Broken Bonds and the Modern Subject: Family Estrangement in “There Will Be Blood”
Research Article
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Broken Bonds and the Modern Subject: Family Estrangement in “There Will Be Blood”

Ruixin Ni 1*
1 Northwest University
*Corresponding author: ruixin944@gmail.com
Published on 6 August 2025
Journal Cover
CHR Vol.75
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-317-8
ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-318-5
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Abstract

In recent years, the psychological analysis of film protagonists has attracted growing academic attention, yet few studies focus on how narrative violence and social context shape a character’s self-destruction. This research aims to analyze the protagonist Daniel Plainview in the movie There Will Be Blood from a psychological perspective, in order to explore why the protagonist in the film eventually became alienated from his family and his self-subject collapsed. In terms of theoretical framework, this paper mainly uses Adler's individual psychology, supplemented by social and cultural psychology, to analyze the protagonist's irreversible tragedy under the internal emotional barriers and external environmental blows. And focuses on the film's text narrative and character creation, the contradictions in Daniel Plainview's personality, and the reasons why the contradictions cannot be resolved, revealing that his unfortunate and terrifying ending is caused by multiple factors. Therefore this study provides a fresh interdisciplinary approach that bridges psychoanalytic theory and film literary criticism. The study finally presents a reflection on this modern tragedy, and also provides a useful discussion for the combination of film literary criticism and psychological theory.

Keywords:

Alfred Adler, There Will Be Blood, family alienation, modern tragedy, psychological analysis

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Ni,R. (2025). Broken Bonds and the Modern Subject: Family Estrangement in “There Will Be Blood”. Communications in Humanities Research,75,29-34.

References

[1]. Phipps, G. A. (2015). Making the milk into a milkshake: Adapting Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" into P. T. Anderson's "There Will Be Blood". Literature/Film Quarterly, 43(1): 34.

[2]. Adler, A. (1931) What Life Should Mean to You. Little Brown, Boston.

[3]. Adler, A. (1927). Understanding Human Nature. Greenberg, New York.

[4]. Li S. (2022). The traumatic psychology of characters in Paul Thomas Anderson's films. Masterpieces Appreciation, (35): 173.

[5]. Morse, K. (2012). There will be birds: Images of oil disasters in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Journal of American History, 99(1): 125.

[6]. Chen Y. (2008) Oscar's New Face and the Politics of Hollywood. [J] Film Art, (04): 105.

[7]. Murtadho, A.M., Supriatna, E. & Suhendar. (2021) Analysis of Daniel Plainview’s Character Traits in the Movie “There Will Be Blood”. [J] Journal of English Language and Literature, Vol.6, No.2, pp.95.

[8]. Stephen Pizzello. (2008). Bloody Oil: Photography Talk on There Will Be Blood. [J] Film Art, (04): 140.

[9]. Lu C. (2014). Interpretation of the spiritual ecology of There Will Be Blood. [J] Film Literature, (04): 110.

[10]. Zhang Y. (2013). Paul Thomas Anderson: Ironic Narrative, Contrast of Rhetoric and Witness Image. [J] Contemporary Cinema, (11): 152.

[11]. Sperb J. (2014) Blossoms & Blood: Postmodem Media Culture and the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Cineaste Publishers, Inc., 39(4): 75.

References

[1]. Phipps, G. A. (2015). Making the milk into a milkshake: Adapting Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" into P. T. Anderson's "There Will Be Blood". Literature/Film Quarterly, 43(1): 34.

[2]. Adler, A. (1931) What Life Should Mean to You. Little Brown, Boston.

[3]. Adler, A. (1927). Understanding Human Nature. Greenberg, New York.

[4]. Li S. (2022). The traumatic psychology of characters in Paul Thomas Anderson's films. Masterpieces Appreciation, (35): 173.

[5]. Morse, K. (2012). There will be birds: Images of oil disasters in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Journal of American History, 99(1): 125.

[6]. Chen Y. (2008) Oscar's New Face and the Politics of Hollywood. [J] Film Art, (04): 105.

[7]. Murtadho, A.M., Supriatna, E. & Suhendar. (2021) Analysis of Daniel Plainview’s Character Traits in the Movie “There Will Be Blood”. [J] Journal of English Language and Literature, Vol.6, No.2, pp.95.

[8]. Stephen Pizzello. (2008). Bloody Oil: Photography Talk on There Will Be Blood. [J] Film Art, (04): 140.

[9]. Lu C. (2014). Interpretation of the spiritual ecology of There Will Be Blood. [J] Film Literature, (04): 110.

[10]. Zhang Y. (2013). Paul Thomas Anderson: Ironic Narrative, Contrast of Rhetoric and Witness Image. [J] Contemporary Cinema, (11): 152.

[11]. Sperb J. (2014) Blossoms & Blood: Postmodem Media Culture and the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Cineaste Publishers, Inc., 39(4): 75.

Cite this article

Ni,R. (2025). Broken Bonds and the Modern Subject: Family Estrangement in “There Will Be Blood”. Communications in Humanities Research,75,29-34.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICADSS 2025 Symposium: Consciousness and Cognition in Language Acquisition and Literary Interpretation

ISBN: 978-1-80590-317-8(Print) / 978-1-80590-318-5(Online)
Editor: Yanhua Qin, Enrique Mallen
Conference website: https://2025.icadss.org/Huntsville.html
Conference date: 17 September 2025
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.75
ISSN: 2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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