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Ariana Karounos

Mrs. Spyrou

Psychology

4 October 2021

Identifying the Id, Superego and Ego in “The Guilty”

In the new Netflix movie titled “The Guilty,” A 911-dispatcher named Joe Bayler

struggles with his own personal life issues which leads him to bluntly judge every person who

calls into the station for help. He rolls his eyes, chuckles, and hangs up the phone on at least

three or more callers. However, when he receives a call from a young woman, Emily Lighton, he

changes his attitude towards the caller; perhaps because Emily’s situation reminds him of his

own. Emily makes it seem as if she is the victim who has been abducted by her ex-husband,

Henry, and they’re on their way to an unknown destination. Without having any evIdence, Joe

believes what she tells him. As the movie unravels, I come to find out Emily is not the victim.

Instead, the victims are her ex-husband Henry, their six year old daughter Abby, and their son,

Oliver, who is presumed to be killed by Emily herself. Nonetheless, Joe the dispatcher continues

to respond to the call as if Emily is the victim in this case.

As Sigmund Freud describes it, the Id, Superego, and Ego are parts of a single person’s

mind. The Id is the drive of sexual urges, buried memories, and basic needs/wants, and it is

driven by what is called the “pleasure principle.” On the other hand, the Superego’s intent is to

lessen or subdue desires influenced by the Id; it can be thought of as the moral conscience. The

Ego is what controls the two, it makes the most rational decision consIdering both the Id and

Superego, even if the decision is not the most moral.

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I am going to give an example of the Id, Superego and Ego in the scene where Joe

received the call from Emily. Joe’s initial thought when he picked up the phone was that it was

only another unimportant situation from a caller. Doubtful to believe otherwise, he proceeded

with the conversation. After his Id convinced him that the conversation couldn't get much

further, Joe had his finger placed on the button to end the call. Suddenly, Emily saId something

that caught his ear and he took his finger off the end button. In this case, Joe’s Id led him to

believe that Emily’s situation wasn’t important enough for him to “waste” his time on, hence the

reason he was about to hang up. The pleasure principle was he wouldn’t have to deal with

Emily’s situation, yet, he dIdn't think about the long term consequences, which could include

saving many lives.

When Joe hears a man speaking to Emily in the background, his Superego or otherwise,

morality, kicks in and he takes his finger off the end button. The deep man’s voice (which we

later find out to be Henry’s) says “Come on. Come on now.” Immediately, Joe starts to take the

situation more seriously. As he tries to remain calm, Emily keeps responding with the same

answer: “no/yes sweetie, and everything is going to be fine sweetie.” Finally, Joe realises that

Emily doesn't want Henry to find out who is on the call with her, and so Joe continues to speak in

“code.” Emily is pretending as if she is on the phone with her six year old daughter, when in

reality she is talking to Joe, a 911 dispatcher. Joe’s superego helps him realize that Emily is

indeed in danger, and he can help her get out of it. By not hanging up, he thinks he can save her

life.

After asking Emily a series of questions, Joe’s next move is to put the call on hold to then

call the Highway Patrol to send a few police units Emily’s way. Unexpectedly, he receives a

personal phone call in the middle of the situation. He has been awaiting this phone call for quite
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a long time now, and finally got it, but at the wrong time. His ego guIdes him to do the right

thing and he dodges the phone call even though it is important to him and he focuses on Emily

and her situation. In this case, Joe listened to his superego over his Id to make the rational

decision of not picking up his personal awaited phone call.

Although there are many examples of the Id, superego and ego in this movie, I found that

these were the clearest examples.