The daughter shows signs of conformity throughout the entire movie. The following scene (time = 3:35) shows how she has completely altered her appearance and general affect to look more like her foster sisters and new foster mother. She picked up both the habits of drinking and smoking in order to “fit in” with her new social group. She sold off the sentimental clothing she had left from her past homes because her new mother held no value in anything other than money.
The other situation where her extreme conformity is evident is in the MacLaren Children's Center when she becomes hard and cuts her hair to match the attitudes of the other young women in the center. This reaction may be the classic attitude one would have when approaching such a situation, either become so strong no one will hurt you or find the protection of someone who is strong. However, when you look at Astrid as she is in less stressful situations you can continue to see her conformity.
With Star’s family, she quickly started to dress like her foster mother and sister, which led to a change in her behavior from quiet to more flirtatious. In no other situations was she overly flirtatious with any male. During her time with Claire, she became very studious (not seen when she was with Ingrid) and caring.
Her time with Ingrid shows her lack of attention in school and a major focus on her art, exactly what her mother wanted out of her. Her art was the only constant through all of her foster homes, she altered almost all of her other behaviors to conform to her current environment.
Ingrid continues to exhibit traits of a histrionic female through the . As seen in the following clip (time = 0:40), Ingrid has a tendency to be extremely attention seeking, striving to make the world (or at least her own personal world) revolve completely around her. She does this throughout the movie as seen through the various flashbacks, even to the point of claiming her reason for being in prison was for being "strong and beautiful." Even while in prison, she brings the world in with her with her artwork, bringing her audience in to worship her when they should revile her.
In one of her final speeches (3:40) she says something extremely self involved, "you don't just walk away from me, I made you, I'm in your blood." In that moment, she does not think of anyone other than herself, she doesn't value anything outside of herself.
In the end, Ingrid overcomes her self absorbed, narcissistic and histrionic behavior and allows her daughter to live her life, the one moment where she moves above her issues in a single act of selflessness.
Peter Kominsky’s White Oleander is a fictional story laden with real world psychological principles. It was a film that put me through a variety of emotional highs and lows. Although it may not be ideal for the faint hearted, I strongly recommend this film to young people everywhere; it is a work of art that may be especially enjoyable for the curious psychology student.
White Oleander features a narcissistic mother, a young girl who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, authoritarian parenting, and suicide among other psychologically relevant characters, themes, and plot twists. Alcoholism as a coping device as well as the development of an individual within a fatherless family are psychological principles that interest me greatly. Both of these principles are evident in Kominsky’s film; consequentially, making the film a great starting point to further explore alcoholism and fatherless development.
Alcoholism is an addiction that affects approximately 14 million United States citizens (King). It is important to note, however, that alcohol is not often considered a drug. In reality, alcohol is the most commonly used and widely abused psychoactive drug in the world. The type of abuse that I am most interested in is psychological dependence. Psychological dependence is a strong desire to repeat the use of alcohol for emotional reasons such as feelings of well-being and stress reduction (King). Many factors contribute to psychological dependence. Sadly enough, there may be a genetic predisposition for an individual to become psychologically dependant on alcohol. 50-60% of those who become alcoholics are believed to have a gene for it (King). Environmental factors such as family, friends, the ease of obtaining alcohol and peer influence among other factors can react with one’s genetics to form a complex dynamic system of both physical and psychological dependence. If you are reading this blog thinking that you may have a problem with either physical or psychological dependence alcoholics anonymous (Alcoholics Anonymous) is one of the most recognized, accredited and available support groups.
Within the film, the character of Star uses alcohol as a coping mechanism. Astrid’s dialogue with Davie , found 7:40 minutes into part 4 provides a hint that Star has had problems with psychological dependence to alcohol.
Forward to 7:44
Star’s dialogue with her daughter Kara-Lee, found 30 seconds into part 5, cements the viewers inclination that Star has had, and continues to battle a psychological dependence on alcohol.
View from :30-2:08
In the waning moments of the above clip, Start attempts to take Astrid’s life. The correlation between alcohol consumption and homicides is a very interesting area of study. A whopping 60% of homicides in the United States involve alcohol consumption by either the offender or the victim (King). Here are a few extremely disturbing statistics concerning the correlation between alcohol consumption and homicide… • Alcohol availability is closely related to violent assaults. Communities and neighborhoods that have more bars and liquor stores per capita experience more assaults. • Alcohol use is frequently associated with violence between intimate partners. Two-thirds of victims of intimate partner violence reported that alcohol was involved in the incident. • In one study of interpersonal violence, men had been drinking in an estimated 45 percent of cases and women had been drinking in 20 percent of cases. • Women whose partners abused alcohol were 3.6 times more likely than other women to be assaulted by their partners. • In 1997, 40 percent of convicted rape and sexual assault offenders said that they were drinking at the time of their crime. • In 2002, more than 70,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 were victims of alcohol-related sexual assault in the U.S. • In those violent incidents recorded by the police in which alcohol was a factor, about nine percent of the offenders and nearly 14 percent of the victims were under age 21. 7 • Twenty-eight percent of suicides by children ages nine to 15 were attributable to alcohol. • An estimated 480,000 children are mistreated each year by a caretaker with alcohol problems. (Kuhn).
Now, in no way can one say that all of these statistics concern individuals with psychological or physical dependence on alcohol; however, the more frequently that one person drinks, the more likely they are to commit an act that correlates with alcohol consumption.
Alcoholism is an issue the affects all ages, races, and economic classes; it is imperative to recognize that the foremost way to address this travesty is in the field of treatment. If you are or anyone that you know is having difficulty with psychological, physical or both forms of addiction, please take action. Research related to White Oleander has showed that alcoholism is an addiction that affects far more lives than one.
The development and maturation of an individual within a fatherless family is a scenario that has always been of significant interest to me. Having grown up in a family where the father gradually became and absentee even destructive variable in the family, I have noticed that such a development has had a grave impact on my development. I find myself yearning for the support, advice, and companionship that only a father can offer. As much as our society is attempting to reach a state of genderless parenting, I am a strong believer that the most fruitful development is seen within a family fathered by a male and mothered by a female, both being present throughout the developmental stages. I wish daily that I had a father figure in my life.
Throughout White Oleander, I could not help but to relate to Astrid’s fatherless development. Astrid’s case is a bit more extreme as she has never had a father figure in her life. It is evident that Astrid is pondering her absentee father 4:15 into scene 6.
Forward 4:15
Astrid brings Freud’s ideas to fruition with her desire of the sexual attention of a father figure. Astrid seeks out the sexual affection of her foster father at the very beginning of scene 5.
According to the U.S. department of Health and Human Services, "Fatherless children are at dramatically greater risk of suicide" (NCHS). At the time of the marital separation, when, as typically occurs, the father leaves the family home and becomes progressively less involved with his children over the ensuing years, it appears that young girls experience the emotional loss of father as a rejection of them. While more common among preschool and early elementary school girls, this phenomenon has been observed in later elementary school and young adolescent children; furthermore, the continued lack of involvement is interpreted as ongoing rejection. Many girls attribute this rejection to their not being pretty enough, affectionate enough, athletic enough, or smart enough to please father and engage him in regular, frequent contacts (Kalter).
Similarly, girls whose parents divorce may grow up without the day to day experience of interacting with a man who is attentive, caring and loving. The continuous sense of being valued and loved as a female seems an especially key element in the development of the conviction that a young girl is lovable. Hence, without this regular source of nourishment, a girl's sense of being valued as a female seems to falter (Drill).
Daughters of single parents are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a premarital birth, and 92% more likely to dissolve their own marriages (Blankenhorn). As a result, all the intergenerational consequences of single motherhood increase the likelihood of chronic welfare dependency (Whitehead). Finally, daughters of single parents are 2.1 times more likely to have children during their teenage years than are daughters from intact families (Blankenhorn).
There are obvious, physical and emotional consequences to fatherless development within females. In conclusion, I would like to site the unique example of someone close to me who has been touched by each of these psychological principles. My sister uses alcohol as a coping device. Her psychological dependence is in direct response to an increasingly fatherless development. She is a fine example that the presence of violence in families predicts substance abuse (Kalia). I am planning on showing her this blog entry; I hope that it will induce positive reformation in the form of treatment.
The American Psychiatric Association defines an antisocial personality disorder (also known as ASPD) as “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood" (APA ,1994). A person suffering from ASPD is usually impulsive, aggressive, deceitful, and has a lack remorse for their actions. These people are often described as “sociopaths” and “psychopaths,” however these terms are not completely synonymous with ASPD. ASPD is three times more likely to occur in males than females (AMN, 2006), and is more common in people who suffer form addictions to drugs and alcohol. ASPD can only be diagnosed in adulthood, but there are some behavioral markers to look for in children such as animal abuse and pyromania (MacDonald, 1983).
Click here for a list of symptoms and possible treatment of ASPD.
In the movie White Oleander Astrid’s mother Ingrid clearly suffers from ASPD. There are many instances throughout the movie where this is apparent; however there is one scene in particular where is very clear. When Astrid visits her mother in prison Ingrid shows no remorse for killing Barry and only goes on about how love is hopeless and that Astrid and her can only depend on each other. This not only shows how Ingrid does not feel guilty for her actions but also her clear deceit of her daughter in hopes of keeping her from forming relations with her foster family.
"Don't attach yourself to anyone who shows you the least bit of attention because you're lonely. Loneliness is the human condition. No one is ever going to fill that space. The best you can do is know yourself... know what you want." -Ingrid
Astrid’s second foster mother Claire commits suicide as a result of her severe depression. I believe Claire suffered form Dysthymic Disorder, a form of depression, which causes the person to suffer from constant low self-esteem, abnormal sleeping patterns, and an inability to make decisions.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. There are biological and psychological factors that contribute to a person committing suicide. Suicide has been linked genetically, but also can be a result of low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter (Ryding, 2006). Psychologically suicide is linked to severe depression, trauma (such as sexual abuse), and overloading levels of stress. Substance abuse is also associated with suicide.
Dysthymic Disorder is a form of chronic depression. The individual suffering is in a depressed most days for periods of more than two years. The disorder does not have a major depressive episode, more of a constant depressed mood. There are six symptoms linked with the disorder; poor appetite or overeating, sleep problems, low energy or fatigue, low self-esteem, poor concentration or difficulty making decisions, and feelings of hopelessness (Ryder, Schuller, & Bagby, 2006).
In the film "White Oleander", directed by Peter Kosminsky, a young artist named Astrid Magnussen reaches adulthood and overcomes many obstacles that would prevent many adolescents from maturing properly. Astrid does not come-out unscathed from her painful and disastrous interactions with her mother and the people she meets through her time in foster care. Though Astrid is effected by many people, her mother, Ingrid, has the most influence on her life. Astrid is forced into the foster care because her mother is a powerful but, in Astrid's words, "dangerous" woman. She lives her life with passion and independence, but her actions have monumental impacts on all those that she comes in contact with. From her daughter to the sweet and gentle Clair, Ingrid manipulates everyone. Though Ingrid is dangerous and often viewed as the mastermind of evil throughout the movie, from her interactions with Astrid and her changing parenting styles, and eventual redemption, it is evident that she embodies Maslow's theory of Self-Actualization to reach her best self.
Neglectful Mother
Ingrid struggles to become a better mother throughout the film. Because she is used to living her life full of passion and without constraints, the birth of her daughter forces Ingrid to be confound to motherhood. Though she hides the truth from Astrid,, Ingrid was a neglectful mother at the beginning of her daughter's life. In the film, Ingrid explains that she "felt like a hostage" so she left her daughter at her neighbor, Annie's house. Ingrid is a neglectful parent throughout this stage of her motherhood. A neglectful parent is completely uninvolved in their child's life, and obviously because Ingrid spent her time able to "take naps in the afternoon and make love all day," she was not present in Astrid's life (King, 2008). According to King, children with neglectful parents often are aware of the lack of concern their parents have in their life, and grow to understand that between the child and parent, the parent's life is significantly more important. In the beginning of the film, it is evident that Ingrid's life is more important. Astrid waits in the car as her mother makes love to her boyfriend.
Though much of Astrid's life is challenged by the neglect she feels from her mother, Ingrid follows Maslow's Theory and changes her style of parenting through steps towards self-actualization. When Astrid's father and Ingrid's lover leave, Ingrid returns to her daughter to become a better mother. Maslow's theory outlines that there is a hierarchy of human needs starting at physiological, than moving to safety, love and belongingness, esteem and finally self-actualization (King, 2008). While she is in love, Ingrid is stuck in the stage of "love and belongingness." Her love of Astrid's father keeps her from all of the other needs in her life. In Maslow's theory, one must fulfill the needs of the stage they are in before they can even address their other callings (King, 2008). Losing the feelings of love from her boyfriend, Ingrid can transcend this stage and move into the "esteem" stage. "Esteem" works along with the authoritarian mother she becomes because she demands respect from her daughter as well as maintaining a strict regimen for men to follow so she will never be their fool again.
Authoritarian Mother
In this clip on the film, Ingrid speaks to her daughter in a way that shows how she has become an authoritarian mother. Authoritarian parenting is classified by parents that expect unquestioned obedience from their children. In the clip, Astrid accuses her mother of forcing her to think exactly the way she has been taught. This is an example of authoritarian parenting because Astrid's cross exemplifies an idea that is outside of what is acceptable to Ingrid. While still following Maslow's theory, Ingrid is primarily looking for esteem. By demanding that her daughter follows her beliefs she is making sure that she herself is getting respect and self-promoting her image through the eyes of her daughter. There is little communication between mother and daughter and Ingrid does not accept any explanation from her daughter, which is a classic sign of authoritarian parenting (King, 2008).
According to King, children with authoritarian parents have social problems ranging from "poor communications skills, [comparing] themselves to others, and a failure to initiate activity (King, 2008). Through looking at Astrid, the audience sees some of these issues come out in her interactions with her foster families. She is clearly socially uncomfortable with an extreme lack of communication. She is quiet are rarely interacts with Star or the other children unless she is directly spoken to.
Redeption
Until the final scene of the film, the audience sees Ingrid as the damage causing monster
that she appears to be in the beginning of the film. Once again through Maslow's theory,
Ingrid moves closer to self-actualization. In Maslow's theory, Ingrid's "perfect self" is being the best
mother to her daughter that her tortured life can expect her to be. By not forcing Astrid to testify and
lie in court she follows her daughter's request and "lets her go." Because Ingrid loves her daughter
her final purpose is to be a good mother. Slowly and not without strain or stress, Ingrid becomes
the mother that she wants to be through Maslow's theory of self-actualization. The final scene shows
that each character is redeemed and strived like white oleanders through the Santa Anna winds
Narcissism As said by www.dictionary.com, narcissism can be defined as, “…Erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.” Narcissism is a trait that people may have in which they are infatuated with themselves and have a very proud personality. Other traits include becoming jealous very easily and easily angered. Being denied by someone else can be a form of criticism, which one can also be blatantly criticized. In this event, someone with a narcissistic personality will overreact to this, which may result in uncalled for actions. As a result of criticism the person will also become very angry and humiliated. It is hard for someone with such a strong, confident, and arrogant ego to accept criticism and this leads to exaggerated responses. People who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder have many identifiable symptoms. Some of these symptoms include an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a feeling that others are envious of him or her. While the person with NPD feels that others envy their lives or characteristics, he or she will not be empathetic of others’ feelings or will try to put them down. This is exemplified in the 2002 movie, White Oleander in which a mother cares for her daughter with an indulgent parenting style in which she is there for her daughter but puts few limits on her and does not set restrictions. The mother, Ingrid, is an example of someone who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. She continuously and indirectly puts her daughter down. As a result of criticism, the mother kills a man because she cannot handle the rejection. She puts herself first and believes she is everything perfect and has a lot of pride. Click here (5:40-6:15 in clip) to see how the mother is confident about her work but at the same time puts her daughter down while allowing her daughter to think she was complimented. Then, watch this clip (7:54-end of part 3) and this clip (beginning of part 4-2:05) to see how the mother feels bout the murder and how she again puts her daughter down while accepting complements and priding herself on her thoughts and actions and believing she is right.
http://www.narcissism101.com/Beginning/dsm_iv.html > For more information
Phallic Stage- Effect on a child as a result of the absence of a father Freud depicted five separate stages of personality development. Beginning in birth continuing to adulthood, people are categorized through time periods of different developments. One stage in particular, called the phallic stage, is centered on the child’s development of admiration for the opposite sex. This is called the Electra complex for women. This stage is developed when the child is from 3 to 6 years of age. Freud explained that women experience ‘castration completed’ which becomes penis envy. It is believe the woman wants to have a penis and therefore gets married and has a son. Often times though, the lack of a father present during this time in the daughter’s life can have a large effect on the feelings the young girl has towards other boys and men. Eventually the child begins to identify with the parent and then begins to desire the other parent. Resulting from the lack of a parent, a daughter may find difficulties in self-identification and can develop the wrong idea of the role a man plays in her life. The daughter wants a man to be her fatherly figure but will look for it in the correct way. In the movie White Oleander, this is exemplified when the daughter Astrid grows up without a father. After her experience of her mother going to prison, Astrid is sent off to many foster homes. The first one though, Astrid spends a lot of time with the foster father because she is intrigued by his role as a father. Although it begins as innocence, it then leads to Astrid having sexual relations with the man more than once. She is given the wrong idea about his role and now has a misconception about how to receive love from a man that is playing the role of a father. Throughout the film Astrid struggles with her identity and finding the right place a man should fill in her life. Click here (2:50-5:55 and 7:55 -9:44 in clip) to watch a clip from the film in which Astrid interacts with Ray and how she talks about her knowledge of men. Also, click here (:10-:25 in clip) to watch when Astrid struggles with her identity. For further information, feel free to click on the picture of a video below to watch all of Astrid's relationships that develop because of her mother's narcissistic influence and the absence of a father.
