Psychoanalysis on the Movie “The Punisher”

Psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to literary criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud. It has been accomplished since the beginning development of psychoanalysis itself and has developed into a rich and varied interpretive tradition. Psychoanalytic literary criticism is a literary approach where critics see the text as if it were a kind of dream (the text represses its real, or latent, content behind manifest content). This process is known as the dream work and involves operations of concentration and displacement. The critic analyzes the language and symbolism of a text to reverse the process of the dream work and come to the underlying latent thoughts.

This theory can also used as an approach to analyze a movie as a text. In this essay the psychoanalysis approach is used to analyze a movie “The Punisher” (2004). “The Punisher” is an action movie based on the Marvel Comics character The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane as Frank Castle/The Punisher (protagonist) and John Travolta as Howard Saint (antagonist). The story is an adaptation from the Marvel comic books. FBI agent Frank Castle is an undercover agent working his last case before his retirement. He had planned to retire and take his wife and child to London where it was safe and wants to start a new life. Yet, it was not goes right. On his last case, the son of crime lord Howard Saint is killed, and Saint wants revenge. Saint ordered his men to go to Castle's family reunion and kill everybody. Frank is shot, but can manage survives and get treatment by a local man named Candelaria.

Frank “hides” in an old apartment building where three other people live (Dave, Bumpo, and Joan). He starts his revenge after knowing that the law enforcement has no intention of pursuing Howard Saint. Frank sabotages Saint's business and “cuts” Saint's partnership with the Cuban mobsters. He then starts tailing Livia and Quentin, learning that Quentin is in fact a homosexual, with information from Micky. After the sequences of Frank’s revenge action, Howard realizes that Frank is still alive and sends two assassins to kill him. Both assassins failed their mission and killed by Frank. The second assassins, Frank kills him by throwing boiling water to his face (makes him blinds) and then throw him down the staircase, crushing his head. Not long then, Saint's men arrive. Dave, Joan, and Bumpo hide Frank in an “elevator” and refuse to tell Quentin where he is. Quentin then pulling Dave's piercings out sadistically. Quentin leaves a man behind to kill Frank when he gets back. Frank leaves the elevator and kills the man. That night, Frank prepares himself for battle, and manipulates Howard into believing that Quentin and Livia were having an affair by putting one of Livia's earrings on Quentin's bed. Howard, unaware that Quentin is a homosexual, and believing Livia to be capable of cheating on him, kills them both.

Frank then burst into Saint's club alone, killing everyone. Howard tries to escape, but Frank catches him and shoots his stomach. As he suffers a great pain, Frank tells him that Quentin and Livia were not having an affair. Frank then ties Howard to a car which running into a bomb-laden car park, blowing up many cars and lighting Howard on fire. The destruction and wreckage creates the shape of Frank's iconic skull. He leaves and lets Howard burn to death. After Frank finish his vengeance, he prepares to commit a suicide. Just before he shoots his mouth, he remembers his wife and decides he will continue his "mission” against others who deserve receive punishment. Before he continues his “mission”, he leaves some of Howard's money for Bumpo, Joan, and Dave. In the final scene on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Frank delivers a short monologue: “Those who do evil to others - the killers, the rapists, psychos, sadists - you will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me... The Punisher.”

Charles Mauron in 1963 conceives a structured method to analyze literary works using psychoanalysis (psycocriticism). The study implies four different phases. First, the creative process is akin to dreaming awake: as such, it is a mimetic, and cathartic, representation of an unconscious impulse or desire that is best expressed and revealed by metaphors and symbols. Second, the juxtaposition of a writer's works leads the critic to define symbolical themes. Third, these metaphorical networks are significant of a latent inner reality. Forth, they point at an obsession just as dreams can do.
The first phase is the creative process is akin to dreaming awake: as such, it is a mimetic, and cathartic, representation of an unconscious impulse or desire that is best expressed and revealed by metaphors and symbols. In “The Punisher” the protagonist (Frank Castle/The Punisher), the antagonist (Howard Saint) and also other characters, symbolize three sides of life; white, black and grey side of human life. As in real life that human can not be always right or wrong every time. One time someone do a bad thing, on the other time, do a good thing. The action did by both characters are based on their reaction towards the event happening on their life. An attack by the law enforcement to an illegal drugs/firearms transaction is a reaction to protect the society from illegal drugs/firearms; as the illegal drugs/firearms dealer do they business to feed their life and need. The Punisher shirt which has a death head skull picture on its breast and the name of company own by Howard Saint “Saints and Sinners” are also symbol of three sides of life. The Punisher is not a usual superhero type. He legalizes killing, extortion, kidnapping, and coercion, threats of violence and torture to reach his goal to defend the justice. The usual superhero type avoids those kinds of tactics to uphold the law/justice. Howard Saint uses an opposite symbol as a name for his business “Saints and Sinners”, as saints are person who dedicates his/her life to do good while sinners are person who do a sin as a mortal.

All of these symbols represent the desire of human as they nature’s characters. For some point, human in nature wants to do everything they want, ignoring every rules and regulation/want to be free just to reach their goals. This is very common reason for someone who did something that violates rules on the society to fulfill his/her need. This reason is also acceptable since God gave human a free will; but sometimes human forget that they free will are also must respect others free will.
The second phase is the juxtaposition of a writer's works leads the critic to define symbolical themes. In this movie, position of opposite things can be seen through out the movie: The Punisher is a opposite to Howard Saint, the Saints and Sinners brand, the place of Frank “hiding”, where he lives in an apartment with people who considered the mutual values, and The Punisher death head skull symbol itself. In general, this juxtaposition leads the reader/the viewer to consider the meaning of those symbols. Why Howard Saint naming his company “Saints and Sinners” is to represents his attitude toward life. He acknowledges that his business is illegal but he did that to earn money and make a living for his family. The Punisher death head skull mark symbolizes Frank’s motives to uphold the law/justice, which is to eliminate the bad guy. This contradict with his background as law enforcer, which his main duty is to “preserve life”, whether it is a good guy or a bad guy. This also shows Frank’s psychoanalytic concept of Thanatos, an instinct towards death and destruction. His superego shows his moral voice toward justice, the “an eye for an eye” ideology. When Frank “hides” himself in an apartment, his “lonely” attitudes show the opposition to his neighbor. Frank does not want to engage in any people at that time. His only purpose is to prepare himself to take revenge. It is quite different with his neighbor (Dave, Bumpo, and Joan) which they care each other.
The third phase shows that these metaphorical networks are significant of a latent inner reality. As a child, the point of view of life of human was as consistent as black and white. As the time passed by and human grew, they realize that life is not only black and white. There is another color in between those two colors, grey. White is the representation of all the good thing, black is the opposite of white, while grey, represent something which is not in exact place. Grey as a blend of white and black is also represents the doubt of human. This kind of doubt often times emerge in human’s thought and mind as the results of circumstance occur in daily life. The grey area is the condition which people “mix” the condition as a mean to do something based on their need. The reality which occurs later was the consequence of human’s choice. This was also shows the free will of human.
The forth phase is “they point at an obsession just as dreams can do”. Human as God’s most perfect creature has their own capabilities to dreaming, imaging what they could not do and hoping that they could do the impossible things as human. This unconscious and conscious mind added by they ability to imaging something impossible, human had already able to make an effort to make their dream do come true. In the beginning of the time, human had a dream to fly. As the time passed by many inventions were invented even now human can explore the space. In “The Punisher”, the human dream is about to uphold the law/justice where the system itself could not do that. Human want to search for justice they could not afford by depending on the law system which has many procedure, bureaucracy, and so on and so forth. These also show the human need for justice, not only in a normative but also in practical.

In a brief, “The Punisher” as a movie can be analyzes using the theoretical frame works of psychoanalysis. “The Punisher” represents human’s will to get justice not only for their safety but also as their basic need. Human also have a desire to do everything freely does not “tied up” by rules, system, norm, and so on and so forth. In the other hand, God created human not only to fulfill their own need but also to control their desire so human distinguished from animals. Human have special things, the free will and the ability to dreaming and make the dream come true by doing efforts to realize it. As a creature which can thinking and doing by their own will, human should be wiser to face the reality of life because the actions did by human could influence the other.

Ref:
1. www.wikipedia.com/psychoanalitic_criticism
2. www.wikipedia.com/The Punisher (movie)
3. www.imdb.com/The Punisher

by : Fajar Supriono (0608216)