User:DcrE

I am a professor of psychology specializing in personality and neuroscience. I am also very interested in film and literary criticism.

Forbidden Planet is a marvelous synthesis of literature and psychology. The story line is a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, but the underlying theme comes right out of Freud. The Freudian aspect plays out on two levels. On the more superficial level, the relationahip between Morbius and Altaira has a distinct Freudian flavor. Although there is no indication that Morbius's affection for his daughter is sexual, it is obvious that his jealousy and agitation at the growing love of Alaira for Adams is more than mere fatherly concern. Freud believed that much of human relationships revolves around hidden sexual desires, and certainly this appears to be a driving force in Morbius's need to destroy anyone who threatens his exclusive relationship with Altaira. On a more profound level, Forbidden Planet reflects Freud's view of human nature as ultimately destructive, driven as much by Thanatos as Eros. Freud believed that most people are incapable of fully accepting or experiencing their darker wishes and urges, and use various defense mechanisms, most importantly repression, to keep them out of awareness. Morbius's has no conscious awareness of his desire to destroy anyone who would threaten either his exclusive relationship with Altaira, or his narcissistic view of himself as the heir of the Krell. What makes Forbidden Planet more than anothor story of Freudian fixations is the elevation of this view to a society level. It is most interesting that by the 23rd century, Freudian ideas have apparantly been relegated to the dustheap of history. When Ostrow tells Adams about the "monsters from the id," Adams has no idea what he is talking about. When Adams later confronts Morbius with this phrase and asks him what it means Morbius utters the (unforgettable)line: "id, id, id, id!" He then goes on to tell Adams that this was an outmoded idea from centuries ago. Need to say more. Finally, we see the linkage between the individual and the societal: just as Morbius has buried his "evil self" deep in his unconscious, the Krell, over millenia of higher intellectual development, also lost any knowledge or understanding of their evil selves. Morbius's individual act of repression played out for the Krell at the level of their entire civilization. When they then had the ability to instantaneously turn thought into action, the always present destructive urge was released and destoyed them. In essence, then, Forbidden Planet is a moral tale, a warning tale: we deny the terrible aspects of our human nature at great peril - they will not go away just because we don't believe in them any more. That is what Adams means when he tells Altaira at the end that the exploding Altair 4 will be a beacon to mankind.