THE BODY AS A GRAVE. PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FILM “THE MILK OF SORROW” BY CLAUDIA LLOSA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/upj/2024-2-2-6Keywords:
mourning, introjection, incorporation, transmission of trauma, work of negativity, introjection failure.Abstract
Abstract. Analyzing the experience of the main character of the film “Milk of Sorrow”, the author of the article illustrates the phenomenon of introjective failure in the early relationship between mother and child. The author suggests considering various psychoanalytical approaches to understanding the mechanisms of pathological mourning, in particular, in the papers of S. Freud, K. Abraham, M. Torok and A. Green regarding the work of negativity in melancholia. Using classical and modern theoretical concepts, the author explores how family tragedy and maternal depression can interfere with the normal work of mourning and, as a consequence, the logical transition from incorporation to introjection, inhibiting the child’s mental development. “Milk of Sorrow” is a Peruvian belief about the transmission of trauma from mother to child. This is the phenomenon of “contagion” with pain and fear through incorporation. Children of mourning no longer experience joy, and mourning becomes an integral part of their personality. The article draws attention to the difference between introjection as a process and incorporation as a phantasy, where introjection is not about an object but rather about drives and vicissitudes, whose goal and mediator is the object. The introjection of drives leads to the extension and enrichment of the ego. However, it is impossible because the mothering object is damaged by depression and ceases to be accessible, sensitive, pliable, and indestructible, it loses the capacity for emotional attunement with the baby and loses the ability to process projections and symbolize. Only the mother’s constancy in investing the child’s libido will make it possible to move on to the verbal dimension, which will help replace the mother’s presence and cause subsequent introjections. In the common psychic space, mutual influence occurs: by establishing connections with each other, we bring our unconscious phantasies into them, and we identify with each other through common objects, ideals, and representations. In such a complex process of interaction, projection, and introjection can be compared to the vital physiological process of inhalation and exhalation, which is fundamental for the constitution of the mental apparatus and its further functioning.
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