| Lutecium a non-school of Lacanian/Freudian Psychoanalysis San Francisco, California |
| Fall 2009 Immersion Film Event with Eric Essman, M.A.. Diane Borden, Francisco Gonzalez, M.D., & Jacques Siboni, M.D. __________________________________________ Almodóvar’s Bad Education and the Question of Suffering By Eric Essman, M.A. |
Trauma often poses questions of suffering that cannot be asked because traumatic experiences immobilize the capacity
of those who have suffered them symbolically to represent their injury. Yet while trauma may impose a speechless
anguish or hallucinatory repetition of the traumatic event, it may also may inspire a manic defense that might be termed
the “Scheherazade effect,” symptomized by compulsive or hyper narrativity, involving elaborate scenarios that seem to
migrate farther and farther from the “strange attractor” or symbolic black hole that they orbit and that motivates their
expression. Pedro Almodóvar’s film Bad Education (2004) explores the post-traumatic consequences of sexual abuse
revealed and concealed by a complex narrative which, like the Arabian nights, involves tales within tales and a multitude
of disguises and distortions, as well as allowing for a point of view that perversely idealizes the traumatic event itself. To
consider, contain and deconstruct Almodovar’s provocative and disturbing creation, psychoanalyst Francisco Gonzalez
and film professor Diane Borden will join Jacques Siboni and Eric Essman in a brief panel discussion of Bad Education,
followed by Q&A with the audience. We hope you will join us to share in the attempt to give meaning to the unspeakable.
of those who have suffered them symbolically to represent their injury. Yet while trauma may impose a speechless
anguish or hallucinatory repetition of the traumatic event, it may also may inspire a manic defense that might be termed
the “Scheherazade effect,” symptomized by compulsive or hyper narrativity, involving elaborate scenarios that seem to
migrate farther and farther from the “strange attractor” or symbolic black hole that they orbit and that motivates their
expression. Pedro Almodóvar’s film Bad Education (2004) explores the post-traumatic consequences of sexual abuse
revealed and concealed by a complex narrative which, like the Arabian nights, involves tales within tales and a multitude
of disguises and distortions, as well as allowing for a point of view that perversely idealizes the traumatic event itself. To
consider, contain and deconstruct Almodovar’s provocative and disturbing creation, psychoanalyst Francisco Gonzalez
and film professor Diane Borden will join Jacques Siboni and Eric Essman in a brief panel discussion of Bad Education,
followed by Q&A with the audience. We hope you will join us to share in the attempt to give meaning to the unspeakable.
| ___________________________________________________________________ Saturday, November 21, 2009 12noon - 5pm Variety Club, Hobart Building, 582 Market St., San Francisco ___________________________________________________________________ |
Fee: $30 general admission / $20 students
This event has been submitted for MCEP approval (2 CE credits) - please check back for status
(CEU event fee: $55)
This event has been submitted for MCEP approval (2 CE credits) - please check back for status
(CEU event fee: $55)