On Film Studies and the Unconscious

The problem of the “it was all a dream” structure is considered, particularly in reference to its appearance in the year 1953. This article compares three films featuring the dream structure — Robot Monster (dir. Phil Tucker, US), The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (dir. Roy Rowland, US), and Invaders from Mars (dir. William Cameron Menzies, US) — with an eye toward the Oedipal issues that the shared structure helps to express. In conclusion, the use of psychoanalysis as a scholarly tool is debated.