영화 <소나티네>에서 나타나는 욕망의 시각화에 대한 정신분석학적 연구 -라이트모티프를 중심으로-

Abstract

From a psychoanalytic viewpoint, this study examines the visualization of desire inherently embedded in a suppressed and deprived state in the subconscious of the human mind, as observed in the movie Sonatine by Takeshi Kitano. A common aesthetic feature repeatedly observed in a series of movies by Kitano is the theme of homosociality, in particular, the hard-boiled component portrayed through the aesthetic of violence that accompanies death as well as male-centric homosociality. At the same time, Kitano utilizes pure aesthetics and blank space that is contrary to the above to depict the primal desires, sexual desire and violence, the desire for innocence, and the desire for death, that are embedded in the human subconscious in a dual, paradoxical form. Additionally, the nihilism of desire as well as the meaning of human life and death are also implied through the actions of the characters in the movie. In Sonatine, Kitano utilizes the contrast of colors, namely that of blue and red, the images of rise and fall, and the leitmotif of the gun to ambivalently and paradoxically visualize the unseen desire hidden in the subconscious of the human mind. Furthermore, he demonstrates the ultimate fulfillment of desire, the completion of the signified as the liberation of the self through the character in the movie committing suicide. This is the visualization of the primal desire that has long been considered a taboo by the norms and laws of society, and in turn unable to be expressed and embedded in a suppressed state in the human subconscious, as well as the visualization of the external outburst of the desire as described above. Additionally, the movie demonstrates that violence, innocence, death, and desire are not fundamentally separate, but ultimately one primal desire that yearns to accomplish the completion of the signified through a return to innocence. Accordingly, this study examines how Kitano visualizes the intrinsic desires of the human mind, which signifiers are utilized to complete the signified in the form of fulfillment of deprived desires, and what approach he takes in visualizing the characters’ external actions and the expression of their internal emotions in the process of desire fulfillment. Through this psychoanalytic approach, the study breaks down the signification of symbolic images through the leitmotif attempted by the director and the meaning of desire being visualized.