A History of 1970s Experimental Film

Gaal-Holmes, Patti

doi:10.1057/9781137369383

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“…Arden’s ambivalent (if largely sympathetic) depiction of group therapy reflects her growing interest in therapeutic treatments, which included a broad spectrum of practices, including Arthur Janov’s Primal Scream therapy, encounter groups, dynamic meditation, Erhard Seminars Training, and LSD psychotherapy. Patti Gaal-Holmes (2015: 109) has noted the influence of encounter groups on The Other Side of the Underneath . A type of psychotherapy that emerged in the post-war period to help returning servicemen confront wartime trauma, encounter groups became increasingly popular during the 1960s and 1970s, along with other movements and practices aimed at encouraging personal growth.…”

Section: ‘Tell Me About Your Head’: Between Group Therapy and Consciousness Raisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychedelic psychodrama: Raising and expanding consciousness in Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath (1973)

Satchell-Baeza

2021

History of the Human Sciences

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Jane Arden’s debut feature film The Other Side of the Underneath (1973) is an adaptation of the radical feminist play A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches (1971). In both the play and the later film, the all-female cast re-enact personal and archetypal situations using autobiographical material, which was collectively gathered from group therapy sessions led by the director. Psychedelic drugs were also consumed during the group therapy sessions. In this article, I will situate Arden’s distinct approach to performance in the film within the framework of psychodrama, focusing specifically on the role that psychedelic drugs play in unleashing performers’ repressed feelings of trauma, rage, and desire; these emotions are harnessed into a dynamic mode of performance that amplifies the cathartic possibilities of women’s speech. The film’s heady brew of radical feminist politics, group therapy, and countercultural self-actualisation is both challenging and contentious. I argue that Arden’s pursuit of consciousness liberation through psychodrama and psychedelics—in other words, through ‘raising’ and ‘expanding’ consciousness—is best understood as a concerted attempt to align countercultural and radical feminist tactics for unravelling repressive forms of social conditioning.

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Section: ‘Tell Me About Your Head’: Between Group Therapy and Consciousness Raisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychedelic psychodrama: Raising and expanding consciousness in Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath (1973)

Satchell-Baeza

2021

History of the Human Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

A History of 1970s Experimental Film

Cited by 1 publication

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Psychedelic psychodrama: Raising and expanding consciousness in Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath (1973)

Psychedelic psychodrama: Raising and expanding consciousness in Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath (1973)

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