Saturday, June 14, 2014

Weekend Discussion: The Narcissism Epidemic

Narcissism is one of the most common mental disorders of telenovela villains.  Many people have a very simplistic definition of it:  Muhammad Ali.  His "I am the greatest" is how many people see narcissism.  The sad truth is that it's far more complex than that.

Narcissists see themselves as the center of the universe.  Everyone else exists for their purposes and once they cease to satisfy them, they either become evil or non-existent.  They are incapable of dealing with their own faults and assign them to others as a way of ridding themselves of them.  In extreme form they can be diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.


Graciela of Lo Que La Vida Me Robo is a textbook example of a Narcissistic Parent.  She compounds that with her constant attempt at using Monserrat in ways to feed her greed.  She is incapable of seeing Monserrat as a separate person with her own personality, wants, needs, desires.  She criticizes and insults her left, right, and sideways.  She has no boundaries about any of this, as we have seen with the multiple ways she has manipulated situations around her.  Once Alejandro's inheritance was stolen from him -- with her help -- he became useless to her.  She didn't give an infinitessimal damn that Monserrat loved him.  She perjured herself to frame him for a crime she committed with the aid of an accomplice who is now dead, leading to his having to become a fugitive. She pushed Monserrat at Jose Luis after he got out of prison -- despite having once previously framed him for murder -- because of his inheritance.   Later when she tells Jose Luis to make Monserrat pregnant so he can't lose her it suits her purpose because she's getting that monthly checque.

None of them are people to her.

She infantilized Dimitrio until he woke up to her sickness and walked away from her.  She can't take that so now she tries to insinuate herself back in his life. Notice how she still refers to him as her "bebe."

Gabriela of Fuego en la Sangre is a narcissist.  Her tactics and agenda were a little different but her ultimate goal was to control her daughters and steal their potential inheritance.  She guilt-tripped them by faking illness, thereby making herself the center of their attention.  They were never to "upset" her and thereby provoke a cardiac event.  She used bribery to keep up this charade.  It's shocking how her daughters didn't see through it until much later.

Carlota of En Nombre del Amor was all about "It's my way or no way."  She was determined to force Macarena and Paloma to share her misery.  She committed a series of murders to make that happen.

Notice how none of the above had any real friends?  That's because if they allowed anyone to get close enough to them they'd be "found out" as not being what they are representing themselves as.

Of course, male villains can be equally narcissistic.  Think about Pedro in LQLVMR, Dionisio in Amor Bravio, Juan Jaime in La Fuerza del Destino, and the two male villains of Que Bonito Amor.

Sexually predatory villains -- male and female -- also display lots of narcissism.

How many more can you identify?

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Comments:
You pretty much identified them all,i could also mention Bernarda Iturbide( Manipulating her sun in the name of religion) ,Bernarda from La Otra,Fernando Escandon( Narcisstic and Perverted in one body and soul) .

And Juan Jaime might have been narcisstic but later in the series he matures a bit,he was furious when he found out that Saul raped Lucia and Carmen,he threatened to toss him out of the house and was quite kind to Carmen and her child. He was quite narcistic before though i remember the scene with Saul when Jaime was drinking and Saul warned him that the doc forbid him from drinking and Jaime said "Screw the doctors,they are all but idiots" hahaha
 

Manipulating her son in the name of Religion"
 

Indeed. Bernarda was that and she was also vain of her sanctity. Excommunication was definitely in order both for her and for Gabriela Elizondo and both ended up in hell anyway.

The younger set of narcissists definitely include people like Gala from Un Refugio para el Amor who is a clear example of narcissism coming from itself. Her mother was a narcissist as well.

This is a mental disorder that resists treatment and the novela writers know that very well.
 

This won't set well with many, but I nominate Rogelio of LQNPA as one of the most narcissistic characters we have encountered. This character flaw was intensified by a huge helping of self-pity as well as a sense of entitlement. Certainly the world revolved around him.

And though it pains me to name her to this nasty group, I'm afraid that Fedra of LldA meets all the criteria even though she was so gosh darn cuddly.

Carlos
 

I know this is a discussion about Narcissism and villans. But in Robo, I think we have at least one possible two 'heroes' that fit
the bill: Ale and JL!
 

Fully from La Tempestad was quite narcisstic too,it was like that he had his wife on a "leash" . Oh and Justino Fregoso ,that guy was dangereous.
 

Im watching Corona de Lagrimas and its so much better than i expected but this show has a lot of nrcissism in it.
The three most self centered characters are definitely the family son Patricio, his soon to be wife Olga and Olgas father Romulo.
Patricio is obsessed with money and getting out of the slums so in order to get a better future he marries the crazy Olga. Patricio kind of reminds me of Rubi.
Olga is a spoiled little brat who cares about herself. She hates her mother and loves her father who has manipulated her into obedience.
Romulo is the worst of them though. He thinks of his daughter and wife as a burden and only keeps Patricio around so he would occupy his daughter. He never thinks of anyone else.
 

TomBoy, from what I saw of CdL I have to agree.

Never watched LldA, so I'll have to take your word for that one, Carlos. But I do disagree about Rogelio and that has nothing to do with my appreciation of Jorge Salinas. Rogelio knew there was something wrong with him. He went on for seven years in an untreated state of depression (Novela writers love the number 7, don't they?). He knew he wasn't the person he used to be and he wasn't happy about this.

The real narcissists in that story were his sister, Sinthia, her bestie, Vainessa, ,and Ana Paula's Aunt Rosario.
 

UA,

"He knew he wasn't the person he used to be and he wasn't happy about this."

And yet he was a violent, abusive, vindictive, selfish, self-centered brute.

Carlos
 

I nominate Aranza from Por Siempre Mi Amor
 

tofie..I second that nomination. How about Favier ? The guy was a legend in his own warped mind.
 

Sonia, too.

Aimee in Corazon Salvaje (last two versions, anyway). Elvira in Que Bonito Amor.
 

Diego and Dona Juana in Alborada,
 

fARTuro de La Riva in Por Siempre Mi Amor

Edgar Marino in Hasta Que el Dinero Nos Separe


Fulgencio in La Tempestad

Nepo in Que Pobres Tan Ricos (Where oh Where has Our Galan in Artruo Peniche gone? I'm talking the galan we once saw and knew in Juan Cristobal Gamboa!)

(On an unrelated note, Marcelo Cordoba in La Malquerida!)
 

(and on a horse too!)
 

Of the TNs which I have seen, I am in absolute agreement with the group's choices.

Corazon Salvaje, I Love the fARTuro from PSMA!!! Holy Cow did I ever want to kick that guy from here to Kingdom Come! Aranaz was another piece of work. I never really commented on that TN, but I sure loved the group comments. Especially tofie's one liners!!

They are running "Fuego en la Sangre" on Unimas right now. I catch it every now and then. Urban, I TOTALLY agree with you. That mother is a W.I.T.C.H. I hate her looks and her ugliness. She treats her daughters so horribly and they seem to just want to ignore it. She is one nasty woman, but I think Graciela in Robo tops her.

Fatima
 

Can Rosario from Mi Pecado be called a narcissist?
She was a total witch.
 

oh, yeah. fArt in PSMA for damn sure, just trying to ignore I was ever introduced to that dodoball.
 

Juan from Fuego en La Sangre, por del amor de dios,get some anger managment...

 

TomBoy, there have been debates about Rosario.

It's easy to see in retrospect that she was desperately in need of psychiatric help. She never seemed to have told anyone about being raped by her father; I don't think she even told the priest. This is in fact a major fail on the writers' part, as she came from enough money to know better about this stuff. I wonder whether the writers decided at the outset that Rosario had been a victim and whether they told Daniela Castro.

There definitely were elements of narcissism in her, but Graciela tops her on all counts. At least when Lucrezia was raped by Carmelo Rosario freaked out at him rather than dismissing her daughter's pain. If JL had raped Monserrat the other night how do you think Graciela would have reacted?
 

Urban, if JL had raped Montserrat, I am sure that Graciela would have found a way to use it to her advantage.

It will always be about Graciela, probably even unto the very end.

Fatima
 

Ah yes, fArt...How could we ever forget that clueless guy who was forgiven and got poor Isa back at the end ? I am still grumbling about that injustice. Be a completely selfish, stupid, egotistical weakling and win the girl. What a message. P.s. I got a tickle out seeing my favorite telenovela nickname ever...fArt. ...fArt...fArt...it says it all.
 

Urban:

Rosario had money but she was raised in the 70's/80's in a small town in Chiapas (the poorest state of Mexico) and I doubt her parents sent her to college since she married so young and her father was apparently sexist. I do find it believable that she didn't seek help because I doubt she had any sex education.

Jarocha


 

Jarocha, is it SURE nice to see you here. I always love your input as I learn so much about your country and your wonderful culture. Thank you SO much!

Fatima
 

No sex ed in the 70s? Not that I should talk; I didn't get any sex ed in those days, either.

To an earlier point, Rosaelena was probably the second biggest religious hypocrite next to Bernarda Iturbide. I'm surprised she didn't get excommunicated because she deserved it even more than Gabriela Elizondo did. I guess Padre Tadeo and his superiors were smarter than the ones dealing with Rosaelena.
 

Graciela definitely is a bigger bitch than Rosario.
I actually felt sorry for Ros in the end but I doubt I'll ever feel anything but disgust for Graciela. Castro plays villains really well though.
 

UA, thanks for another interesting weekend discussion setup.
I worked for a textbook perfect narcissist. The staff meetings were all about her--input from underlings not encouraged!

I think TN structure encourages the existence of a narcissistic villain. Being completely self-centered makes one more likely to ignore other's needs and to justify any means to gain one's ends.
 





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