ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses four Hollywood movies in order to elucidate the intrapsychic vacillations of "basic trust". The four Hollywood movies are It's a Wonderful Life, Gaslight, Suspicion, and Manhattan. The chapter addresses the regressive conflation of trust-related issues with the developmentally later, oedipal conflicts. The four movies tackle the vicissitudes of trust and self-confidence in different ways. It's a Wonderful Life, depicts the loss of trust in one's capacity to make good choices and the resulting depletion of self-worth. In Gaslight, the problems of trust are caused by an admixture of interpersonal and intrapsychic variables. The regressive conflation of oedipal agendas with the preoedipally constructed structures of trust and confidence results in the movie's ambiguous moments. The fact that some crucial events in these movies are never fully shown on the screen amplify vagueness and makes the moviegoers question their own perception and become a bit mistrustful themselves.
