The Dizziness of Freedom. Kubrick - Freud - Jung

The author analyses Stanley Kubrick's films, taking into consideration the motif of fear and delineating its four types: individual, collective, clinical and cultural. Fear and anxiety constitute one of the most prominent subjects of Kubrick's narratives. His films are particularly rich in examples of collective fears as manifestations of particular anxieties typical for modern Western societies such as the fear of war, terror, nuclear holocaust, terminal disease (AIDS, cancer), violence, and sexuality. The author applies Freudian psychoanalysis and, especially, Jungian notions of archetypes in order to understand better the various drives and urges governing characters' behaviour. The thesis of the essay states that fear cannot be perceived only as a destructive force, since it pushes people towards new horizons and thus enables them to enjoy a bigger choice in life. It offers them, as Kierkegaard puts it, the dizziness of freedom.