When viewing the latest trailer for Iron Man 2 one can hear Iron Man openly acknowledge that he is narcissistic. I would argue that Freud would completely agree, and maybe even take it a step further than Tony Stark would be willing to go. Freud believed that narcissism was exhibited with the use of an ideal-ego that a subject uses to continue their narcissistic self-love that we all contain as children. Tony Stark's alter ego, Iron Man, is clearly an idealized form of his normal ego.
Freud wrote that as man grows up, "he is disturbed by the admonitions of others and by the awakening of his own critical judgment, so that he can no longer retain that perfection[of his youth], he seeks to recover it in the new form of an ego ideal. What he projects before him as his ideal is the substitute for the lost narcissism of his childhood in which he was his own ideal" (416). Tony Stark is extremely self critical because he feels responsible for the deaths he has caused with technology. In order to balance that guilt, and return to his former glorified self of his childhood, he creates Iron Man to regain that love of self. With Iron Man he can right all the worlds wrongs, like Jesus Christ, but more importantly, he can finally be at the center of the entire worlds attention, just like how he felt when he was a child.
Freud goes on to write that the idealization that occurs within narcissism is directed at a particular object that, "without any alteration in its nature, is aggrandized and exalted in the subject's mind" (406). The object that Tony chooses to obsess over is his metal suit of armor. Freud states that these objects are the target of the ego-libido, meaning that sexual frustrations and desires can be projected onto the object. Tony's suit is clearly an extension of his manhood. With the suit he is nearly invincible and can destroy anyone or anything. When he wears his suit he is essentially living out a young boys perfect fantasy of being invincible.
People that suffer from narcissism also have delusions of being watched. They are critically watching their own actions as if they were a critical parent. Freud believes that these people revolt against "those who trained and taught him, and the innumerable and indefinable host of all other people in his environment, his fellow-men-and public opinion" (417). Tony is extremely fearful of the army who trained him, and public opinion of his hero status, because he feels only he is capable of choosing who best to his use his suit for good. In other words, Tony doesn't trust the public of being capable of choosing for themselves whether or not to accept his help. That is obviously narcissistic in a Freudian sense.
The part of this analysis that Tony might not like is that Freud believes homosexuals as an outlet for their sexual frustrations and societal misrepresentation. These men, in Freud's eyes, use their parents and society as a scapegoat for their own dissatisfaction with life, so they create ideal-egos to revolt against those agencies. I do not claim that Iron Man is gay, but it does seem clear to me that he is running from something. In the first Iron Man, Tony Stark reveals to the world his true identity. Now the mask is no longer hiding who he is, perhaps it is instead masking who he truly desires, other men.
Freud wrote that as man grows up, "he is disturbed by the admonitions of others and by the awakening of his own critical judgment, so that he can no longer retain that perfection[of his youth], he seeks to recover it in the new form of an ego ideal. What he projects before him as his ideal is the substitute for the lost narcissism of his childhood in which he was his own ideal" (416). Tony Stark is extremely self critical because he feels responsible for the deaths he has caused with technology. In order to balance that guilt, and return to his former glorified self of his childhood, he creates Iron Man to regain that love of self. With Iron Man he can right all the worlds wrongs, like Jesus Christ, but more importantly, he can finally be at the center of the entire worlds attention, just like how he felt when he was a child.
Freud goes on to write that the idealization that occurs within narcissism is directed at a particular object that, "without any alteration in its nature, is aggrandized and exalted in the subject's mind" (406). The object that Tony chooses to obsess over is his metal suit of armor. Freud states that these objects are the target of the ego-libido, meaning that sexual frustrations and desires can be projected onto the object. Tony's suit is clearly an extension of his manhood. With the suit he is nearly invincible and can destroy anyone or anything. When he wears his suit he is essentially living out a young boys perfect fantasy of being invincible.
People that suffer from narcissism also have delusions of being watched. They are critically watching their own actions as if they were a critical parent. Freud believes that these people revolt against "those who trained and taught him, and the innumerable and indefinable host of all other people in his environment, his fellow-men-and public opinion" (417). Tony is extremely fearful of the army who trained him, and public opinion of his hero status, because he feels only he is capable of choosing who best to his use his suit for good. In other words, Tony doesn't trust the public of being capable of choosing for themselves whether or not to accept his help. That is obviously narcissistic in a Freudian sense.
The part of this analysis that Tony might not like is that Freud believes homosexuals as an outlet for their sexual frustrations and societal misrepresentation. These men, in Freud's eyes, use their parents and society as a scapegoat for their own dissatisfaction with life, so they create ideal-egos to revolt against those agencies. I do not claim that Iron Man is gay, but it does seem clear to me that he is running from something. In the first Iron Man, Tony Stark reveals to the world his true identity. Now the mask is no longer hiding who he is, perhaps it is instead masking who he truly desires, other men.
Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. "On Narcissism." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Second Ed. Julie Rivkin & Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004. 397-414. Print.
