Abstract
This article analyses Jim Sheridan`s film In America (2002), arguing that the American location reflects back imaginary images of Ireland to its Irish audience, in a manner similar to the mechanism described in Lacan`s discussion of his experiment of the inverted bouquet, which he uses to illustrate the three registers of the human psyche. It explores imaginary, symbolic and real dimensions of identity as they are articulated in the film, showing that, as in Lacan`s experiment, the symbolic dimension, which equates with the position of the human subject as social being, is the most powerful structuring force. In Sheridan`s film, this dimension is embodied in Steven Spielberg`s film ET, a fictional narrative that allows Johnny, the father of the family, to articulate his grief and begin a new life. Further, Sheridan`s film suggests that America is the imaginary locus of contemporary Irish identity, and that it can be understood as analogous to the spherical mirror of Lacan`s experiment.
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