ANALYZING OF THE CHARACTERS OF THE FILM “DOGS DON’T WEAR PANTS” IN THE CONTEXT OF PSYCHOANALYTIC FILM THEORY

Abstract

The film “Dogs Don't Wear Pants” (2019) presents the slave/ master relationship of the male and female characters in the lead role with the pleasure they receive from sadistic and masochistic actions. The film narrative presents the moods of the characters that enjoy the sadism and masochism to the spectators based on the conventions of the contemporary narrative cinema. The study analyses the representation of the mood of the characters within the framework of the concepts of Jacques Lacan and Sigmund Freud based on psychoanalytic film theory. Based on the concepts of the mirror stage, imaginary, symbolic and oedipal orbit, phenomena such as violence, fetishism, sadism, and masochism are examined in the context of the representation strategy of the characters’ moods. Utilizing Gaylyn Studlar’s Masochism and the Perverse Pleasures of the Cinema (1984) article, the study raises questions about the representation of the female character from a feminist perspective. In the film analysis, the relationship between psychoanalytic film theory and feminist film theory is thus revealed.