Mulholland Drive Review

Mulholland Drive Review

Introduction

Mulholland is a renowned film that was created and directed by David Lynch. The movie is a psychological thriller that revolves around the life of Diane Selwyn. It encompasses several occurrences both fictitious and real. The main character, Diane, will be the focus of this paper. Her character will be analyzed based on the events that take place in the said movie. The analysis of the main character will be based on the theories that have been established that pertain to the behavioral mechanisms of people. Prominent psychologists like Freud, Adler and Erikson, have established such theories. The main character in the movie, Mulholland drive, has several personalities that have been brought about by the significant events that took place in her life; the analysis of her characteristics will be based on the significance if the events in question.

The film, being a thriller, has an element of confusion that follows it due to the events that take place. This is because the audience at the beginning of the movie is not able to tell apart reality from fiction. For this reason, the audience has to pay close attention to the unraveling events in order to understand the plot of the film. The main character has taken up several different personas’ that signify an important aspect of the main character’s life. All these personas have been brought together because of an incident that takes place and causes her to become guilt ridden. The film is based on the interactions of the personas and the effects that their existence is causing to the main character, Diane.

Part 1

Diane Selwyn is a young ambitious woman. She has always intended to pursue acting and become a renowned Hollywood actress. However, due to several events that take place in her life, she gets to a point of tremendous emotional breakdown. For this reason, she becomes depressed and suicidal. The film follows her life as she is in this state of depression. Diane falls in love with another young aspirant, Camilla. This aspirant shares Diane’s hopes to become a budding actress and this endears Diane more to her. However, even if Diane has profound feeling for her; Camilla does not share the same sentiments as her. In addition to this, Camilla embarrasses and humiliates her in the course of their relationship.

After this event, Diane is outraged by the actions of Camilla and she plans to get her murdered. After Camilla is dead, Diane is immensely burdened by guilt and misery. These emotions are what lead to her emotional breakdown and subsequently her state of depression. In the state of depression, she creates several personas that relate to the events that took place in her life. She creates a completely new world in her head in which she relives all the beautiful memories and tries to correct all the mistakes that she had committed in the course of her life. The subsequent occurrences that take place in the film follow the crosscurrents that take place in Diane’s head as she tries to correct her mistakes and cope with her guilt as well.

Part 2

In order to analyze the character in this particular movie, Carl Rodger’s theory is the most appropriate one. The theory that he formulated is called the self-actualization theory. Rodgers was a famous psychologist who originated this theory that revolutionized the field of psychotherapy. This theory has generated large research studies to ascertain how effective it is. After the research, it was deemed very useful in the cure of emotional disorders. This theory is centered more on the patient or client in question. This was the main variation between this theory and its predecessors, which focused on the psychologists’ opinion of the level of emotional disturbance.

The theory believed that the ability to cure the patients’ problem is within the patient himself or herself. For this reason, the theory urges the psychologists to help the patients to cure themselves. Rodgers, while formulating this theory heavily relied on his own experiences. Personality and character of an individual is heavily dependant on several aspects. These factors include the relationships that they have with family, friends and other members of the society. In addition to this, other factors like the neighborhood they live in may be considered insignificant but they also affect the traits of the individual greatly. Other general factors that affect personality include the health of the person, economic level and the culture of the person. This is easily noticeable in the case of infants more than in adults.

The theory is partitioned into some sub-theories that fully explain the concept of self –actualization. The first is the actualization tendency. Rodgers explains that for the individual to attain self-actualization, it is important that he or she is actualizes. This tendency functions to maintain the individual in question in order to ensure that he or she is able to survive in whichever circumstance they may encounter. The process of organismic valuing is another important aspect of self-actualization. This process involves the categorization of experiences in terms of the value they have and the direct effect they may have in the achievement of self-actualization. The rest of the sub theories all originate from the one stated above and they can only be achieved if the first one is accomplished.

Part 3

By the use of the theory of self-actualization, the character of the Diane Selwyn from Mulholland drive will be explained in detail. The first aspect to be explained will be based on the actualization tendency. As noted before, this tendency seeks to sustain the individual in order to ensure his or her survival. The tendency involves processes like maturation both physically and intellectually. The occurrence of these changes is already predetermined but they are not effortless. They require exertion from the individual in question. Even if the process may be associated with pain, the need to attain actualization surpasses the pain and this is why the individual in question is able to achieve self-actualization eventually.

Diana grew up from childhood into a young woman; this is proof of the actualization tendency brought forth by Rodgers. The processes involves in her maturation were brought about by the actualization tendency. The proof of this maturation is in the film when she remembers events that took place when she was young. Particularly, Diane remembers an event whereby she has won a competition. During that time, Diane is young, innocent and naïve. In addition to this, Diane also remembers the times that she spent with her aunt whom she loved dearly. At the present moment, her aunt has passed away meaning that those memories were of a younger age.

Another aspect of the self-actualization theory is positive regard. In this case, positive regard refers to the love and acceptance that is obtained from other members of the society. This love is mostly expected from the mother in the case of an infant. Positive regard is very important for the proper development of an individual. If it is withdrawn or not received at all, the process of achieving self-actualization is hindered. Diane’s aunt loved her immensely, as is evidenced by the warm feelings Diana and her personas have towards her. Mention of Diane’s parents is limited in the film. The lack of positive regard may have been the cause of her characteristics.

Unconditional positive regard is another important aspect of this theory. It refers to the love and acceptance an individual is accorded with regardless of their behavior. In most cases, the mother offers this kind of affection to their child. The parent gives it freely even if the child may have done something wrong. It is quite important in the development of the individual since it enables them to feel important and precious. Since Diane’s parents, particularly the mother is not mentioned, it is proper to assume that she lacked unconditional positive regard. This lack of unconditional love may have been the main cause of the personality that she developed in her adulthood.

Positive-self regard is another aspect that is closely related to positive regard. It arises from the feeling that the individual obtains by being good and loving to someone else. It enables the person in question to experience satisfaction. This facilitates them to achieve self-actualization faster. For Diana, she lacks positive self-regard since it was withdrawn from her to some extent. If she has enough love from her parents and other members of her society, it would have been easier for her to reciprocate the same feeling to other people. However, since only her aunt loved her, it is difficult for her to love and accept other people since she did not experience it. This evident lack of positive-self regard affects greatly her quest for self-actualization.

Conditional positive regard is the reverse of unconditional positive regard. It refers to the approval and love given to an individual due to good behavior on the part of the individual. This is the contrary of unconditional positive regard, which is given freely. This enables the individual in question to be able to identify the right from wrong. This is because when he or she does something wrong, she will not get the positive regard. For this reason, they will avoid the matter at all costs since positive regard is very important to them, especially in their infancy. In Diana’s case, this aspect is not clearly portrayed since her relationship with her parents is not mentioned in the film.

Incongruence is another important aspect of the self-actualization theory. It refers to the inconsistency that may arise with an individual’s self-concept and events that they have gone through in the course of their lives. Incongruence is assumed one of the major reasons why people get emotional breakdowns. Incongruence halts the process of achieving self-actualization. Diana is facing incongruence. She cannot process the fact that she is to blame for the death of Camilla, her lover. Due to guilt, she becomes depressed and ultimately suicidal. Congruence is the reverse of incongruence. That is it occurs when a person’s perceptions are in line with experiences. This enables them to attain self-actualization effectively.

Part 4

Carl Rodgers’ theory of self-actualization is the most appropriate theory to describe the character of Diane Selwyn. The theory focuses on the treatment of people with emotional breakdowns. The character from the movie has a similar disorder. For this reason, this theory is the most suitable because it enables the analysis to focus on the causes of the disorder in question. In the case of Diana, her experiences in life were the main cause of her depression and suicide in the end. This theory goes through all the probable causes of her emotional breakdown by analyzing her experiences. This systematic analysis is important in unraveling the true character of Diane Selwyn in the movie Mulholland drive.

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