8. CREATIVITY AND UNCONSCIOUS

H. Freud understands art as a symbol of a certain state of the psyche that needs to be deciphered. Such an approach is characteristic of the aesthetic perception of the end of the XIX century. He does not quite traditionally understand the purpose of art, its main social function. Z. Freud writes: “Art, as we have already seen, gives the ersatz of satisfaction, compensating for the most ancient cultural restrictions that are still experienced in the deepest way and thus, like nothing else, reconciles with the sacrifices made by them. In addition, artistic creations, giving a reason for sharing highly valued sensations, evoke a sense of identification, which every cultural circle so desperately needs also serves narcissistic satisfaction when they depict the products of a given culture, impressively recall its ideals. ” (Z. Freud. The future of one illusion. // Z. Freud. Psychoanalysis. Religion. Culture. M., 1992, p. 26)
In his work “The Artist and the Imagination”, Freud asks a question: should we not look for the first traces of the artistic activity of a child yet? The most favorite and intense activity of the child - the game. “Apparently, we have the right to say: every child playing behaves like a poet, creating his own world for himself or, more precisely, bringing the objects of his world into a new order that suits him. In this case, it would be unfair to believe that he does not take this world seriously; on the contrary, he takes his game very seriously, spending a large amount of passion on it. The game is not the opposite of seriousness, but reality. Contrary to his enthusiasm, the child very well distinguishes the world of his game from reality and eagerly supports his imaginary objects and situations with tangible and visible objects of the real world. Something other than this support distinguishes the child's “game” from the “fantasy”. (See. Artist and fantasy. M., 1995, p. 129)
The explanation of art through the game, of course, was not the discovery of Freud. Many researchers reduced the nature of art to gaming activities. The game is an active function, but it is not limited to the limits of the empirically given. On the one hand, the pleasure obtained in the game is completely devoid of mercenary interest. Game activity, therefore, has all those specific qualities and conditions as a work of art. Most representatives of the game theory of art really convinced us of the complete inability to detect any difference between these two functions. They proclaimed that there is not a single feature of art that would not be found in the game of illusions, and there is not a single feature of such a game that would not appear in art.
From a psychological point of view, the game and art are very similar to each other. They are non-utilitarian and are not associated with any practical purpose. In the game, as in art, we forget about our immediate needs in order to give the world a new form. But this analogy is by no means sufficient to prove their real identity. The artistic imagination always remains clearly distinguishable from the kind of imagination that is inherent in our gaming activities. The game deals with imaginary images that can be just as lively and impressive that they can simply be taken as reality. To define art as a simple sum of such imaginary images is to offer a very poor understanding of its character and tasks. What is called "aesthetic visibility" is not the same as what we experience in the game of illusions. The game gives us illusory images, art gives a new kind of truth - truths are not empirical things, but pure forms.
Psychoanalysis allows us to consider the compensatory function of art and thereby reveal the nature of "mass culture". “The psychoanalytic concept of art arose as a result of the consistently therapeutic development of the utilitarian position in aesthetics. The formula of utilitarianism is captivatingly simple: "Art makes sense if it brings real benefits." (See. Mass culture: illusions and reality. M., 1975, p.140) But what exactly is the benefit of art. Freud highlights the psychotherapeutic role of art.
Fantasy is necessary for people as a universal "painkiller". However, not every person is able to take responsibility for their own fantasies, that is, to recognize their respective desires. And here, according to Yu.M. Bearded art comes to the rescue with its illusion of "disinterested contemplation." The point is not only that it offers the consumer a rich assortment of typical jeweler-honed fantasies of all sorts of colors, cut and dressing; what is more important is that putting a person in the position of a “spectator”, it allows him to get rid of his complexes, while avoiding copyright torment and personal responsibility associated with authorship. (Ibid., P. 145) “The irresponsibility of contemplation is the golden key with which the so-called“ average person ”unlocks the door to modern“ mass art ”filled with blood, sex and sophisticated sadism. “Empathizing with some superman - the hero of the next action movie -“ the mass consumer ”gets access to such“ dreams ”that he could not afford at his own peril.” (Boroday Yu.M. Psychoanalysis and "Mass Art". // Mass Culture: Illusions and Reality, M., 1975, p. 145)
The work of art in the concept of Z. Freud serves as an illusory reality, in which libidinal desires ousted into the unconscious are satisfied; and the process of artistic creativity appears as an activity on the symbolic processing and design of these desires. The artistic image of Freud and Jung is replaced in their theories by the scheme of the unconscious, originating in myth-thinking. As a kind of myth-makers in Jung, artists, creators of the so-called visionary art, act. They bring to the society knowledge, more precisely, an intuitive understanding of the eternal mythological symbols, being unable to take their creations seriously. In other words, symbols are spoken through the creation of visionary art, in the language of the artist, but their main content is the content of the collective unconscious.
“In the person of P. Picasso and J. Joyce, Jung finds the optimal expression of his idea of ​​a visionary artist, through the creation of which ancient myths speak. Thus, Jung reduces the main content of art to a rather limited number of mythological schemes, and sees the task of the artist in their “filling” with his individual-unconscious experience. ” (Vetrova N.V. Myth and Artistic Creativity. Candidate dissertation in philosophy. M., 1884, p. 19)
TEST 8
1. Who considered art to give an ersatz of satisfaction?
? Freud
? Epicurus
? Aristotle
? St. Augustine
2. Why does art generate a sense of closeness of different people?
? because the television spectacle is designed for family viewing
? because it unites people to fight for the happiness of mankind
? because it generates an identity effect
? because it evokes emotions
3. Why is fantasy a universal “painkiller”?
? because everyone has their own pain
? because in your dreams you can kill the enemy
? because everyone wants to get rid of the pain
? because it breeds sweet dreams
4. What is visionary art?
? it is the art of forgetfulness
? it is an art that produces visual pictures
? this art is giving rise to auditory hallucinations
? this art, glorifying the bright future of mankind
5. Who saw the flow of archetypes in art?
? K.G. Jung
? Z. Freud
? Picasso
? S. Dali