Recently for class we watched the movie White Oleander. This movie is about a girl named Astrid who gets sent to different foster homes after her mother, Ingrid, murders her boyfriend. Throughout the movie are many psychological principles that we have studied during this semester. Two of the principles that I found ran very prevalent through the movie were the personality disorder of Ingrid, and the effect of traumatic events on Astrid.
It is clear to the viewer that from the beginning of the movie Ingrid is very self involved. As the movie progresses we realize it is more than just self-involvement, and that Ingrid is a Narcissist. According to the DSM-IV for one to be a narcissist they must show 5 of the following 9 symptoms,
(1) Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expect
s to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
(2) Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
(3) Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
(4) Requires excessive admiration
(5) Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
(6) Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
(7) Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
(8) Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
(9) Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
(Narcissistic DSM). Ingrid shows numbers 1, 2,3,6, and 7 throughout the entire movie, but each are also predominant in different scenes. Symptom one is having a sense of self-importance; one example of this is when Ingrid and Astrid are talking in the jail yard. Ingrid says to Astrid, “I’m the only person that can keep you honest” (White Oleander). Ingrid feels that only she is capable of raising Astrid to become a good person, and that no one else is capable of doing that job. Symptom two is seen multiple times where Ingrid feels that she is above everyone else, and that no one can control or stop her. We see her breaking the law several times, all of these times she fails to find her self-guilty for what she has done. Examples of this include breaking into Barry’s house and deleting his hard drive of all the work he had been doing, and finally resulted in the murder of Barry. Three is seen constantly when she talks to Astrid and says, “Don’t cry, we’re not like that, we’re the Vikings” (White Oleander). She uses the term Vikings to refer to the two of them and as a sense of superiority over everyone else. The fact that she says that when she cries implies that they don’t show those signs of weakness. The fourth symptom Ingrid expresses is her exploitative nature. This is most strongly portrayed when she talks to Claire. Even though Astrid loves Claire, Ingrid does not like Astrid living with her because she feels that Claire has nothing to teach Astrid, “I would rather see you in the worst foster hell, than living with that woman” (White Oleander). Because Ingrid doesn’t see what Claire has to offer Astrid she pushes her towards committing suicide to make it so Astrid would yet again be moved to a new foster home. The final criterion that Ingrid meets, sealing her diagnosis of being a narcissist, is her lack of empathy towards other, especially Astrid. In almost every scene where Ingrid and Astrid meet in the Jail yard Ingrid fails to be able to put herself in Astrid’s shoes and just talks about how terrible she has it. Even when Astrid is doing well, all she can do is complain about what situation she is in. The most dramatic example of this is when Astrid was a baby and Ingrid left her with Annie for a year, “give or take a few months” (White Oleander). Ingrid’s reasoning for this was, “Imagine my life for a moment, how unprepared I was to be the mother of a small child, I was used to having time to think, and you just wanted, wanted, wanted, I felt like a hostage, can you understand how desperate I was?” (White Oleander) Never does Ingrid think of the fact that Astrid was a baby and that’s what babies do, it was still about her not being able to get exactly what she wants. Another prime example occurs in the same scene when Astrid is questioning why Ingrid didn’t let her meet her father. Ingrid’s reasoning was “Why should I let him see you after what he did to me?” (White Oleander) Astrid at this point screams at her mother that it was not her decision to make, and it was up to Astrid, not everything revolved around Ingrid.
It is clear that Astrid has been through a great amount of trauma throughout her life. What is interesting is that even though she experiences things the majority of us will luckily never experience, she still manages to strive and succeed at what she does. According to our textbook resilience is defined as, “a person’s ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times” (King, 133). Astrid experiences many traumatic events including Barry breaking the windows to her house, seeing her mother dragged away in handcuffs, being shot by Star, beaten up in McKinny when she first arrived, and waking to the dead body of Claire. When Astrid witnesses her mother taken away in cuffs Astrid packs her bags, and then makes the best of the situation with Star. This is shown by her accepting Star’s religion. She doesn’t give Star a hard time like most kids would, and quickly adapts to her mother being detained. When Astrid is shot, she doesn’t say who shot her so she could protect the other children living with Star. Another major sign of Astrid’s ability to adapt is when she gets to McKinny and is beaten up because of her long hair and her good looks. She adapts and avoids further issues by crudely cutting off her hair. As a young teen she understands what it is that is causing her to stand out, and to prevent further abuse adapts. When Claire commits suicide Astrid manages to get over her unbearable loss, and moves on like she needs to so she can live a healthy life. Based on our text there are three sources that contribute to resilience, the individual, family, and extrafamilial context (King 133). Individually Astrid seems to be born with a natural tendency to be resilient. This is seen how she adapts on her own in McKinnon. The extrafamilial support is seen strongly with Claire who shows Astrid love and encourages her to succeed and become a self-confident person. The family source ironically arises from the way Ingrid raised her. Ingrid always embedded a strong sense of pride and strength into Astrid and this definitely helped her cope with the constant changes she endured. Even though she experiences all these extremely traumatic events she manages to grow up, and at the end of the movie, seem like she is ready to fully live her life.
In the film White Oleander two of the main principles seen throughout the film include personality disorders and resilience. It is clear that Ingrid is a narcissist and it is due to this disorder that Astrid experiences much of the traumatic events she does. Astrid on the other hand is extremely resilient to all the trauma she experiences at such a young age, allowing her to live what seems to be a road to a full, successful, and happy life.
It is clear to the viewer that from the beginning of the movie Ingrid is very self involved. As the movie progresses we realize it is more than just self-involvement, and that Ingrid is a Narcissist. According to the DSM-IV for one to be a narcissist they must show 5 of the following 9 symptoms,
(1) Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expect
s to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)(2) Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
(3) Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
(4) Requires excessive admiration
(5) Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
(6) Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
(7) Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
(8) Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
(9) Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
(Narcissistic DSM). Ingrid shows numbers 1, 2,3,6, and 7 throughout the entire movie, but each are also predominant in different scenes. Symptom one is having a sense of self-importance; one example of this is when Ingrid and Astrid are talking in the jail yard. Ingrid says to Astrid, “I’m the only person that can keep you honest” (White Oleander). Ingrid feels that only she is capable of raising Astrid to become a good person, and that no one else is capable of doing that job. Symptom two is seen multiple times where Ingrid feels that she is above everyone else, and that no one can control or stop her. We see her breaking the law several times, all of these times she fails to find her self-guilty for what she has done. Examples of this include breaking into Barry’s house and deleting his hard drive of all the work he had been doing, and finally resulted in the murder of Barry. Three is seen constantly when she talks to Astrid and says, “Don’t cry, we’re not like that, we’re the Vikings” (White Oleander). She uses the term Vikings to refer to the two of them and as a sense of superiority over everyone else. The fact that she says that when she cries implies that they don’t show those signs of weakness. The fourth symptom Ingrid expresses is her exploitative nature. This is most strongly portrayed when she talks to Claire. Even though Astrid loves Claire, Ingrid does not like Astrid living with her because she feels that Claire has nothing to teach Astrid, “I would rather see you in the worst foster hell, than living with that woman” (White Oleander). Because Ingrid doesn’t see what Claire has to offer Astrid she pushes her towards committing suicide to make it so Astrid would yet again be moved to a new foster home. The final criterion that Ingrid meets, sealing her diagnosis of being a narcissist, is her lack of empathy towards other, especially Astrid. In almost every scene where Ingrid and Astrid meet in the Jail yard Ingrid fails to be able to put herself in Astrid’s shoes and just talks about how terrible she has it. Even when Astrid is doing well, all she can do is complain about what situation she is in. The most dramatic example of this is when Astrid was a baby and Ingrid left her with Annie for a year, “give or take a few months” (White Oleander). Ingrid’s reasoning for this was, “Imagine my life for a moment, how unprepared I was to be the mother of a small child, I was used to having time to think, and you just wanted, wanted, wanted, I felt like a hostage, can you understand how desperate I was?” (White Oleander) Never does Ingrid think of the fact that Astrid was a baby and that’s what babies do, it was still about her not being able to get exactly what she wants. Another prime example occurs in the same scene when Astrid is questioning why Ingrid didn’t let her meet her father. Ingrid’s reasoning was “Why should I let him see you after what he did to me?” (White Oleander) Astrid at this point screams at her mother that it was not her decision to make, and it was up to Astrid, not everything revolved around Ingrid.
It is clear that Astrid has been through a great amount of trauma throughout her life. What is interesting is that even though she experiences things the majority of us will luckily never experience, she still manages to strive and succeed at what she does. According to our textbook resilience is defined as, “a person’s ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times” (King, 133). Astrid experiences many traumatic events including Barry breaking the windows to her house, seeing her mother dragged away in handcuffs, being shot by Star, beaten up in McKinny when she first arrived, and waking to the dead body of Claire. When Astrid witnesses her mother taken away in cuffs Astrid packs her bags, and then makes the best of the situation with Star. This is shown by her accepting Star’s religion. She doesn’t give Star a hard time like most kids would, and quickly adapts to her mother being detained. When Astrid is shot, she doesn’t say who shot her so she could protect the other children living with Star. Another major sign of Astrid’s ability to adapt is when she gets to McKinny and is beaten up because of her long hair and her good looks. She adapts and avoids further issues by crudely cutting off her hair. As a young teen she understands what it is that is causing her to stand out, and to prevent further abuse adapts. When Claire commits suicide Astrid manages to get over her unbearable loss, and moves on like she needs to so she can live a healthy life. Based on our text there are three sources that contribute to resilience, the individual, family, and extrafamilial context (King 133). Individually Astrid seems to be born with a natural tendency to be resilient. This is seen how she adapts on her own in McKinnon. The extrafamilial support is seen strongly with Claire who shows Astrid love and encourages her to succeed and become a self-confident person. The family source ironically arises from the way Ingrid raised her. Ingrid always embedded a strong sense of pride and strength into Astrid and this definitely helped her cope with the constant changes she endured. Even though she experiences all these extremely traumatic events she manages to grow up, and at the end of the movie, seem like she is ready to fully live her life.
In the film White Oleander two of the main principles seen throughout the film include personality disorders and resilience. It is clear that Ingrid is a narcissist and it is due to this disorder that Astrid experiences much of the traumatic events she does. Astrid on the other hand is extremely resilient to all the trauma she experiences at such a young age, allowing her to live what seems to be a road to a full, successful, and happy life.
