Caray, Caray!

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?

Labels: amor, bravio, Fuego, QBA, robo, telenovelas, weekend