How is Freudianism rejected?

Though Nancy Thompson’s unconscious mind is clearly controlled frequently by Freddy Krueger, Nancy is also the reason why Krueger goes to such lengths to deceive her. Despite Krueger’s strong control over his victim’s unconscious mind/ dreams, Nancy was a challenge. Not only does Krueger assume the role as the gatekeeper in theory, but Nancy does as well. If it is ideally, by Freudian terms, almost impossible to be aware of your unconscious state, let alone take control… then how does the main character, Nancy Thompson, frequently derail Sigmund Freud’s theory? A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is not only structured and supported plot wise in some ways of Freudian dream theory; but there is also clear derailment of that same theory. This movie could very well be representing both sides of psychoanalytic theory, modern and postmodern, but either way it very much derides Freud’s dream theory and is rejected more often than supported.

In an article "The Rational Unconscious: The Freudian Mind Reconsidered." by Alfred I Tauber, “experimental subjects demonstrated that they actively address persistent problems unconsciously and they do so with normative standards”. This is a coping method. What this means is that what problems one faces in the waking world, they face in their unconscious thoughts. When Nancy discovers her friend’s untimely death, and begins to experience the same nightmares that she did, Nancy must cope not only with the loss of her friend but with her unsettling dreams. And she copes with these stresses by attempting to defeat them while in her unconscious state. When triggering her ability to lucid dream, this goal seems possible. For example, once she faces the truth of her nightmares, Nancy knows the only way to defeat Freddy Krueger is to bring him into the conscious mind/waking world. This is where Nancy again symbolically stands for the theory of the gate keeper and this is also where Freudian mind theory is skewed once more- when she becomes in control of her unconscious mind. Remember that according the Freudian dream theory of the gatekeeper, the one and only way to reach the conscious mind is through the gatekeeper; (which according to Freud still has little to no control or choice in what passes through). So, the only way Nancy could pass Krueger from her unconscious state into her conscious state is to take on the role as gatekeeper herself and take control of her own unconscious mind but according to Sigmund Freud, she shouldn’t be able to; but this is frequently dismissed.

For example, in the very same scenes near the end of the film I’ve been discussing, Nancy and Krueger are playing ‘tug of war’ with the dream world by consistently exchanging the role as gatekeeper. For instance, Nancy puts herself to sleep in order to find Kruger and yank him from the dream world. Though in the end she does not succeed, she does take agency over the own unconscious mind during it all. Such as, the moment she is able to catch Freddy off guard and catch him on fire, which calls Freud’s theory into question because Freddy ‘cannot die’ and Nancy ‘cannot control her own unconscious actions’. In another moment when her mother is ‘killed’ (Nancy is still dreaming), her confusion over her state of mind grows stronger, she tells Krueger, “It's too late, Krueger. I know the secret now. This is just a dream. You're not alive. This whole thing is just a dream.” (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven). It is in this moment Nancy recognizes that she is in her unconscious mind/dream state; Freud’s limited unconscious mind theory is derailed and debunked when she becomes suddenly becomes aware of her dream/unconscious state of mind.

video example

Technically, according to Freudian dream theory, during one’s dreaming/ unconscious state, they cannot realize that they are dreaming. “When meta-awareness is fully preserved, then the dreamer can realize that he/she is dreaming (lucid dream)” (Cicogna, 4). So, when Nancy’s meta-awareness is fully preserved, she realizes that she is dreaming. And once Nancy realizes that she is experiencing the terrifying Nightmares of Freddy Krueger, she beings to lucid dream. Lucid dreaming is when the dreamer is aware of their dream state and either controls their own actions, or attempts to control the outcome of events in their dream; "characterized by increased insight, control, access to waking memories, dissociation from one’s own body, logical thought, and more positive emotion". (Denis, Dan, and Giulia L. Poerio, 1). From a research conducted on lucid dreaming mentioned in Schredl, and Erlacher's Lucid Dreaming Frequency and Personality, there is "a significant correlation between lucid dreaming frequency and nightmare frequency [...] reported”. These reports state that nightmares are what triggered their participants experiences with lucid dreaming. This high correlation found from the research profoundly connects to Nancy Thompson’s experience in the fictional horror movie Nightmare on Elm Street. For example, Nancy’s encounters with lucidity is when she realizes the nightmare while in her unconscious state, the first encounter with lucid dreaming is when they are in the boiler room of the school when she realizes that Freddy Krueger has intruded into her dream and created a nightmare. Nancy tells herself, this is only a dream! and triggers her lucid dreaming ability when she intentionally burns her arm on a hot pipe in order to wake herself from the nightmare and escape Freddy Krueger. In this moment, Nancy is able to bring herself from her unconscious state back into her conscious state and escape the serial killer that resides deep in her subconscious. This proves her ability to control her unconscious state. Although the movie is structured around Freudian theory, scenes like this disproves the belief that one cannot control their own dreams. By accomplishing the skill of lucid dreaming, Nancy has violated the boundaries of Freudian theory and has become her own gatekeeper; i.e. she is the gate that allows herself to cross in and out of her unconscious mind freely.

video example

If Nancy had as much power as Freddy Krueger does in the dream world, she would have been able to pull Krueger from her unconscious and into the conscious world. But because Krueger has more power over the dream world than Nancy, it is extremely difficult for her to do so. Though, Nancy is proven to have a strong hold over her unconscious mind and took all of that control to try to bring Krueger into the ‘real world’. Nancy’s ability to control her unconscious mind so well, throws Krueger off guard. Popular discussion of this point in the movie mostly questions the actions of Freddy Krueger, such as, if they are still in the dream world why does Krueger appear weak? I believe the true answer is that he is. Or at least he has his moments. Since Nancy’s ability to lucid dream and control her unconscious mind, Krueger very slightly loses his grip on the power he has over his victims. The exact moment Nancy is about to pull Freddy Krueger out of her nightmare and into the waking world, Krueger rolled them over into another dream to save himself from exposure (does so by becoming the gatekeeper). Although in that moment, Nancy believes she is awake, and her confidence skyrockets thus her conscious control begins to overpower Krueger’s control- bewildered, he is momentarily weak enough for Nancy attempt his death by catching him on fire. She does not succeed however, Krueger ‘lives’ (he cannot die in the dream world) and continues to haunt her ‘conscious’ dream until she recognizes her unconscious state and pushes Freddy from her nightmare by clearing her mind of the fear he has been feeding on. This is a prime example of a presence of agency over the mind as well as proves the backward ways of the horror film; how Wes Craven takes the fundamentals of Freudian theory and twists it into modern day theory. In the end, Nancy did not have enough willpower or control to retain the role as gatekeeper so instead suffers in the end not only by mutilation but by deceiving her unconscious mind.

The unconscious mind in this film is an element that underlies the whole plot, and yet has two different means to which ends it goes. One end being by-the-book and supporting the terms of Freudian theory of the unconscious mind and the gatekeeper. The other end being a complete rejection of such terms in the same way. More so, I believe the terms of freudian theory the film is built upon, is more rejecting than it is reinforced through Nancy's lucid dreaming ability and control of the unconscious mind through the gatekeeper theory. What other Freudian terms could be rejected- or supported? Do our unconscious mind protect us from dangerous influences on our conscious minds, or does it put us more at a risk to only know the tip of the iceberg about our meta-awareness?