movie comparison of Safe by Todd Haynes

Movie Comparison of Safe by Todd Haynes
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Movie Comparison of Safe by Todd Haynes
“Safe” is a fascinating film about Carol who is allergic to the surrounding. Carol stays in a luxurious and affluent home in Southern California. The only duty that she has is to maintain her appearance and improve her health. For instance, she takes clean water, goes to the gym, and attends high-end luncheons. However, Greg, her husband, is often distant as he sees her seldom. As the movie continues, Carol collapses, and the psychiatrist indicates that the problem emanates from her. The psychiatrist fails to be of help to Carol as she becomes frightened and weaker. She feels that the world is not supporting her wellbeing. For instance, she feels that her laundry including the plastics, additives, polluting, chemicals, ozone, and preservatives are affecting health and wellbeing. When the situation of Carol worsens, she decides to decide to go for a retreat at a spa (Wrenwood). The spa still does not provide a remedy to the problems, and that affirms to the assumption that she could be the cause of her mayhem. Peter, the leader of the Spa, suggests that patients would only improve if they control themselves and follow the flow. The problem of Carol increases as she fails to get better. She decides to go to the igloo with the hope of being safe due to the cleanliness of the place. Despite her search for a safe place, she does not get better. It is challenging to determine whether she is the cause of her problems or the environment.

Therefore, the paper presents a comprehensive interpretation of the film based on the theoretical concepts of Freud, Chodorow, Marx, and Engels.
Freud
Freud is the pioneer of psychoanalysis that helps in the explanation of the human behavior. He indicates that if a person explains her behavior to herself, the individual fails to provide a factual account of her motivation. Freud uses psychoanalysis as a talking medication for patients. He encourages a patient to talk what is in the mind freely to help in the treatment of any emerging symptoms. Further, Freud is known for his human personality theory. He notes that the experiences of a person from childhood define her personality (Kline, 2013). The experiences shape the personality of a person depending on whether the mind has processed them unconsciously and consciously. Freud’s psychoanalysis concept helps in the effective understanding of the problems that Carol is facing in the movie. The problem that Carol is experiencing is not due to the environment. Instead, she is the cause of her problem. Freud asserts that the mind of a person determine her health. If a person thinks of negative things, then her health is likely to be affected. The sickness of Carol is because of her mindset. She believes that everything in her surrounding is affecting her. For instance, she is allergic to clothes, cleaning products, and chemicals because of the unconscious mind. If she could be viewing her surrounding positively and speaking good things to her mind, then she would not be sick or become allergic to everything. Importantly, the weak personality of Carol determines her state of life. She is not strong since her experiences overwhelm. She is timid when she interacts with the world, and that is the reason for the ailing situation. Therefore, based on Freud’s psychoanalysis and human personality, the sufferings and poor health of Carol is because of unconscious mindset and negative experiences which makes him allergic to the world.
Chodorow
The core concept that Chodorow developed was the Object Relations Theory. She uses the theory to highlight how gender determines the personality of a person (Andersen & Taylor, 2008). For instance, she questions why women can mother while men cannot. Her answer to the question is that the society has devalued the role of women and the only thing that they can do best is to mother. In the movie, Haynes does not recognize the role or position of Carol since she is a woman. He presents Carol as being who only exists and flourishes to the efforts of the husband. Her allergic nature to the environment is because she cannot do anything physical and her position is only to be in the house and enjoy the struggles of her husband. Though the headaches and allergies that she encounters, we can establish that the society has made her vulnerable and she cannot protect herself from the emerging problems such as pollution. Moreover, Chodorow holds the view that unconscious forces shape the personality of a person. The unconscious mind of Carol makes her think that the world around is affecting her. She tends to believe that her problem is because of the external factors yet she is the issue.
Marx
A key concept of Marx is ideological control. He argues that people in the ruling class use their wealth and power to dominate ideas and control how people think or reason. He contends that the ruling class ideas are common sense and unequal to those of the common men. The notion of ideological control helps in the effective understanding of the movie, Safe. Carol is rich as she lives in a luxurious and high-end home. Everything that she wants she can get, which makes her view the society or the environment as trouble and less important. The perception that she can have access to anything that she wants is what is what is causing her allergy to the environment. Things that are normal to the masses such as detergents, food, and additives is what is making her fall sick. Thus, it is evident that Carol controlled her mind to believe that the environment is affecting her not knowing that she is the problem. Marx asserts that ideological control leads to false consciousness whereby the populace suffers ignorantly (Parekh, 2015). For instance, the reason for Carol’s suffering is due to false consciousness. False consciousness influences Carol to go to asp with the hope of recovering from her sickness. However, her situation worsens since she had a wrong assumption that her surrounding is the cause of the problem. Further, Marx highlights that capitalism makes people be obsessed with material things such as money and wealth. “Safe” is a portrayal of a capitalistic society whereby false consciousness makes people worship the material objects. This confirms why Carol values her possession including beautiful house but has poor health because of the false thought about the environment.
Engels
Engels focuses on materialism whereby he notes that the society has influenced people to value physical property at the expense of promoting morality. The population believes that having a lot of wealth is the determinant of success. They do not realize the need of questioning how the environment influences their lifestyle and health. The concept of materialism is dominant in this movie. At first, Carol thinks that her possession of all the material wealth such as money and property would guarantee a successful life. However, that does not become the case because despite all wealth she still becomes sick. It shows that there is a need for Carol to stop her outcry on the surrounding world or material things and major on changing her belief about the society to improve her health. Another key concept of Engels that helps in an effective understanding and interpretation of the movie is alienation. Alienation involves the separation of a person from what he is. Engels postulates that social systems make a person alien to herself. The concept of alienation could be the reason for the problems that Carol is facing in the movie. The social system has made Carol feel like a stranger in her world. She views the society as a nuisance since almost everything in the environment make her sick. If she could not be alienated from her real self and the environment, her health could have been in good condition. Alienation distorts the real being of a person. For instance, the isolation of Carol from the public including her husband could have worsened her condition. She spends most of her time indoors watching television, and that poses a risk to her survival and reaction to the external environment. Therefore, Engels’ theoretical ideas help one understand that the sickness of Carol is because of alienation and materialism.
Conclusively, the four theorists have provided diverse interpretation of the movie. Freudian theory of psychoanalysis has indicated the problems that Carol is facing is due to the unconscious mind. Marx also postulates that the false consciousness makes Carol think that the environment is the cause of her sickness yet the problem is from within herself. Chodorow and Engels provide that the social system affects the health and wellbeing of Carol, which hinders her from getting a safe place that can improve her situation.
 

References
Andersen, M. L., & Taylor, H. F. (2008). Sociology: Understanding a diverse society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Kline, P. (2013). Fact and Fantasy in Freudian Theory (RLE: Freud). Routledge.
Parekh, B. (2015). Marx’s Theory of Ideology (RLE Marxism) (Vol. 22). Routledge.
Riggings, T. (2011). “Frederick Engels on the Theoretical Development of Modern Socialism.” Retrieved on January 10, 2017 from http://www.politicalaffairs.net/frederick-engels-on-the-theoretical-development-of-modern-socialism/