a horse is a horse of course

Normally, most Freud is a little too much for me, and I don't think I've been well-served in my previous experiences with his work. I think some of his more outlandish theories have been so mainstream for so long that people have reduced them to pulp-psychology. Everything I've learned about his theories has been relatively strictly psychosexual, and I've experienced a lot of "Freud said (insert totally outrageous clam about baby poop or women here) and this is totally credible." Why his theories are credible has tended to fall under the radar, though I'm learning a lot about his other, slightly less eyeroll-inducing work, especially this year. I like the idea of psychoanalytic criticism though, because its just like all the other theories-stuff I can accept if I want to. I am also nosy and endlessly interested in other people's dirty laundry, and psychoanalytic theory addresses those nasty little bits of character that we don't often reveal to the public.

I'm reading this play for my FYS, Equus by Peter Shaffer. Its about this kid who stabs the eyes out of the horses that he takes care of (and rides around on naked at midnight after establishing them as dieties in his life)...it might be the weirdest and most disconnected thing I've read in a while. I was googling the title to see what the scuttlebutt was, and the names Daniel Radcliffe and Harry Potter kept coming up...I guess that's the play that has been in the news with naked Daniel/Harry all over it. Anyway. What kind of author is thinking at his typewriter one day "Hey, what a good idea, sexy eroticism with horses and naked teenagers!"? And seriously, the author exists here. Let's not have any of that talk, cause someone had to write this. And its weird. But, the weirdest thing about it is that it ran over 1000 performances on Broadway and won a Tony. People LIKED a play about some nudie teenage weirdo horse worshipper and his boring, lame psychologist (who has his share of slightly more understated neuroses). What does that say about us? I couldn't get it out of my head the entire time i was reading it.

So the author has to be weird (though Wikipedia doesn't mention any stints in institutions or Prozac use or anything), because do normal (and i use the term as loosely as possible in this situation) people think about naked boys cavorting with horses and, furthermore, relate to it (as apparently thousands of theatergoers in the '70s did)? Which makes me also wonder how crazy Freud had to be to dream up some of his theories, so critically reading Freud using psychoanalytic theory might be fun.

But not for me. Not when I have a book about crazy Mormons to read instead.

Goodnight.