CYCLES OF DESTRUCTION: A PSYCHOANALYTIC INQUIRY INTO SELF-DECEPTION AND THANATOS IN ONE MORE SHOT (2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/call.v8i2.55685Keywords:
One More Shot (2025), Time Loop, Self Deception, ThanatosAbstract
Time loops in film narratives are commonly used to change the future by correcting mistakes. Instead, this study investigates how the time loop in the film One More Shot (2025) is portrayed as a state of self-deception that leads to destructive behavior, rather than as a means of achieving progressive change. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method to explore related issues and uses multimodal analysis to examine psychological constructions through the film. Therefore, this study utilizes a psychoanalytic framework, specifically Freud’s concept of Thanatos and Fingarette’s concept of self-deception, to analyse the protagonist’s repetitive behaviour. Based on scenes, this study found that Minnie’s behaviour reflects the influence of Thanatos, which involves a state of self-deception that allows her to repeatedly engage in self-destructive. Minnie repeatedly does whatever it takes to achieve her goals; she ignores reality and replaces it with a reality of her own making. A destructive pattern, such as slamming his body and face against a glass door, comes from a refusal to accept reality. By the end of the film, this pattern of repetition is clear, with the same actions repeated over and over until the desired outcome is achieved. In this study, the time loop serves to delay the protagonist’s acceptance of her emotional failure, rather than as a logical attempt to resolve it. Therefore, the writers would like to further the understanding of the time loop as a medium for psychological issues by analysing the interaction between Minnie and the time loop.
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