The Santa Anna winds can blow strong and extremely dry. Depending on the time of year, they can range from terribly hot or terribly cold. They have been known to be associated with some of Southern California’s largest, deadliest fires. In the opening scene of the movie, Astrid, played by Alison Lohman, describes the weather as she remembers it of the year her flashbacks take place. “The Santa Anna was blue and hot from the desert that fall; only the oleanders thrived.” Oleanders are small but incredibly tough, poisonous evergreens that can grow without summer water. “Maybe the wind was the reason my mother did what she did,” Astrid ponders. In her mind, she is making the connection between her mother, the powerful, dangerous force—the Santa Anna winds—and herself—the thick skinned oleander.
Ingrid, played by Michelle Pfeiffer in the movie, is not your typical mother. Her psychological abnormalities are what we will focus in on. At different times throughout the movie, she is paranoid, schizotypal, histrionic, or narcissistic. Specifically, in Parts 10 & 11, Ingrid’s histrionic and narcissistic psychology traits are most apparent.
At 7 minutes, Astrid forces her mother to answer her questions truthfully in exchange for her testimony in court. She asks Ingrid why she killed Barry, and Ingrid proceeds to tell her self-absorbed lies. Her narcissistic personality comes out, and she makes everything about herself. She can’t seem to own up to her mistakes, especially murder, and admit that she was wrong. 2 minutes and 50 seconds into Part 11, Astrid flat out accuses her mother of always making everything about herself. "It wasn't about you; it was about me, and I wanted to see him! ... Everything's always been about you, never about me. I knew you were going to kill Barry, but you didn't even care. You didn't give a damn about what it would do to me."
In the beginning of Part 11, Ingrid tries exaplaining to Astrid how she felt like a “hostage” to her newborn, always feeling like a “spider clinging to her.” Only a histrionic person would overreact in such a way as to leaving her infant child at a neighbor’s house for an entire year.
Ingrid’s parenting styles, which sway back and forth between authoritarian and neglecting at times, also come into question. The first poor parenting style we see in the movie comes in Part I when Astrid asks Ingrid if she will be attending parents’ night at school. When Astrid finds out that Ingrid had made other plans to go to an art show, she reminds her mother that all the other parents always show up. “What can they tell me about you that I don’t already know?” Ingrid tells her. This quote briefly shows how Ingrid is not involved in Astrid life, thinking that an art show is obviously more important than her only daughter’s parent night.
Much later in the movie (Part 8 to be specific), Ingrid’s parenting style changes to authoritarian. She becomes extremely angry when she finds that her daughter is somewhat happy. “If you love me, you’ll help me,” Astrid begs. “Help you? I would rather see you in the worst kind of foster hell than living with that woman,” Ingrid yells to Astrid talking about Claire, Astrid’s most recent foster mother. Another example refers back to Part 11 when Astrid is accusing her mother of being narcissistic. When Astrid tries to leave, Ingrid becomes an angry, authoritarian figure: "No, no you don't just walk away from me. I made you; I'm in your blood. You don't go anywhere until I let you go."
This movie is definitely filled with many different abnormalities and psychological disorders. Although very difficult to watch because of its twisted characters and plot, it is extremely helpful in exemplifying exactly what we've gone over in general psychology!
No comments:
Post a Comment