Notes

There is a post about watching the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off over on the Infinite Regress blog.

At the very end of the post, there is this point:

What is the message for the your audience? If you are charming enough and don’t behave too too badly you can get away with much shenanigans? Ain’t that the truth.

I read this and thought about something about Freud's thought that I've been saying for a while now. Freud pointed out how, in his day and age, there was a kind of injunction against enjoyment (sexual enjoyment in particular). During this time, people wanted to (1) have fun by doing what was enjoyable and (2) obey the injunction not to enjoy so they wouldn't need to worry about getting in trouble. Being stuck between these two things is a main factor in compromise formation, AKA symptom formation.

After reading Freud seriously for years, I think what Freud was pointing out (but did not directly state) is that the social injunction against enjoyment was actually a demand that people didn't enjoy in public. If they did something enjoyable (i.e., sexual), they had to do it in a way that was very private. If they complied with that demand, they could get away with a lot.

The best example I've seen of this on TV comes from The Crown, where Prince Philip tells Princess Diana not to rock the boat.

He says,

Just be creative. You can break as many rules as you like. You can do whatever you want. You can make whatever arrangements you need to make to find your own happiness. As long as you remember the one condition, the one rule: you remain loyal to your husband and loyal to this family in public."

The bargain, then, is that you can break the rules as long as you publicly uphold them. What has to remain intact is the appearance of obedience.