ipl-logo

Examples Of Narcissism In Mommie Dearest

736 Words3 Pages

In the movie Mommie Dearest there are several portrayals of prominent psychological disorders. The main character Joan Crawford and actress, and singles mom, displays different disorders, each display increasing severity. Psychological disorders are behavior patterns or mental processes that cause serious personal suffering or interfere with a person’s ability to cope with everyday life (Rathus, 2010). Like in the movie Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford has the stress of being the an actress and having to continue to funding her lavish lifestyle. This leads to her developing a multitude of disorders including an obsessive compulsive disorder, a borderline disorder, a bipolar disorder, and she becomes narcissistic, being in the limelight all the …show more content…

Narcissism is when someone feels that they deserves admiration, they have fantasies of their own success, power, and intelligence. Joan is probably one of the most severe examples of narcissism, and she is really self-absorbed. She is an actress, movie-stars and feels as if she deserves respect from everyone, and she falsely promotes herself as a caring person, by adopting two children and by giving orphans presents on Christmas, when really she is not that kind of a person. One example of her never ending narcissism is not really a scene, but you see this throughout the whole movie, and that is that she has pictures of herself everywhere, over the mantle, on the piano, on several shelves, and she doesn’t just put them up for decoration, but she stares at them and admires herself. She had more pictures of herself scattered throughout the house, than she had of her two children. Another example of her narcissism is while doing an interview she states that her daughter was expelled from a boarding school, while in reality Joan pulled Christina from the school, because she had sexual relations with one of the students there, and Christina fights back and points that out in front of the interviewer. Joan is infuriated and pulls Christina aside, and begins to yell at her. What made Joan the most mad is that she told Christina not to ruin her interview, and then she goes on to ruin it. The

Show More
Related
1199 Words | 5 Pages

Also, with her having these issues she tends to become depressed or another person, which has resulted in her becoming a “monster.” Vincent told the Child Protective Service (CPS) worker that he was afraid his mother would be come a “monster,” but never said his reason. Also, the safety threats was neglect because Andrea tried to kill herself, which put Vincent in harms way because he would have been there all by himself. Even though he would have been there all by himself, the trauma

Read More
1474 Words | 6 Pages

Her self-centered and cocky attitude give her a negative attitude that is expressed in all her interactions with other characters on the show. According to Psychology Today, “The hallmarks of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) are grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration.” A narcissist is well-known to talk high of themselves, just as Christina does, but they also fail deeply at interpersonal communications. She establishes relationships in a snap, but her inability to maintain them reveals another depreciating flaw in her character. She has a tendency to “use ‘em and lose ‘em” when the men no longer serve a purpose for her, which is another symptom of narcissism (Psychology

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

After graduating middle school her friend lost touch with her and eventually left her life for good: “By the time she got to Welch High Dinitia changed.” Jeannette was also sexually harassed by one of her friends in Phoenix while playing hide-and-seek: “Billy smushed his face against mine… ‘Guess what?’Billy shouted. ‘I raped you’” Lastly, while going to school in Phoenix Jeannette was bullied for being smart and skinny: “The other students didn’t like me much because I was so tall and pale and skinny and always raised my hand too fast… A few days after I started school, four Mexican girls followed me home and jumped me in an alleyway…”

Read More
564 Words | 3 Pages

Connie had a “nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right”(Oates 1). This vain behavior has Connie comparing herself to everyone she comes in contact with. The only thing Connie cared for was her looks “she knew she was pretty and that was everything”(Oates 1). Connie constantly compares herself to her sister June. June was “plain and chunky and steady”(Oates 1) unlike Connie who’s beauty, thinness, and unsteady attitude upset her mother.

Read More
626 Words | 3 Pages

The words Rosemary says can be bypassed as her normal, quirky self, but her daughter looks at them as a wake up call. This is the point where Jeannette realizes she doesn’t need to change her family, that the influence they had on her life molded her into who she is. This is when Jeannette lets go of the anger she was holding on to her

Read More
719 Words | 3 Pages

These disorders not only shaped Joan’s (Faye Dunaway) life, but also her daughter Christina’s (Mara Hobel, Diana Scarwid)

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

Having emotional breakdowns, noticing hints of a certain bipolarity, letting their emotional impulsivity control their

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, by David O. Russel we meet Patrick Solitano Jr. who was a former high school teacher. After catching his wife cheating with the history teacher he viciously beats him and has to spend eight months in a mental hospital. After coming out of the mental hospital, Pat approaches life in a very different way. He is determined to get his ex-wife Nikki back, which he still refers to as his wife. Pat is also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression disorder.

Read More
455 Words | 2 Pages

Did Jeannette portray her parents in a negative or positive way? “In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation. There was what Mom called Dad’s ‘beer phase.’ We could all handle that. Dad drove fast and sang really loud, and locks of his hair fell into his face and life was a little bit scary but still a lot of fun.”

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

Exploring Psychology by David G Myers (2014) says that a psychological disorder is a syndrome marked by a “clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior” (American Psychiatric Association 2013)(p. 506). In the movie Mommie Dearest directed by Frank Perry we see Joan Crawford played by Faye Dunaway. The character Joan portrays many different psychological disorders, which affects how we see her role in the movie. Multiple disorders were evident throughout the film, but three major disorders that were noticeable were obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar, and borderline. Mommie Dearest is a story about Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) who is a great Hollywood actress.

Read More
2445 Words | 10 Pages

They are viewed as socially callous or cruel facets of the human personality. Narcissism is characterized as, “a sense of self-importance, exhibitionism, entitlement, and interpersonal exploitation.” (Lee, et al. 169-170). Additionally it has been observed that Narcissism can be “the self image of individuals who exaggerate their achievements, disregard the feelings of others, expect to have their desires met, often behave in ways that demand attention, use others for their own gain, believe themselves to be unique, and are highly interested in self-enhancement.”

Read More
1320 Words | 6 Pages

“She said that sexual assault was a crime of perception. “If you don’t think you’re hurt, then you aren’t (Walls 184).” Rosemary makes Jeannette feel like she is insignificant to her and doesn’t make the effort to stick up for her child. At this point, Jeannette must feel worthless to her mother, bringing her self-esteem to a low.

Read More
1198 Words | 5 Pages

Girl, Interrupted is a film that portrays many different illnesses, but specifically the experiences of Susanna, the main character, who is a patient at a psychiatric hospital. The multipath model contains the different dimensions portrayed in the film: biological, psychological, social, and sociocultural. Susanna is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and some of the dimensions are applied to this disorder in the film. There is really no biological dimension shown in the film with any of the characters. There might be some genetic factors between Susanna and her parents with BPD, but it is not indicated so.

Read More
1231 Words | 5 Pages

The Various Perspectives of Personality There have been numerous studies of the factors that can affect a person’s personality. Typically, these studies always reflected on what role a child’s early life played in their adult personalities. The character of Howard Hughes from the movie The Aviator was a fitting example of the many effective factors (Scorsese, 2004). This paper’s purpose is to examine and describe theories such as the psychoanalysis perspective, physiological perspective, and biological perspective of personality traits. Psychoanalysis Perspective Erik Erikson was a student of Freud whose approach to psychoanalysis was called ego psychology (Larsen & Buss, 2008).

Read More
1232 Words | 5 Pages

Today there has been an increase in the awareness of mental health. In the sense that society has begun to take notice of how mental health effects each individual differently. The media has begun to incorporate a variety of illnesses to entertain to their audience. However, many have questioned if the media is accurately portraying these mental disorders. I chose to compare two popular movies Frankie & Alice and the 2007 version film Sybil.

Read More

More about Examples Of Narcissism In Mommie Dearest

Related Topics

Open Document