literal illusion that is a sign of the reality changing , inducing anxieties that technology cannot be trusted . Camera angles allow for the power dynamics between Trinity and Neo to be explored , suggesting that Trinity ’ s assumed higher power is an illusion . The emphasis placed on the audience having to question reality mirrors the uncertainty that the end of the millennium brought upon the audience at the time the film was made due to the advancements being made with technology , particularly surveillance technology and the lack of privacy that arises as a consequence of those advancements .
The Psychoanalytic
Drawing upon the relationship between physicality and the mind , Freud states that there are two concepts , the ‘ manifest ’ and the ‘ latent ’ which are integral to understanding dreams ; the manifest and the latent are described as being the ‘ dream-content ’ and the ‘ dream-thoughts ’ which in relation to one another is stated that ‘ the dream-content seems like a transcript of the dream-thoughts ’ 70 The manifest being like a ‘ transcript ’ of the latent , suggests that the original form , the thoughts that have contributed to the symbolism of the dream , are transformed into a mode that ’ s more comprehendible . Applying the manifest and the latent to The Company of Wolves , when Rosaleen wears a red cloak in her dream and hold red roses , it not only symbolises the intertextual reference to Little Red Riding Hood but is also symbolic of Rosaleen ’ s menstruation . The manifest allows for evidence to be collected , such as , the choice of the red imagery , and the latent challenges the reasoning behind the choice of red imagery . Rosaleen ’ s anxieties about growing up are demonstrated in the first scene of the film as Alice tells Rosaleen “ you can ’ t sulk in there forever ” 71 , the descriptor ‘ sulk ’ has connotations of childlike behaviour and infantilizes Rosaleen . As Alice continues , she yells “ you ’ ve had my lipstick too haven ’ t you ?” 72 Rosaleen ’ s action of taking Alice ’ s lipstick demonstrates how Rosaleen is trying to ‘ become ’ a woman by taking on performative acts of gender . Judith Butler has reflected on the act of performing gender as she states :
When Simone de Beauvoir claims , “ one is not born , but , rather , becomes a woman ,” she is appropriating and reinterpreting this doctrine of constituting acts from the phenomenological tradition . In this sense , gender is no way a stable identity or locus of
70
Freud , ‘ The Interpretation of Dreams ’, 400 71 The Company of Wolves , 00:03:31
72 ibid .