Projection is a word found both in cinema and psychology. The former is fairly obvious, it concerns the way images on film stock are projected onto the blank screen within a darkened cinema. In the latter case it is the way in which unconscious material can be projected onto the “blank screen” of the therapist – the non-judgmental listener. Both senses are used in Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo as well as in Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr which, being out of copyright, can be downloaded for free from the Internet.
A very interesting variation on this theme can be found in "Being There" in which the central character, Chance played by Peter Sellers, has no persona. A persona is the mask we put on when we face the outer word – the doctor, teacher, devoted friend, cynic, clown, etc. In the case of Chance he has no persona and is a totally blank slate. This means that people can project onto him anything they want and so he becomes the wise Politian, the clever businessman, the sympathetic lover. At the end of the film he is even selected as candidate for the next President of the United States. But there is one other factor about Chance and that is that he was a gardener. He can tend for things, he knows about growth and the seasons so where others around him may not be grounded, Chance is connected to the earth – and can also walk on water!
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