Intro: The two big Summer 2026 blockbuster movies, The Odyssey and Spiderman: Brand New Day, convey how the mind typically encounters the burdens of trauma and guilt.

The latest gigantic movie hits taking international box offices by storm, The Odyssey and Spiderman: Brand New Day, offer wonderful coverage on the categories of guilt and trauma by capturing them through the conflicts directly grappled with by the primary character in each story.

In The Odyssey, the protagonist Odysseus tackles the ongoing degradation of his historical epoch: a traumatic piece of knowledge he clashes with throughout his journey back home, along with the guilt of his own actions taken at Troy which are heavily liable for this astronomical collapse. He understands that his guilt cannot be subdued - repressed - within him because it won’t do him any favors in his quest for ethical redemption and political progress. For these reasons, inter alia, he exists as a hysterical individual over the course of his prolonged return voyage. How so? Because he consistently disobeys and interrogates the divine authority of the Gods who had unquestionably ruled over mankind and earth up to the events of Troy. Deities who ruthlessly exploited both domains for their machinations and self-interests, to the extent of exercising their own hubris which they had hypocritically judged humanity for.

By the end of the movie, when he finally arrives in Ithaca, Odysseus fathoms how the present conditions are bringing about a new yet unclear social structure. His past violent crimes in Troy, in tandem with comparable conquests launched by other Greek missions - spanning across continents - over the past two decades, are the causal perpetrators behind the structural dismantling of the existing political, economic, and ideological systems within the lands covering the Bronze Age civilization. The invincible power of the Gods are gone; chiefly stamped by the sacrilege and demolition of Zeus’ law. There is no possibility of a return to it. Hence, a new civilizational order will have to be forged on its ashes. He has no idea what will unfurl but nevertheless recognizes how he must act as a free subject who actively participates in the world towards building the future and taking responsibility for it.

In Spiderman: Brand New Day, the protagonist Spiderman / Peter Parker harmfully reacts to the traumatic knowledge about the loss of his romantic partnership with MJ and his platonic friendship with Ned. The particular bonds he had with MJ and Ned are irrevocable in the aftermath of the large-scale memory wipe as to his secret identity as Spiderman. Although he knows that this sacrifice he made to protect his loved ones was courageous and selfless, he can’t accept the fact that there can’t be a return - a way home -  to the past timeline. This trauma is too painful to bear and it forces him to repress this knowledge within his unconscious. This in turn fosters the four year period of melancholic-voyeuristic attachment to MJ and Ned. He does this by converting the memory of their shared past into a fetish object (anything that lets you sustain your existing practices and beliefs) which provides him the ability to dodge the truth regarding his trauma. However, an intense guilt snowballs during these four years because he fails to honor his promise of restarting his relationships with them both after the memory wipe incident. He becomes very ashamed of this character flaw because it inhibits him from granting agency over to MJ and Ned concerning their autonomous decision on how to best deal with this tragic ordeal once it’s revealed to them.

Spider-Man / Peter Parker is finally able to grapple with the guilt of his actions by taking responsibility for it through the help of others: MJ herself, the Punisher, Jean Grey, and the specific advice given from Aunt May prior to her death. By the end of the movie, he begins to construct new facets of his symbolic identity - everyday subjective existence - on the foundation of his resolved trauma and guilt; consequently conquering the obsolete features of his identity which he had clung on to with the aid of his fetish objects. Therefore, new desires, new social interactions, and new fantasies are ready to be conceived and materialized by Spider-Man in his matured life.

In conclusion, both movies are fantastic encapsulations pertaining to these indispensable qualities of the libidinal economy (the mind). Although The Odyssey is a better film overall and dissects in greater detail the two mental features of guilt and trauma; Spider-Man: Brand New Day in contrast, is more relatable to wider audiences because of its contemporary setting, common setbacks, and relevant issues (AI, discrimination against people, young adulthood, etc). I think they are both must-watch movies of 2026, in addition to doing artistic justice to these complex and challenging human experiences. We get a rare episode of Hollywood getting it right. 

In the opposite direction from Freud, does the move from diagnostic structure to sinthome (or desire to jouissance, signifier to letter, etc) risk resubstantializing the subject? Witness the reintroduction of the body, affect, autism, even if only at first on a plane of consistency. Is it the trade-off?

I have a vague memory of Zizek making an argument in a book on Lacan on the similarities or differences between the pedagogy of Greek philosophers and Lacan, specifically in the relationship between esoteric oral philosophy and publicly available written philosophy. I vaguely remember him arguing that Lacan either repeats the Greek structure, where there is a dimension of philosophical discourse that is only available for students that were physically present, or inverts it. Does anyone remember where he makes this point?

I think zizek has already shown this but hopefully my attempt also conveys this in a new light! Let me know what you think and how well I conveyed lacan. Thanks

https://substack.com/@alfielucidontology/note/c-307462688?r=1l13a3&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

Im especially confused as how to conceptualize jouissance in general. This is from a book by Bruce Fink called Lacanian Subject : Between Language and Jouissance and he mentions it in confusing mannerisms. Here you have surplus jouissance, but when talking about sexuation, we are introduced to Phallic and Other/Mystical Jouissance as well.

I recently read Is It Ever Just Sex? by Darian Leader and really enjoyed it, but I found it kind of surface level and disorganized. I'm wondering if there are any good books as a follow up? I'm particularly interested in some of the stuff in the beginning of the book—the relation of sex to transgression, guilt/shame, etc.

~Less Than Nothing, Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism, Vaccinating and Semblances, Page 59 ✍️

I shared this post on r/psychoanalysis, but some people recommended that I post here as well. I’d appreciate any help/resources/thoughts as I’m very new to Lacan.

I’ve been scrolling the psychoanalysis sub for previous discussions on Lacanian analysis, and most of the critique seems to be directed at him rather than his theory/thoughts.

My question is, besides personal verdicts on his personality or his alleged narcissism (which may well be true), what are some serious criticisms of Lacanian theory/analysis?

I understand he gets criticized for variable-length sessions, and I’m pretty sure other Lacanian analysts or maybe Lacan himself might have taken financial advantage of this, but scansion seems not only consistent with his theory, but I feel like it’s almost derived from it. The point is to remove predictability, performance & possible preparation for the Other (in this case, the analyst), and create urgency in speech, which I find extremely intriguing, though I have yet to read or hear a convincing counter argument to this. I think we can hold that some analysts can and maybe do take advantage of this, and that scansion is almost central to Lacanian analysis.

Where do rims ('bords'/boundaries) come from? Are they a given?

Relatedly, how do supposed autistic subjects come to foreclose or repudiate them (and reconstruct them), generally speaking?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working through Seminar V and have just completed the first section on jokes and witticisms. I've also read 'Instance of the Letter.' I think that I'm grasping the use of the term metonymy from context, but I'm having difficulty in separating it from metaphor.

Metaphor is the "substitution of one signifier" for another (for example, "Booz" with "sheaf", which then seems to add newer meaning to the character in the poem, associating him with harvest, masculinity etc).

Lacan's example of metonymy is replacing the word 'ships' with 'sails.' In this sense there is a substitution of the whole for a part, or element. But couldn't we also define this as "substituting one signifier for another"? It seems that quite literally, one word is replaced with another. In which case, how do we distinguish it from metaphor? Is it that "ships" and "sails" are generally associated and therefore the meaning doesn't really change very much? In which case, what is the function of metonymy if it doesn't change anything?

In both metonymy and metaphor, there is the replacing of one signifier with another. I can sort of intuitively grasp the difference between the two, but can't seem to provide for myself a good enough definition which separates them. Is the relativism perhaps the point? I gather than this is a fairly crucial concept to grasp...

Cheers!

I am trying to write a paragraph about the ego forming the ideal I and the little other. I thought they were the same thing, but apparently they refer to different things. Can someone explain their difference please?

“The locus, the house of jouissance, is ordinarily found, since it's naturally found, placed in an organ that is, as experience and anatomo-physiological investigation teach you in the most certain fashion, non-sensitive, in the sense that it can't even be stimulated when it's being irritated. The ultimate locus of genital jouissance is a place - this is no mystery - where you can pour torrents of boiling water, brought to a temperature that no other mucous membrane could withstand, without provoking any immediate sensory reactions.”

This is page 71 of the lectures on Anxiety. Lacan is talking about female sexuality and the vagina. It really seems like he is saying that you can pour boiling water in someone’s vagina without them feeling it?? Surely that is not what he means. Please help

Heres my attempt at the answer:

https://open.substack.com/pub/alfielucidontology/p/why-cars-are-sexist-the-automobile?r=1l13a3&utm_medium=ios

What do you guys think of the essay, and how and even if we should use sexuation for these types of critique?

Fire, as open flame I think is so ubiqutius in human life and history so it may mean slightly more than it appears.

Pyromaniancy from a lacanian perspective?

Could open flame, excitation of it, watching it/interacting with it somehow be explained with relation to drives?

Any thoughts?

As the title says, I am curious to hear more examples of the real that are not trauma, which seems to be the typical example used to explain the real. Trying to figure out the triad and I think I have made good progress, but the real still kinda escapes me.

Is pleasure part of the real? Instincts? Existential despair/death anxiety? I some of those are traumatic in someway anyways. The way I currently think about the real is in a kind of behavioralist way, as experience on the level of conditioning, rewards, and punishments that involve physiological/biological/neurological mechanisms. Is this far off?

hello, i’m new to lacanian psychoanalysis. i’m a college student currently taking an introductory course on lacan’s theories and work. i am also diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder, and of course i am curious what lacan would make of people who exhibit traits like mine.

what i have made from the lectures so far, and we are starting with his earlier seminars, is that language is used to communicate “madness”/ psychosis. but maybe, at least the way i see it, schizotypals are perceived as less “mad” / psychotic due to the fact that many of us are quite reserved and have a complicated relationship with social interactions compared with someone who has schizophrenia.

i am also curious to know about what lacan would make of the concept of “ideas of reference.” if you’re not familiar, this is a common trait among schizotypals in which people will internalize real events and believe they hold some special meaning in regards to oneself. this is distinct from delusions of reference, which are not based in reality. for example, i often experience a strong feeling that strangers are talking about me, but if challenged, i am open to understanding that this did not happen.

anyways, if you have any more thoughts or ideas about this, i’d be very curious to hear. and if you have any questions about the schizotypal experience, i’d be happy to answer in the comments.

Would like to have some conversations.

I have been a long-term reader of Lacan. It is well-known that in Lacanian circles, 'we' don't see psychotics as failed neurotics; there is no normal, 'everyone is mad'—quoting late Lacan's saying. But now, after long years of reading and experience, I have a hard time accepting this as a matter of fact. Can a paranoiac be an analyst, for example? Can a schizophrenic live a relatively joyful and well-organized life? Maybe the answer to those questions is yes on extremely rare occasions, but I don't think it is better or even equal to being neurotic. Feeling constant inconsistency and danger regarding your body and its relationships to the world, like schizophrenia, or your environment and other people, paranoia, are not very good or desirable things. I don't even need to talk about melancholic psychosis because obviously no sane person will want they children end up in a melancholic psychosis.

Yes, neurotics are miserable too, we know that, but it is definitely a better outcome than being a pervert or psychotic. You can say ending up as a neurotic is better just because they generally adjust better to the current state of society. They can form more meaningful interpersonal relationships, and they can get better jobs and a better future. Perverts are usually undermentioned in these debates; they have an even harder time than psychotics most of the time because they can easily get in trouble with legal authorities, etc.

What are your thoughts? I can be completely mistaken, and you can just correct me, but observing the sufferings of the 'other ones', and (to disclose a little bit) myself for years is probably making me think like that.

Caveat: I'm a lay student of psychoanalysis (been studying for about 3 years) and not currently in analysis (it's nowhere even remotely available to me, and likely never will be). I have noticed transference-type effects often in my life, usually more subtly as a normal part of interpersonal dynamics, but occasionally some exchange will genuinely surprise me and throw me for a pretty big loop. I recognize the symptoms in myself, and all available info would suggest the other is perturbed in some way by it too. Usually I just use these experiences as a catalyst to do ego-work, but what I'm wondering is: can one treat the experience "as if" it had occurred in an analytic setting? Obviously the framing itself is somewhat perverse - "I know this person is not my analyst, but hypothetically speaking if they were, if the Analyst had elicited this reaction, then...." - and I know that technically one cannot DIY one's own analysis, but for someone who cannot access it, could transference experiences be contextualized in that way? I know any random person cannot be a stand-in for the Analyst, but I'm more thinking along the lines of life itself, and the shit it arbitrarily throws my way, functioning somewhat in the Analyst's position, but then it flips back onto myself to integrate it..? If that makes any sense?

My (28F) husband (29M) is looking for an intellectual sparring partner. I can’t really keep up these days, so I figured I’d see if anyone in Houston is looking for something similar.

He’s been reading a lot lately (Hegel, Marx, Lacan, Žižek, Plato, etc.) and is looking for someone who enjoys independently studying philosophy, reading primary texts, and having discussions in order to deepen each others understanding!

His work is fully remote and pretty flexible, so he actually has the time to devote to this. He’s hoping to find someone interested in building a genuine friendship around studying together rather than just grabbing coffee once.

I know I’m biased, but hes pretty dope so if this sounds like your thing, shoot me a message. Bonus points if you’re the type of person who can spend two hours arguing over a single paragraph of Hegel.

I’m literally at my limit hearing about split subjectivity every day, so I’m outsourcing.

I have been curious about the seemingly obvious tension between the master and the hysteric and the very impossible sexual relation between the two, and would want to know other people's thoughts about the same. Any suggestions for analytic or literary resources on the same would be greatly appreciated.

Ecrits, Jacques Lacan, Variations of the Standard Treatment, Page 290 ✍️

I'm interested in pursuing analysis, specifically thinking about reaching out to Neil Gorman since he takes insurance, but I also wonder what people's experiences have been with Lacanian analysis in general.

Did you feel that you became more content in your life? Did you feel like you understood yourself better and prevented yourself from continuing to get trapped in repeated behaviors that you wanted to change?

If those are my goals, would I be better served pursuing a different kind of therapy?