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The scenic function of the ego makes possible a situationally appropriate representation of an unconscious, infantile configuration, i.e. a drive scene which is relatively stable and personality-bound and which has the same status as latent dream thoughts. Accordingly, the products of conflict elaboration (symptoms, etc.) vary their phenomenal form according to situational conditions. The content of the drive scene is created by the psychic apparatus on the basis of infantile perceptions and betrays itself in screen memories. The capacity for situationally appropriate representation is tied to the mobile drive, including its narcissistic variations. A desexualization (in the sense of neutralization) renders the scenic elaboration impossible. Drive derivatives which have been withdrawn from the scenic arrangement contribute to the organization of the ego and to the formation of character traits. These no longer suit themselves to the situation, but can be modified only through a transformation of the personality structure itself. It is an open question whether a process of resexualization can make them once again accessible to analytic work. The aspect of narcissistic libido which can take a scenic form is closely related to primary narcissism. Its manifestations, too, can make their appearance in situationally conditioned symptom formation and appear amenable to analysis.