The Construction and Evolution of Human Self-Identity

Fan Zi Xuan

Chine / 2025 / Expérimental / 4’51”I2605252

Construction and Evolution of Human Self-Identity
1 Visionner Images

SYNOPSIS

[EN] This film is grounded in Jacques Lacan’s Mirror Stage theory and the Three Orders (the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real). Using the symbolic imagery of “cheetah”, “flamingo”, and “goat” along with experimental audiovisual language, it depicts three distinct stages in the development of human self-consciousness and the formation of identity. 1. The First Stage (The Real):Characterized by raw biological instincts and primal desire. 2. The Second Stage (The Imaginary):Marked by the emergence of an idealized self-image and the birth of ego-consciousness. 3. The Third Stage (The Symbolic):The entry into social and symbolic systems, where identity is structured through engagement with signs, language, and social practice. The film further explores the construction of identity through relations with others—progressing from the mother as the primordial Other (I+1) in the Imaginary, to integration within the collective social matrix (I+n), completing the subject’s insertion into the symbolic fabric of society.

GÉNÉRIQUE