Film theories from this article: Research Film Theory
| Cue | Notes |
| Jacques Lacan’s theory | Jacques Lacan explores how a baby’s first recognition of itself, separate from their mother, traumatizes and shapes their life. |
| Two questions asked by Lacan; | How does an infant perceive the world around him or her? How does the act of perception itself end up traumatizing people in infancy? |
| Do babies perceive things? | Babies don’t have a sense of their-self or surroundings. |
| Mirror stage (6-8 months); 2 parts | The Imaginary Order, the child’s worldview hinges on a delusion of control. The Symbolic Order, “involves the experience of separation from others…” |
| To look for Lacan’s theory in films ask these questions; | Do any characters, events, or episodes in the [film] seem to embody the Imaginary Order? What parts of the film seem informed by the Symbolic Order? Do objet petit a figure into the narrative? |
| Jacques Lacan’s theory in Requiem For A Dream (film) | When the flashback (remembering his mothers unconditional love) ends, Tyrone begins moving a full-length rolling mirror back and forth hypnotically. The use of the mirror suggests that the character’s drug use is rooted in a desire to return to the Imaginary Order. |
