Arnold Van Kennep's Factual Theory

In this essay I will present an argument that The Room attempts to portray an engaged couple about to get married through multiple symbolic actions, and to demonstrate this notion that the majority of society believes a purposeful and achieved life comes through the ritual of uniting individuals through marriage. Also using the theorists, I will be able to provide insight as to why the term ‘ritual’ could be considered fluid. I will begin to support this argument by discussing multiple experiences that Johnny and Lisa encounter using, Arnold van Gennep’s rite of passage model, John Beattie’s theory of distinction of instrumental and expressive actions and Sigmund Freud’s theory of ritual and neurosis. I will demonstrate each theorist by providing …show more content…
In the film Lisa participates in the act of cheating on her fiancé over and over again, by contacting Johnny’s best friend Mark multiple times and engaging in sexual interactions with him more than once. Freud begins to develop his theory of ritual even more by saying, “ritual is merely a collective neurosis, demonstrating an unhealthy state of mind, as people find comfort from the pressures of the world in ritualistic/neurotic behaviour”. This unhealthy state of mind can again be portrayed through Lisa, because she has found herself in multiple lies with many of her friends and family maintain this “neurotic behaviour” of infidelity. The major issues with this theory is that it is “unhelpful to try and reduce the complexity of collective ritual actions primarily to an expression of sick minds”. If we apply this theory to society we are attempting to justify irrational behaviours, such as infidelity through the term ritual. This theory helps to demonstrate again that life doesn’t go as planned, and not everyone passes through the same type of ritual at any given