The Unconscious Coping Mechanism and the Loss of Object: A Psychoanalytic Criticism of Onward (2020) Film

Authors

  • Priscilla Aurellia Fensa Gumanti MAKARIOS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
  • Violet Ayuwandira Larasati Martin MAKARIOS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
  • Anindya Abigail Manullang MAKARIOS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
  • Tan Farren Keitaro MAKARIOS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Keywords:

Unconsciousness, Psyche, Psychoanalysis, Freudian, Melancholia

Abstract

This study examines how Pixar's Onward (2020) renders psychological processes, specifically grief following paternal loss, through narrative structure, cinematography, and character development. It centers on the differing responses of brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot to growing up without their father, read through Freud's psychoanalytic framework in The Unconscious (1915), Mourning and Melancholia (1917), and The Ego and the Id (1923), with particular attention to the lost object, melancholia, the ego-superego relation, and defense mechanisms. Using close reading of key scenes, dialogue, and visual composition, the analysis treats the father as the brothers' shared lost object and traces how each processes his absence differently. Three findings emerge: 1) Ian, who has no memory of his father, constructs an idealized paternal image through his "BE LIKE DAD" checklist, an ego-ideal enforced by an anxious superego that displaces his longing onto the notebook itself. 2) Barley, who does remember their father, carries unresolved guilt over not saying goodbye before his death; he manages this through regression and sublimation, channeling his grief into an intense preoccupation with history and magic. 3) The brothers' shared journey then functions as a therapeutic process: Ian comes to recognize that Barley has already supplied the guidance and care he sought from their father, and his decision to forgo meeting his father's spirit so Barley can say goodbye marks a shift from melancholia toward acceptance. The study concludes that Onward depicts grief as a process that cannot be resolved through avoidance or repression but requires confronting loss directly, in line with Freud's account of mourning as work. It further suggests that recovery from parental loss need not depend on the parent's return: sibling relationships can substitute as a source of emotional guidance and belonging, supporting healthy psychological development in adolescents facing this kind of loss.

References

Freud, S. (1957). Mourning and melancholia. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 237–258). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1917)

Freud, S. (1957). The unconscious. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 159–215). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1915)

Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 1–66). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)

National Fatherhood Initiative. (n.d.). Father absence statistics. https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic

Rahayu, M., & Arrifah, Z. (2026). Anxiety as a narrative force: A Freudian psychoanalytic analysis of Ian Lightfoot in Onward (2020). Litera Kultura: Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 13(3), 69–74. https://ejournal.unesa.ac.id/index.php/litera-kultura/article/view/74310

Rosenblatt, L. M. (1938). Literature as exploration. D. Appleton-Century Company.

Scanlon, D. (Director). (2020). Onward [Film]. Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. (2011). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/

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Published

2026-08-31

How to Cite

Gumanti, P. A. F., Martin, V. A. L., Manullang, A. A., & Keitaro, T. F. (2026). The Unconscious Coping Mechanism and the Loss of Object: A Psychoanalytic Criticism of Onward (2020) Film. Boanerges: Makarios Education Journal, 4(1), 56–66. Retrieved from https://streamfly.tech/index.php/boanerges/article/view/58

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2026): BOANERGES

Section

Table of Contents

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