Planning - Psychology in Media: Ideal-I

This theory was created and put forward by psychologist Jacques Lacan. He puts forward the idea that infants do not recognize themselves being in an individual when they are first born. They do not have an initial sense of the world. When they become 18 months, a child will realise that they are human, and can get hurt and feel pain and different emotions. At this stage, they establish their interpretations of themselves. This is known as the mirror stage.

 

As humans, we are not capable of thinking negatively about ourselves, as much as some people believe that they do. This means that we believe our way of thinking is correct, because we have nothing to compare it to. We have always thought that our thoughts are “perfect” and that if another individual was to put forward another idea, then we would think that ours is the better one. This is known as the Ideal-I.

 

When we watch media, usually the lead roles and some characters are made to look strong. Naturally, Lacan puts forward the idea that due to the Ideal-I complex, we associate ourselves with those characters because we feel so positively about ourselves. Lacan says that people think that they are “seeing themselves” on screen, and gives this an explanation for why media is so popular.

Despite this, he also says that we do not want to associate ourselves with everything a character provides. We would only like to have what suits us. For example, someone may be very comfortable with the way they look, yet they desire the wealth that Donald Trump has, or the basketball skills belonging to LeBron James.

This is important in media, because this theory is the reason why many characters are designed the way they are - so people can relate to them or feel that they are related to them, and esstentially see themselves on screen. 

 

By Adaora