Vampires- Narcissism, Spike, and Angelus

While Aria and I were watching LMPTM, I decided to bring up an article I read in the Psychology of Joss Whedon about vampirism as a metaphor for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I’m not going to go into detail about how vampires display symptoms of this since if you have seen BTVS and ATS you… well.. know what vampires are like. I went to fetch a list of the symptoms for you here-

Someone with NPD displays 5 or more of the following…

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is “special” and unique
4. requires excessive admiration
5. has a sense of entitlement
6. is interpersonally exploitative
7. lacks empathy
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

Another intriguing note- the presence of a soul seems to take away these qualities. And now a little exploration of Angel and Spike.

Liam -> Angelus -> Angel : Driven by Purpose

Liam was a drunken, whoring, son of a bitch. That’s pretty much the only way to put it. He was the rich white kid of the 1700s who didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to, because his family had money and he was lazy. He had no purpose and hence was pretty much a mess. But that’s what makes his transition to Angelus so interesting. How this lazy boy becomes a feared killer- in becoming a vampire Angelus suddenly had purpose. He was a creature made to kill, made to feed, and he was going to do so to the best of his ability. But it was more than just ‘killing’, his purpose lay in destroying lives, hence the mind games and artistic slaughters.

When Angel got his soul back, he was no longer a full vampire, hence he lost his purpose which is what left him struggling for 90+ years, flailing to survive, doing nothing with his life except for moment and actions done on the spur of the moment, but not for any real reason. It was almost as though he was in a permanent dissociative fugue, cut off from any real identity as he made circles around the country, from New York to Chicago to Montana to Vegas back, eventually, to New York.

Things finally changed in 1996, when he had something to do- look out for Buffy. And you can see over the first few seasons of Buffy that this purpose kept Angel going. But it wasn’t going to last after they split. When he got to LA in the first season of Angel he was still in that isolated, drinking, closed off state. He got purpose again by his connection to the PTB.

In essence, what makes Angel a champion, is the exact same thing that makes Angelus a monster.

William -> Spike : Driven to Connect

William, in life, was someone who spent his time caring for his mother, writing poetry, and generally being a romantic, and about being connected to other people. Perhaps that is how he established his self worth, by connecting to others. In becoming Spike, he showed all the symptoms of NPD/Vampirism, but what I find interesting is that he shows them mostly in regards to his romantic points of view. For him, killing was not really done on his own, but mostly as what seemed like mating rituals with/for either Drusilla or Angelus, or if you don’t buy the Spike/Angelus bit you could say he was trying to prove his worth as a vampire to someone he admired.

He definitely was preoccupied by the concepts of ideal love, especially with Dru and Buffy. And can be seen as lacking empathy for others and interpersonally exploitative for this romantic ideal- case in point the scene where he is going to “make Buffy love him.”

Another interesting thing to point out is that he was not a violent vampire by nature, not until he met Angelus. Which begs the question, how does refined William become bad-ass brawling Spike. Again he is working on connecting to people and building up his self worth. No one will respect a vampire who just sits about writing poetry, they are going to respect one who gets out there and makes a scene. He is building himself up to show himself as someone spectacular, to be feared.

And as Aria pointed out to me, Spike getting his soul back was very different from Angel getting his soul back. Whereas Angel sort of… dissolved from his lack of purpose, Spike still had what drove him- the need to connect to others. And he did so in helping the Scoobies.

Normal Again: Buffy’s Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

I finally found out what that means. There are many kinds of Schizophrenia:

Paranoid- Primary symptoms delusions/hallucinations
Catatonic-… well…. that would involve catatonia
Disorganized- Showing primarily lack of cohesive thought, babbling, “word salad”
Undifferentiated- showing symptoms from various kinds of Schizophrenia

i.e.- Buffy had symptoms of Paranoid and Catatonic Schizophrenia, but since the DSM has this thing about not combining conditions they had to come up with a new one.

I hope it’s hormones…

I’ve just had a very weepy day. And watching “Family” with Aria didn’t help. Not the Aria part, hanging with Aria is good and makes my days not suck right now… Right now I just feel like I’m waiting… eternally for things to change, to happen… it’s a very lame feeling.

I also didn’t have class today… which… stuff… I don’t know. Anyways I hat being so down and I hope its my cycle. I’m sure you all wanted to hear that.

Xander: How’s that fugue state coming along?

Here’s a theory, albeit a probably wrong one about the end of Season 2 of BTVS. Buffy ups and leaves Sunnydale looking as dull and as dim as a burnt out lightbulb. I’m beginning to wonder if she may have been suffering from Dissociative Fugue. The definition of which.. well I could type out from my psych notes but instead I’ll post the definition from the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders.

Dissociative fugue is a rare condition in which a person suddenly, without planning or warning, travels far from home or work and leaves behind a past life. Patients show signs of amnesia and have no conscious understanding or knowledge of the reason for the flight. The condition is usually associated with severe stress or trauma. Because persons cannot remember all or part of their past, at some point they become confused about their identity and the situations in which they find themselves. In rare cases, they may take on new identities.

Granted it’s clear by Anne she’s regained her memory, perhaps there was a triggering event. I don’t know, I highly doubt that this was the reason she left Sunnydale but you never know.

I’m riding the endorphin high…

I honestly think I need therapy more than once a week because I’m starting to get very antsy and anxious again. It’s not fun. Anyways I went to the gym and I’m feeling good for a while. I got most of my costume design homework done so far. Just a few more things left to do but it’s not a big deal.

Anyways since I’m here and I have this spot, I figured I should pimp the Buffy Between the Lines Season 2 auditions. Since they are coming. March 8-21st.

Harmony, Principal Snyder, Mayor Wilkins III,  Willy the Snitch, Cordy, Drusilla (Aria I know you read this…. jooooin us), Riley, Oz, Lindsey McDonald, Lilah Morgan, Gwen Raiden, Amy Madison, Larry, Holland Manners, Pat, Alan Finch, Young Wesley (7 years old), Gwendolyn Post, Quentin Travers and many many more! Just keep it in mind.

100 Hits

Thanks everyone. I’m trying to figure out more ways to get more hits… what can I say I’m a bit of a feedback whore… anyways this was an odd day because it was equally as productive as it was unproductive. I got all my study abroad plans of study in, rearranged my room, worked out… yet at the same time I didn’t send the ebay thing I had to and the majority of the day was spent watching BTVS with Aria… we kinda just slammed through the end of Season 2… I got some reading done and mostly all I have this weekend is costume design homework… which is of the good I suppose… now I’m beat… I’m going to sim and go to bed.