psychoanalysis in Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 represents far more in the way of psychoanalysis than the first film did. While the first film did reference the fact that Tony Stark took over the family business from his father, it did not delve deeply into how that affected the character. The second film in the series decides to explore that theme further. It portrays Tony Stark as an alcoholic party boy, and uses the lack of care he received from his father as an explanation of that. His father is portrayed as a workoholic who never had time for his family, and this deals with some freudian issues that add to the characterization of Tony Stark.

The film also contains a more noticeable use of the feminism theory. In the first film the only major female character was Tony's assistant/love interest Pepper Potts. In the new film, however, she is promoted to head of the company. This represents a higher position of power for the female role. Also, the character Black Widow is introduced. Black Widow is a secret agent and, unlike Pepper Potts, actually fights some of the villains of the movie. She has an action sequence in which she knocks several men unconscious while in a skintight leather suit. The fighting is meant to make her appear to be a stronger character, while the suit is meant to instill male interest in the character. The main protagonists are all still male, but the increased use of feminism shows an interesting growth.

While not necessarily better than the first film, looking at psychoanalytic theory shows that Iron Man 2 is more psychologically deep than the first film. This represents an interesting idea and shows that the filmmakers are adding more layers to make the story more complex.