A fall from the stars: a critical psychoanalytic reading of James Gray’s film ‘Ad Astra (to the stars)’

ABSTRACT

This reading of James Gray’s science fiction film ‘Ad Astra’ explores, largely from a post-Kleinian perspective, phantasised restrictions on object relations that may result in a developmental arrest in late adolescence. The phantasy of omnipotence, with its dominating impact on the mind, is considered, including how this may link with socio-contextual impingements on boys’ developing masculine identities, especially where a father is absent during their late adolescent years.

KEYWORDS:

• Omnipotent phantasy
• hypermasculinity
• fathers
• journey of the hero
• adolescence
• endopsychic perception

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Phantasy (ph) indicates unconscious phantasy and fantasy (f) denotes conscious fantasy.

2. Whilst phantasy is by its very nature omnipotent (see especially Freud, 1911a; Freud, 1916/1917; Issacs, 1948), I use the term ‘omnipotent phantasy’ when I wish to place special emphasis on this important aspect.

3. This is an approach I have borrowed from psychoanalytic autobiography – see especially Bion’s ‘The long weekend’ (Bion, 1982/2014) where he writes that his book is really ‘about the relationships of one man and not about the people, communities, groups whose names are mentioned’ (p. 9).

4. I thank two of the anonymous peer reviewers for sharing their thoughts on the film’s links to the story of Icarus with me.

5. Schiller (2021) notes how director Steve McQueen used this approach in his well-known film ‘Shame’ (2011) – another exploration of contemporary masculinity.

6. Bion writes, ‘The reason why we concern ourselves with things that are remembered, with our past history, is not because of what it was – although that might be quite important in its own right – but because of the mark it has left on … us now’ (Bion, 1977/2014, p. 185).

7. For a helpful description of the ways traits of narcissism are inherent and ‘ever-present’ in adolescence – ‘Intense, self-interested or overvalued views of oneself, one’s body, or ideas and capacities and so on’ – see especially Flynn, 2004 (cited in Flynn & Skogstad, 2006, p. 35).

8. Indeed, Sodré states that attempt at ‘cure by excessive [and violent] use of unconscious mechanisms of defence which cover up, ignore, get rid of or in whatever way make disturbing aspects of internal reality “invisible” to the self, or rigidly kept as “not mine”, is ultimately what causes mental illness’ (2015, p. 89).

9. N.B., phantasies can be used to defend against other phantasies (Segal, 1973/1988, p. 16).

10. The final image of his father, as he drifts away with the cord still attached, evokes that of a newborn baby before the umbilical cord has been cut – the man who never grew up, never derived reality-based thoughts from his phantasies.

11. I thank one of the anonymous peer reviewers for suggesting this link.

12. Campbell’s journey of the hero remains a highly popular structure for screenwriters – the call to adventure, crossing the threshold, allies and enemies, meeting the mentor, finding the elixir and then the journey back. In my view, it is also an apt description for the adolescent process.

13. I am aware of one male patient who described this process aptly as ‘a journey through hell’. Sodré writes, ‘Hell is the belief that the intercourse you are excluded from is perfect, all consuming and eternal’ (2015, p. 86), versus the omnipotent idea that there was never any love between the parents.

14. It is interesting to think of the meaning of the lethal power surges within this context, which are feared, at first, to have come from the father in vengeance.

15. Later on, Roy so tellingly attempts to keep attached to his father via the safety cord.

16. I thank one of the anonymous peer reviewers for making this link.

17. Flynn notes that an important function of an adoptive father is to actively create ‘meaningful links for the adoptive child about his/her personal history’ (2002, p. 212).

18. Klein talked famously about the ‘devaluation of the object’ as one possible defence against envy (1957, p. 217) – the breast being the first envied (part) object. Although, arriving on the moon, it seems that Roy does begin to observe signs that something’s amiss as he feels increasingly disillusioned by the grotesque commercialism, and the heavy battles raging over the moon’s natural resources.

19. Klein put it simply: ‘The object which has been devalued need not be envied any more’ (1957, p. 217).

20. Of course, there is also his mother who is almost entirely absent from the film, even further away than his father in Roy’s mind.

21. I have sometimes wondered whilst writing this paper if Roy seeks to maintain an exclusive and rather erotised relationship with his father to avoid knowing about a relationship of potential harm between his parents, as well as his own contemptuous attitude towards women.

22. I thank an anonymous peer reviewer for this suggestion.

23. Roper has argued that ‘namelessness points to the submerging of women’s identities in the emotional work they … [do] … for men [in the workplace]’ (1994, p. 165).

24. I was intrigued to find that the popular website IMDB (https://imbd.com) purport that Gray said to Empire magazine that, even with a major star/producer like Brad Pitt on board, he had to compromise with the studio on the ending of the movie to get the film green lit. It seems that Gray’s preferred ending suffered a restriction of its own, with worries that a more emotionally complex finale (that I think would make for a better fit) would not be well-received.

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Notes on contributors

Tim Smith

Tim Smith is a member of the Association of Child Psychotherapists. He works in a child and adolescent mental health service for NELFT NHS Foundation Trust and in private practice in East London, UK. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic where he teaches on the pre-clinical infant observation training.