Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" reading confused me a bit when she referenced the psychoanalytic aspect of film and women. On multiple occasions, she referred to the woman's lack of a penis and castration anxiety. I understand that Freud stuff can get pretty crazy but I'm having difficulty what the significance of a woman's lack of a penis is. The same thing goes for castration anxiety complex. Is there some fear here that I'm not aware of?
Upon further analysis, the castration anxiety is relevant to the phallic stage of a male's sexual development. In this stage, he recognizes that he has a penis whereas women do not. According to Freud, the male perceives that the woman's penis has been cut off. In theory, he is anxious due to the fear that he may also get his penis cut off by his "rival" father (Oedipal complex).
I realize I did not do this first blog correctly. I simply asked a question instead of discussing it. After learning of my mistake, I added some discussion.
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