
Let’s start with the basic ones, which are very similar to Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind. First, there’s the persona. This is the outward face we present to the world that conceals our real self. It represents our public image or how we are seen by others. The shadow represents our darker and unconscious self, which the conscious ego does not identify itself with. It comprises the traits and instincts we choose to reject or suppress. So think Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. His persona is this smart, suave, yuppie businessman and his shadow is this sadistic serial killer.
Then there’s the Anima/Animus. The anima represents the feminine aspects of a male, while the animus represents the masculine aspects of a female. The writers who created characters like Ripley, from Aliens, or Charlie, from The Whale took advantage of the Anima/Animus dichotomy by integrating traits from opposite genders to make their characters deeper and more endearing. Ripley may be a beautiful woman, but she’s also a fearless badass. Charlie may be a fat couch potato like the stereotypical male, but he’s also a man with deep emotional feelings and empathy towards others that he’s not afraid to show.
Finally, there’s The Self. This archetype symbolizes the unified unconsciousness and consciousness of an individual. In other words, this is the archetype that a main character typically embodies after they complete their “mission” or “goal”. They start with a philosophical outlook about the World (persona), and through their journey and the clashes they have with the antagonist who has an opposite philosophical outlook, they begin to understand the “lie they tell themselves”. This is a rationalization they use to hide from what they need to learn about themselves (the shadow) in order to refine their philosophical outlook to make a better one (the self). So this refinement could be seen as an improvement in how the main character mitigates their persona and shadow to create the self.
Beyond the basic archetypes are a whole range of others. It’s too much to cover in this post, but here are a few that we typically see in many stories.
The Hero: This archetype embodies power, and appears as the "savior" and conqueror of evil, striving against adversity. So think, Neo from The Matrix or any main character from every Marvel movie.
The Trickster or Clown: This kind of character symbolizes the consciousness that tends to disrupt, often acting out the unconscious desires of the other archetypes. A great example would be Alan, the off-beat brother-in-law from The Hangover who says and does ridiculous things but who also speaks the truth and what is on everyone’s mind deep down inside.
The Innocent: This archetype wants to be happy and strives for a simple, utopian life. They dream of a good one and living it authentically without any pretenses. This is the archetype of the main character, Star from American Honey, which I highly recommend people watch. It’s a true masterpiece!
The Rebel: This is a character who resists the status quo and advocates for drastic revolutionary change. They find fulfillment in overthrowing what they perceive to be an oppressive system. So think John Keating from Dead Poets Society or Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade from Scent of a Woman.
The Everyman (also known as The Orphan): This archetype represents the average person. They want to fit in and belong, fearing to be left out or to stand out from the crowd. Think Scotty Smalls from The Sandlot or Carl Allen from Yes Man.
The Sage: This archetype seeks the truth and values wisdom. The Sage looks for answers and can often play the role of a mentor or advisor. Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars and Gandalf from Lord of The Rings are great examples of this archetype.
Again, there are a whole bunch of others, but for the sake of brevity, I just listed some of the more interesting ones. Here’s the full list, if you’re curious.
B.F Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning is another great psychological element that some writers have added into their wheelhouse of tricks. This theory suggests that behavior can be reinforced and altered by positive or negative reinforcement as well as punishment. Positive reinforcement involves providing a reward to encourage a particular behavior. For example, if a child cleans their room and is then given a toy, they’re being positively reinforced to clean their room.
Negative reinforcement involves removing an undesirable consequence to encourage a particular behavior. So if a child cleans their room to avoid being grounded, they’re being negatively reinforced to clean their room. Punishment is when you present an adverse event or outcome in order to decrease a behavior. So let’s say a child is scolded every time they pick their nose. This is a form of punishment aimed at stopping them from doing it in the future.
Now, how does all of this fit into movies? Well, look no further than Silence of the Lambs. In the movie, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer and skilled manipulator, strategically provides information as a form of positive reinforcement by establishing conditions for FBI agent Clarice Starling. He demands that she share personal stories and experiences, and uses the information he provides her with as a reward, which encourages her to continue opening up to him.
Moreover, on the side of Starling, she uses both positive reinforcement and punishment to manipulate Lecter into assisting her. She provides him with transfer papers (positive reinforcement) to encourage his cooperation and uses the withdrawal of respect and courtesy (punishment) in response to his inappropriate remarks or actions.
Another powerful example can be found in the movie, Full Metal Jacket, a war film directed by Stanley Kubrick. In this story, marine recruits go through rigorous basic training under the supervision of a relentless drill sergeant who continuously uses negative reinforcement to influence the behavior of the recruits.
He punishes them for undesirable behaviors (like being slow, making mistakes, or showing disrespect), which decreases the likelihood of these behaviors being repeated. And, indeed, it does prove effective as there’s a noticeable change in the behavior and attitude of the recruits as the training progresses.
One key example is the character Private Pyle. Initially, Pyle is clumsy, slow, and continually makes mistakes that anger the drill sergeant. However, through persistent punishments and negative reinforcement, Pyle eventually conforms to the expectations of the sergeant – becoming more disciplined, quick, and efficient…But then he goes crazy and kills himself.
So this movie not only highlights the effectiveness of operant conditioning but also the negative consequences of psychological conditioning applied relentlessly.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
One of the last psychological theories that every writer should know is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Developed by the 20th Century American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, this theory suggests that self-actualization is realized when a person prioritizes and fulfills a specific set of needs in succession of one another.
The succession is the following:
1. Physiological Needs: These are the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such as the need for water, air, food, and sleep.
2. Safety Needs: These needs include security and safety.
3. Social Belonging Needs: After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs is interpersonal and involves feelings of belongingness.
4. Esteem Needs: Esteem needs are the fourth layer and involve the need for respect, self-esteem, and personal worth.
5. Self-Actualization Needs: This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth and development, and interested in fulfilling their potential.
This Hierarchy is most applicable if you’re writing a survival tale. For instance, in the 2000 movie Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, we see the progression towards self-actualization. First, there’s the main character’s physiological needs. After crash landing on a deserted island, Tom Hanks' character, Chuck, needs to find food, fresh water, and build a shelter to protect himself from the elements. Concurrently he also strives to achieve his safety needs by creating tools for hunting and making a fire to cook food, all of which ensures his ongoing safety and security. He also learns to adapt to the island's weather and natural conditions.
Upon achieving these needs, Chuck then tries to fulfill his social belonging needs as the absence of other people amplifies his desire for social interaction and belonging. This is epitomized through his creation of "Wilson", a volleyball which he paints a face on and talks to as if it was a real person.
As Chuck masters the environment around him, successfully learning to fish and build evermore sophisticated tools, he gains self-confidence and a sense of achievement, thus fulfilling his esteem needs. Finally, after all his basic needs are met, he’s then forced by his extreme circumstances to confront the basics of human existence. Chuck ultimately finds his purpose in survival itself, realizing his will to live and his ability to face and overcome the difficulties that life presents to him.
Another film where we see this progression of needs is in The Martian, starring Matt Damon. The main character, astronaut Mark Watney, gets stranded on Mars and just like on Cast Away, the first thing he tries to figure out is his basic survival needs, like food, water, and oxygen.
Later, he focuses on his safety needs by fixing up his temporary shelter to deal with the harsh Martian environment and by making a farm, using Martian soil and his own waste.
Once these needs are met, we see Watney work towards social belonging by focusing on his missing crew and establishing contact with NASA.
Now fully acclimated to his environment, his esteem needs are then met as he progresses forward, facing multiple failures and moments of discouragement throughout his journey. But, he’s able to overcome these challenges and progress, which ultimately keeps his spirit alive and helps him maintain his self-esteem.
Finally, he reaches the stage of self-actualization where Watney's determination to survive and return to Earth reflects his desire to fulfill his potential of completing this mission that he set out to complete before the accident, which left him stranded.
What’s interesting about these particular kinds of movies is that the characters start out with everything, only to have it all taken away, forcing them to reinvent their sense of purpose. That is a hard thing to carry in stories, which is why Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be a very important psychological tool to build someone back up. It acts like a map that can not only guide your decisions but also authenticate the moment and the characters experiencing these transformations.
Sean Webb’s Ideas on Emotional Intelligence and How the Mind Works
Okay, we’re finally at the last one! And if you read this far, then congrats because you’re in for a treat. Unlike the other scholars mentioned, Sean Webb is not a trained psychologist nor is he a traditional scholar. His background is in supercomputers and mapping out emotional intelligence for AI. However, his recent work on the human mind and how we respond to stimuli has been highly regarded by many within the field of psychology. In fact, so much that he’s even consulted with the CIA on the use of artificial intelligence for modifying human behavior…That. That one’s pretty freaky.
But what’s even freakier is how Webb formulated his ideas, at least according to him. Evidently, he didn’t come up with any of it. Rather, he was told by “God” while having an out-of-body experience during meditation. Now, whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. But what I do know is that his ideas on emotional intelligence are being taken seriously. And given the nature surrounding him, I thought it would be interesting to touch on his ideas, specifically on the relationship between our “expectations of preferences” and our “perception of preferences.” If you want to learn how to accurately modulate your character’s emotions to authentically respond to the issues they face, it’s probably a good idea to get a basic sense of this relationship.
According to Webb, all of our emotions are based on how we attach our identities to an expectation of a particular preference we have about something, which creates a perception of that preference (good or bad). Preferences may appear like simple likes or dislikes, but to Webb, they’re multi-layered and complex processes shaped by our memories, subconscious, social influences, genetic predisposition, and individual personal experiences. Moreover, he emphasizes that our mind creates preferences based on minimizing discomfort.
So let’s say you love chess and play it all the time. That’s your preference and your identity is tied to it because you’re really good at it, and being really good at something makes you feel better about yourself. Your expectation of that preference is that you’re gonna win every game. If you tie or win a game, you’re going to feel anywhere between “Okay” and “Great”. But if you lose, then you’re going to feel pretty bad, and if it happens enough times, you may begin to question your abilities as a chess player.
Here’s a quote from Webb that best sums it up:
“The brain’s basic rule is this: If your Expectation/Preference (EP) matches your Perception (P), then a positive emotion is the result. If your Expectation/Preference (EP) does not match your Perception (P), a negative emotion becomes the result. Lastly, and importantly, if one of the variables isn’t present, the result is no emotion.” - Sean Webb
This means you can modulate how people emotionally respond to outcomes. So let’s say you love playing chess because you’re really good at it. You’ve attached your identity to the game because it makes you feel better about yourself since you’re so good. However, you’ve chosen not to have any expectations about this preference. You neither expect to win all the time or lose all the time nor do you expect to be the best or the worst. Your expectation of the preference basically doesn’t exist, even though the preference still exists. So whether you win or lose, you’re not going to experience a positive or a negative emotion.
Now let’s say you don’t love playing chess because you’re really bad at it and are now going up against your friend who has some experience. Your preference in this scenario doesn’t exist and therefore, whether you win or lose, it doesn’t matter all that much. If you lose, then it’ll match your expectations. If you win, then it’ll exceed your expectations and perhaps make you happy in the moment, but it’s not going to reinforce your identity because you simply don’t prefer playing chess since you’re normally very bad at it.
This concept is most evident in movies that involve characters trying to achieve greatness, such as in the story, Whiplash. In this particular movie, we see a young man striving to become the greatest jazz drummer in the World.
To make this example easier, let’s set up two parts from the same movie, list out the fundamental attributes, and then compare the two emotional outcomes that result from this. The first is when the main character fails to achieve his dream. The second is when the main character redeems himself and gets back on track.
Failure to Achieve Dream Scenario:
Identity From Preference: World-class Drummer
Expectation of Preference: Expects to graduate from this prestigious school and become a famous drummer.
What happens: He gets into the school but ends up quitting because he was pushed too hard by the teacher.
Perception of Preference: Negative because his preference for being a world-class drummer fails to match or exceed his expectations.
Emotional/Behavioral Outcome: He withdraws from his dream and gets a BS job to focus on something else.
Redemption Scenario:
Identity From Preference: Failed drummer who loves the craft.
Expectation of Preference: Expects to move on from drumming despite his love for it.
What happens: Gets invited by his old teacher to fill in for one of his drummers, realizes it’s a trap, and thinks he’s doomed, only to kill it and presumably make a career for himself.
Perception of Preference: Positive because his preference for being a failed drummer who loves the craft far exceeds his expectations.
Emotional/Behavioral Outcome: He (presumably) sets up a great career for himself.
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So you see, in the first scenario, his expectation of preference didn’t match or exceed his perception of the preference. He expected to be a world-class drummer but failed leading to a negative perception. In the second scenario, his expectation of preference exceeded his perception of the preference. He expected to move on with his life, but instead, ended up making a career for himself as a drummer.
This logical matrix is generally intuitive for most people, so it isn’t necessary to memorize this formula. But it is good to be aware of the mechanics. This way, when you’re creating characters and scenarios, you can sharpen their emotional responses so that they make more sense and thus, allow your audience to connect with them better since all of us respond in the same way. It’s also good to be aware of this for your own mental well-being because understanding this concept can really go a long way in helping you regulate your own emotional responses to the things that happen around you.
Conclusion
Most of us create stories because we love to do so. We’re not scholars and therefore, we don’t feel the need to read heavy academic literature from disciplines that are seemingly irrelevant to stories, such as Psychology. But a lot of the best writers in the World, the most iconic ones, are driven by their curiosity about the World and who we are, which compels them to read about the human condition and what drives us to behave in the ways that we do.
That’s part of why Nolan is one of the greatest directors in the World. It’s why no one can look away from a Werner Herzog film, despite his lack of proper structure and conventions. It’s why True Detective Season One dwarfed the other seasons. These creators all chose to go deeper by integrating their knowledge about the World into their stories and characters to paint a more meaningful picture for us. And they gained that knowledge not only from personal experience but also from reading interesting perspectives that have nothing to do with writing.
So bottom line. If you want a great story, have a great idea, know the craft, and enrich your mind with a deep understanding of how humans and the World work. That plays a huge part in how you cultivate your voice within your writing.
Hope this article was helpful, and as always best of luck in your creative endeavors!
Story Prism
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