A Narcissistic Mother and a Hopeless Child.

            

White oleander is a well-directed movie that holds many psychological themes throughout. Ingrid is the single mother of Astrid and she is very caught up in her own life. Ingrid ends up killing a guy she is seeing because he is seeing someone else, with an oleander flower. Ingrid is placed in jail and Astrid is left to be taken by social services. Throughout the movie Astrid goes to live with different families who are all completely different, in these homes she tries her hardest to fit in and feel loved in order to fill the void she has from the lack of her mother's love. Although the first few homes seem hopeless and helpless, Astrid finally begins to feel loved by Claire, her fourth home mother. And in her last home, Astrid finally begins to realize she can survive alone without her mother and uses this a reason to create distance from Ingrid. 

                                          

           The first scene I choose to analyze from this movie is a scene where Astrid is visiting her mother in prison. I feel like this scene is important in the movie because it is the first time that Astrid actually calls out her mother on being self-centered. Ingrid has a classic case of narcissistic personality disorder, also referred to as NPD, which according to mayclinic.com "is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration." In this scene it is obvious that Ingrid is a narcissistic person because she is completely involved in herself and has yet to care how Astrid is doing without her, unless of course Astrid is raving about how she misses Ingrid. Astrid calls Ingrid out on leaving her when see was very young for over a year. Ingrid's reason for leaving her was that she was going to the beach with some friends and she was tired of hearing Astrid cry. Astrid makes a good point that that is what a baby does and is and from this Astrid is beginning to see how self centered her mother is. According to the Mayoclinic website a symptom Ingrid showed by leaving Astrid was failing to consider other people's emotions. She also takes advantage of Alice, the woman with whom she left Astrid with for over a year. Ingrid then goes on to tell Astrid that she is not asking the right question. Yet another example that she has narcissistic personality disorder because she wants Astrid to think that she is not wrong just as Ingrid believes. She also tries to cover up her mistake by blaming Astrid's father and by trying to make him look worse since he left her. Ingrid’s narcissistic personality disorder can be observed through out the movie and it obviously had an impact on Astrid and her feelings of just wanting to be loved.

                                          

  The second scene I choose from White Oleander demonstrates the parenting style of Ingrid. In this scene Astrid’s teacher asks Astrid if her mother was going to come to parents night. The teacher obviously recognizes that Ingrid has no interest in how her daughter is doing in school and is disappointed that she is not coming. From this scene we can see that Ingrid is an authoritarian parent. Some may think that this is a characteristic of a neglectful parent, however in the case of Ingrid, she is not happy no matter what Astrid does, therefore she is an authoritarian parent.  According to families.com authoritarian parenting styles, parents hold their children to high levels of achievement, however they show very little love and affection towards them. This is true of Ingrid because anything Astrid does it will not fulfill what Ingrid wants. This again pulls into the idea that Ingrid is narcissistic and self-centered and the only thing that will make her happy is if everyone thinks she is the greatest. So in her relationship with Astrid, it is Astrid’s job to praise Ingrid, not the other way around.

            The two scenes I choose are not the only scenes that represent both of these ideas throughout the movie. Ingrid’s narcissism can be seen when she only thinks of herself when she kills the man she was seeing, when she doesn’t even feel bad that Astrid will be living the remainder of her life in foster homes and jumping from family to family. Ingrid’s way of life has definitely affected Astrid and how she acts the remainder of the movie. It is obvious that Astrid just wants to be loved and seeks that from everyone around her. The authoritarian parenting style of Ingrid left Astrid seeking the love she never received from her mother. Astrid is a hopeless child just trying to find herself in the world and she is shaped by the people who are in her life. These psychological principles do not even begin to describe half of what White Oleander consists of.