Upon
watching Woody Allen being interviewed by Jay Leno, it became perfectly clear
that his comedy is a metaphor for Jewish neurosis. A light bulb went off in my head! I have been asking myself the last month how I am
going to understand and heal my own neurosis. His answer was comedy.
Over the decades after the obtainment of security (personal wealth) he
was able to use his neurosis positively as a motivation for creativity. Although misunderstood many would be
surprised to know upon study artists do the same thing. “When life gives you lemons, you make
lemonade!” The argument
presents itself that neurosis should not be necessary for great art. Upon study it could be proven easily
that it is this unresolvedness often that prompts attempted healing by use of
artistic metaphors. Artists
study and understand, synthesize, and abstract their aberrations into artistic
renderings. The thorough study and
expunging of their afflictions in the present helps to cure the eventual, longer lasting,
emotional effects the neurosis may cause in the future. What is interesting is, “Will an artist
have able material with which to create if there is no such rift?” Consequently are artists naturally and
openly sentenced to lives of continual neurosis?
The
primary and painful step in the healing process is attempting hypothetically to
understand its cause. A hypothetical
or disassociated survey of one’s own history attempts to quell painlessly neurosis’s
symptoms. The artistic process on
the other hand may use the emotional unrest of neurosis and funnel it into
creative impetus. While it could
be understood traditionally only good emotion is used as motivation for art,
history has shown that also art has been used for catharsis. The film Goya’s Ghost provides a perfect
example of such art. The argument
could be presented that creativity which is intelligently and skillfully
channeled may only be an attempted diversion or escape from neurosis. It is now that the subconscious mind is brought into
play. As synthesizers humans
should not be expected cognitively to understand the total minutia of their own
psychology. If we were then the
Romantic period in art and literature may not have ever existed. A balanced combination of Classicism
and Romanticism could be viewed as a suitable recipe for the healing of
neurosis.
