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Dissecting Simplicty in the Snake Pit Research Article

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Dissecting Simplicty in the Snake Pit Research Article Dr. Wonderful and the big bad asylum: Dissecting simplicty in The Snake Pit Article Adam Ruebsaat Trott Department of Philosophy, College of Arts, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON Canada. Faculty supervisor: Dr. Sofie Lachapelle. For correspondence, please email: [email protected]. Abstract On the surface, Anatole Livak’s The Snake Pit (1974) contains little more than a socially conservative overuse of pseudo- Freudianism. The film has been rightfully criticized for its departure from the novel on which it was based, specifically in its more traditional approach to Virginia, its female protagonist. To simply dismiss The Snake Pit for these reasons, however, Research would not do justice to the film’s importance within the history of cinema and psychiatry. This article will analyze the historical and cinematic factors that influenced Litvak’s The Snake Pit, a film worthy of both praise for its social impact and blame for its failure to go far enough. Keywords: Anatole Livak; cinema; history of psychoanalysis; Sigmund Freud; Hollywood Introduction From a 21st century perspective, post-World War II certainly easy to view The Snake Pit as just another America can often seem like a society rampant with anti- psychologically-themed film from an era that saw the communism, misogyny and social conservatism. To a large production of dozens of such motion pictures. But, as this extent, this reputation is not undeserved. The cinema of the article will show, The Snake Pit deserves a closer look. time has been called into question on similar grounds. In While The Snake Pit unquestionably warrants much of the particular, the overuse of pseudo-Freudianism in 1940s and critique that has been aimed at it, an analysis of both the 1950s Hollywood films has been heavily criticized for history of the film and the film itself prove that it is more subjugating social issues to the psyche of mentally unstable than a simple glorification of patriarchal psychoanalysis. individuals (Fishbein 1979; Semarne 1994). At first glance, Anatole Litvak’s The Snake Pit appears to fit this mould The Snake Pit, the History of Cinema, perfectly. Released in 1949, the film tells the story of Virginia Cunningham (played by Olivia De Hallivand), a and Psychoanalysis young and independent female writer who is admitted to 1890-1930: A hesitant friendship Juniper Hill State Hospital following a nervous breakdown. Recently married, Virginia has begun to hear voices and has In 1895, two developments brought much intrigue, trouble recognizing her own husband. In the hospital, misinformation and entertainment to the Western world. In Virginia is left in the care of vindictive nurses and callous the span of 12 months, Sigmund Freud published Project for doctors and shows little sign of improvement. To her luck, a Scientific Psychology, the foundation for his the dashing Dr. Kik – a motivated psychiatrist employed by psychoanalytic program, and the Lumière brothers invented the hospital – takes an interest in her case. Dr. Kik treats the first motion picture system. Initially, the relationship Virginia with a mixture of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), between film and psychoanalysis was tenuous. Freud hypnotherapy and ‘the talking cure.’ Working with Dr. Kik, reputedly had distaste for the cinema (Schneider 1985). In Virginia is finally cured of nervous condition. She is then 1925, he was offered $100,000 by producer Samuel Winter 2014 Winter able to accept her ‘proper role’ as a loving wife and leave the Goldwyn to consult on a Hollywood film about famous love • asylum. stories (e.g. Anthony and Cleopatra) (Sklarew 1999). Freud As Fishbein (1979) notes, Virginia’s story reads more refused, claiming that he did not wish to sensationalize like a psychology textbook than a real life account. psychoanalysis. Nonetheless, psychoanalysis and film were Issue 2 Moreover, in Fishbein’s view, Dr. Kik and his closely linked from the outset. Freud’s perceptual system • psychoanalytic method are the unquestioned heroes of The bore an uncanny semblance to a camera lens and Snake Pit, relegating a serious societal issue (that state of underdeveloped film was comparable to preconscious American mental institutions) to a mere sidebar. It is thought (Sklarew 1999). Cinema was even referred to as a Volume 7 Studies by Undergraduate Researchers at Guelph (SURG) 18 Dissecting simplicity in The Snake Pit (Ruebsaat Trott) “dream factory” by Russian writer Ilja Grigorjewitsch also analysts, leading to the common conflation of the two. Ehrenburg (Gabbard and Gabbard 1995, p XXI). Hollywood has also been guilty of ignoring this difference. While Freud rejected the allure of film, two of his In the early days of cinema, psychiatrists were rarely colleagues jumped on the chance to be cinematic consultants. portrayed as analysts, most likely because the discipline had Karl Abraham and Hans Sachs were part of Freud’s inner not become prevalent in the new world. In the 1920s and 30s, circle and were, as a result, some of Freud’s closest disciples. analysts in the majority of Hollywood films were limited to In 1926, Austrian director G.W. Pabst released Geheimnisse acting as bumbling Dr. Dippys, reflecting the general attitude einer Seele (Secrets of a Soul) – the first film to deal with of America towards the discipline. For example, in The psychoanalysis – to critical acclaim (Sklarew 1999). In Boomerang (1925), Dr. Sumner is a general practitioner who Geheimnisse einer Seele, Pabst envisioned both an is having trouble attracting patients. He becomes a educational and dramatic depiction of Freud’s new science. ‘psychoanalyst’ and opens a sanitarium, which is The protagonist, Martin, is a perfect case study: an impotent exceedingly popular. Seeing the opportunity to make some chemist who has a phobia of knives resulting from an good money, Virginia Zelva joins Dr. Sumner’s outfit as a impulse to slit his wife’s throat. With the patient help of a nurse and they fall in love. In Louis Gasnier’s film, competent psychoanalyst, Martin is cured after a series of psychoanalysis is a cash-grab, not a legitimate profession. dream interpretations. As a director, Pabst was known for his In America, if psychoanalysis began to grow in realism and he had a keen interest in psychoanalysis. popularity during World War II, it did not truly take off until Geheimnisse einer Seele offered a tempered view of the the end of the war. A flood of returning American draftees profession and boasted extensive dream sequences that are with mental trauma was met by a swath of European technically superior and more symbolically powerful than psychoanalysts and psychiatrists who had escaped central later blockbusters such as Hitchcock’s Spellbound Europe (Schneider 1985). As World War II reached its end, (Schneider 1985). psychoanalysis was taken seriously in America. In Despite the success of Geheimnisse einer Seele, Freud’s Hollywood, analysts began to exercise more influence in skepticism continued as he expressed doubts that intricate films. As knowledge of Freud spread, psychiatrists began to concepts such as repression could be portrayed on the silver use the talking cure with their patients, both in film and screen (Sklarew 1999). In Freud’s opinion, cinema would reality. In the cinema of the time, the analyst came to be seen merely simplify his complicated theories. Freud and as holding the key to unlocking the mind. In The Snake Pit, Abraham exchanged a series of tense letters leading up to Dr. Kik is clearly part of this new generation of psychiatrist- Abraham’s death in 1925. When Sachs took over consulting analysts. A portrait of Freud hangs over Dr. Kik as he applies on the film, he extolled its exciting potential. Following his the psychoanalytic method. work on Geheimnisse einer Seele, Sachs wrote a monograph As part of the post-war cinema, The Snake Pit was on his experience, as well as the intersection between the made at a time when psycho-mysteries1 were particularly film and psychoanalysis. In it, Sachs outlined the popular in Hollywood. These films expounded boundless psychoanalytic interpretation of dreams and described the optimism not only for the American nation, but also for the protagonist’s observable symptoms (Sachs 1926; Chodorkoff psychiatric profession. For a time, it even became common and Baxter 1974). Interestingly, he stressed the limitations of to see psychiatrists replacing detectives as the heroes of a film adaptation of Freud’s method. According to Sachs, it Hollywood cinema (Biskind 1995). Leaving Dr. Dippy was impossible to explain the entirety of psychoanalysis in a behind, Hollywood cinema became permeated with single film. Instead, Geheimnisse einer Seele was merely a optimistic images of the benevolent Dr. Wonderful. In the dramatized case study. 1944 hit Lady in the Dark, Liza Elliott, a successful fashion In the long run, Freud’s fears proved to be justified. Over editor, seeks the help of analyst Dr. Brooks after being the next half century, psychiatrists were typecast into three troubled by the advances of three different men and the essential roles: Dr. Dippy, the slow-witted 'specialist' used pressures of work. Dr. Brooks (played by Barry Sullivan) is for comedic effect, Dr. Evil, the malevolent master of the empathetic and sophisticated, but most importantly, Volume 7 mind, and Dr. Wonderful, the dashing doctor who saves the professional. His character is saturated with post-war pseudo- day (Schneider 1985). Freudian mythology: Brooks is completely receptive, while offering little of own personality. Instead, therapy in Lady in 1930-1950: The emergence of an American the Dark is all about the patient. Both Liza and the audience phenomenon are soothed by dramatized therapy sessions and lighthearted • For the sake of clarity, it is important to make note of musical numbers. While Dr. Brooks may be a model analyst, Issue 2 the distinction between psychiatry and psychoanalysis.
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