Do you like psychology? You might like this text then! For the first time, I speak in more detail about what I live in relation to the movie JOKER, and what it looks for, the mechanisms, etc. It took me a long time to decide to do this, as I find it inconvenient. On the other hand, I want to demystify everything related to mental health, so I think it's important to share it.
It's funny, because when I think of the people who saw the movie, I imagine a guy, well, we'll call him..Marc. I see him, he goes out with his girlfriend, and tells her how the film touched him, the character has a bit of the same experience. They transfer to the Berri metro, talk about their day at work. Marc, the next day, does his job as an accountant. Months later, he remembers little of the film, but watches it again at a friend's house with a beer. The next day, he prepares two meetings at work, the clown far in his head. I'm like Marc usually with movies. I'm not crazy, well ok, yes a little. But I'm not like Marc at all, with JOKER ... But what happened during the viewing?
-
It's so strange how the Joker movie entered my veins like a body thirsty for hard drugs. First time that a film provokes such a reaction in me; as much as it is the beauty of all the images and shots that the colors that transform in each scene, that the characters and the city surrounding Arthur make it all breathtaking, making me practically astonished. The music alone certainly plays a big role in the grandiosity of the emotions that this film capsizes in me. The music transcribes, in perfection, every emotion, every second. And it crosses me, in addition to the emotion of the scene, in my guts, in my skin, in my soul. This film came to touch my experience and my feelings, which are so similar that I am shocked.
Do you like psychology? You might like this text then! For the first time, I speak in more detail about what I live in relation to the movie JOKER, and what it looks for, the mechanisms, etc. It took me a long time to decide to do this, as I find it inconvenient. On the other hand, I want to demystify everything related to mental health, so I think it's important to share it.
----
In 2013, interned. They diagnosed me with an obsessive-compulsive personality (among others), but also BPD (borderline), bipolar, chronic anxiety, schizoid disorders, social phobia etc.
Let me tell you about this clown, this JOKER. I had no idea what the movie was about at the very beginning. He had just come out to the cinema. I often heard people talk about saying that it was a masterpiece, others that it excused violence. I didn't listen to anyone, and I walked into the room, popcorn in my hands falling to the floor. I had found a seat, hardly anyone present. The lights went out.
It's funny, because when I think of the people who saw the movie, I imagine myself as a guy, well, we'll call him..Marc. I see him, he goes out with his girlfriend, and tells her how the film touched him, the character has a bit of the same experience. They transfer to the Berri metro, talk about their day at work. Marc, the next day, does his job as an accountant. Months later, he remembers little of the film, but watches it again at a friend's house with a beer. The next day, he prepares two meetings at work, the clown far in his head. I'm like Marc usually with movies. I'm not crazy, well ok, yes a little. But I'm not like Marc at all, with JOKER ... But what happened during the viewing?
I imagine you have a favorite movie? Are you the one whose lines you know? The film that you discovered in X year, then that you studied.
Yes N.
Soft, as a comparison.
But it's not My Strange Addiction, either.
Follow me, it's coming, the main topic!
It is so strange how the Joker movie entered my veins like a body thirsty for hard drugs. First time that a film provokes such a reaction in me; as much as it is the beauty of all the images and shots that the colors that transform in each scene, that the characters and the city surrounding Arthur make it all breathtaking, making me practically astonished. The music alone certainly plays a big role in the grandiosity of the emotions that this film capsizes in me. The music transcribes, in perfection, every emotion, every second. And it crosses me, in addition to the emotion of the scene, in my guts, in my skin, in my soul. This film came to touch my experience and my feelings, which are so similar that I am shocked.
-
A melancholy so palpable in each note, a filthy sadness in each of the moments played by Joaquin, which still remains for me a talent more than phenomenal. I have goosebumps and tears pouring out at the mere thought of this film; the first film bringing to the fore both the multitude of traumas that life can have inflicted on me but also the desires that I already had (accompanied also by guilt) to finish my own mother having so long abused me, tied up, while I cried and choked. I have so many similarities with the character that I'm almost afraid of it; I know that part of my capsizing emotions come directly from all of this. But it would be crazy not to mention how poignant the music is, herself is a character in the film, like the city. I would like to be able to be able to express how this film comes to me for so many things that I have never experienced before, and when I cry listening to it, watching it, I certainly see a transcript on screen of myself and my life in some metaphor, but also events that almost happened, types of events that also happened. When I was a clown, got bullied, when I almost killed a guy who bullied me for so long, but also abused me, when the police beat me, when a system came to me let go or completely forget me like too many people elsewhere, when I was at
Now let's take a little break if you don't mind?
I'd like to talk to you about a psychology thing.
Something I discovered about a month ago, a shrink told me about.
-
-What is a parasocial relationship? -
A parasocial relationship (RPS) defines the attachment that a viewer develops towards a fictional character, or a media personality. Some sides of this relationship are comparable to a “real” interpersonal relationship (Perse & Rubin, 1989).
-
Studies tend to show that growing RPS with a character would be stronger depending on the level of affinity we share with him / her. In addition, identification and perceived commonalities with this person, also called homophilia, are strong elements of the process (Tian & Hoffner, 2010; Turner, 1993; Kronewald, 2008). This relationship is reinforced by a high level of perceived attractiveness, as well as by the realism of the character, physical, attitudinal or related to a task (Knoll, Schramm, Schallhorn, & Wynistorf, 2015; Schiappa, Allen and Gregg, 2007; Turner , 1993).
-
In other words, the more affinity you feel for this character, and the more you esteem him to be similar to yourself, or close to the person you would like to be, the greater your tendency to form a relationship with him. /she. (here we are not talking about a romantic relationship, it can only mentally feel close)
“Parasocial relationships with fictional characters are more intense than with non-fictional characters, due to the feeling of being completely present in a fictional world. There is a desire for camaraderie that can be built by bonding over one. fictional person.
Although parasocial relationships are not "real" in that the people involved do not know each other or interact face to face, the psychological effects of relationships can be real. And that can be a good thing. In a study on parasocial relationships and self-esteem, Jaye Derrick, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Houston, found that one-sided relationships encouraged people with low self-esteem to be more goal-oriented. and more comfortable skin. “We've found that parasocial relationships help people with low self-esteem feel closer to their ideal selves,” Derrick says.
But how can we explain that we can forge this type of relationship with people who we know perfectly well do not exist?
First of all, the narration leads us to share the key moments in the existence of these characters as well as intimate scenes, generally reserved for relatives. It also gives us access to their thoughts, feelings, memories. So we have the illusion of actually knowing Daenerys, or Jon, or Sansa. An effect that is further amplified when we rub shoulders with the characters over a very long period of time, as in the case of a series or a literary saga which takes place over several years and leads us to witness the evolution of the protagonists. Hence, probably, the feeling of betrayal that one can feel when suddenly these characters begin to behave in a way that one considers to be aberrant compared to the image that one has forged. of them…
On the other hand, people with low self-esteem will tend more easily than others to form strong relationships with characters who resemble their "ideal self", and may, through this connection, feel more like themselves. close to this ideal - which will increase their self-esteem. An effect that is not seen with real relationships: indeed, people who lack self-esteem often have difficulty trusting others in a relationship, because they constantly fear being rejected. This prevents them from reaping the benefits in terms of perception and self-esteem. Parasocial relationships, in which one does not run the risk of being rejected by the other, can therefore play a crucial role in the well-being of these people.
“Our brains aren't really designed to distinguish a real relationship from a fictitious one,” says Jennifer Barnes. These friendships can, however, yield real world benefits ”. Because these fictitious friendships would boost self-esteem and decrease loneliness according to the specialist. (By the way of parasocial relationships, there are some who experience it with celebrities, and it becomes very intense in their case ...)
McCutcheon (2002) proposed the absorption-dependence model to explain parasocial relationships. She suggests that people engage in celebrity worship to make up for certain shortcomings in their lives, such as difficulty forming intimate relationships, poor psychological adjustment, and a lack of identity. Forming parasocial relationships with a celebrity allows them to achieve the fulfillment they lack in everyday life and adds a sense of purpose and excitement.
Other psychologists use Bowlby's attachment theory and Ainsworth's types of attachment to explain celebrity worship. Bowlby's theory predicts that people who did not form a strong bond with a primary caregiver in early childhood will try to find an attachment surrogate in adulthood, and engaging in parasocial relationships allows them to do.
Additionally, according to the description of attachment types described by Ainsworth, people who have formed insecure and resistant relationships with their caregivers / parents in early childhood will be more likely to form parasocial relationships because they are too afraid of criticism. and rejection that are part of it. real life relationships. As Ainsworth's findings in the Strange Situation study demonstrated, insecure-resistant children were very clingy to their mothers, exhibited less exploratory behavior than children of other types, because they did not feel safe enough to leave a parent and showed great distress when their mother left the room.
For my part, at the very beginning around May, I did not understand what the film was looking for. I later realized that it was the same traumas, and at first my obsession was unhealthy and destructive. On the other hand over time, it leads to a LOT of creation, cosplay (or rather the incarnation of the character I would say), writing. I do not have access to therapy (poverty + waiting list), and I saw that it is my way, while waiting.
"Immersion in narrative worlds can create opportunities for growth in which the experiences, perspectives and knowledge of fictional characters inspire readers to develop," argue the authors, noting that parasocial relationships can provide models. of role “especially for those who are temporarily or chronically isolated, those with limited social relationships or those who have had a childhood, troubled adolescence, without role models as parents.”
End of psychological explanation segment
---
I get goosebumps and tears just at the thought of this movie; the first film highlighting both the multitudes of traumas that life had inflicted on me but also the desires I already had (also accompanied by guilt) to end the life that my own mother had abused me for so long , bound while I cried and choked. I have so many similarities with the character that I'm almost afraid of him; I know that part of my feelings of capsizing comes directly from this. But it would be crazy not to mention how melancholy the music is, itself a character in the film, like the city.
I wish I could express how this movie comes to find in me so much that I have never experienced before, and when I cry listening to it, watching it, I certainly see a transcription on the screen of myself- same and my life in a certain metaphor, but also events that almost happened, types of events that also happened. When I was a clown I was bullied, when I almost killed a guy who bullied me for so long, but also abused me, when the police mistreated me, when a system started to completely forgetting myself like too many people by the way, when I was in high school and for so long It was so wrong living at home in extreme abuse, and as soon as I got to school it
I wanted to kill my multiple attackers. I wanted to kill my mother who threatened me with a knife at 16, and at the same time forced me sexually with her friends, which she allowed. I would have killed and probably would have become a delinquent to so many people. My multiple problems when I did not have the money to buy my medicines, when I did not have access to a doctor to renew these prescriptions, when I had only dark thoughts and felt that we were listening barely what i said, when i was falsely accused at work and i was a clown, when i laughed loud and loud in high school and it was my way to get through all the pain i was lonely but also hyperactive , and I was choking on laughter from asthma,
Here in Montreal, I am in poor health and very poor. For therapy there is too long a waiting list in the free services and they cut the services, like Arthur.
My tears are full of melancholy and sadness, rage, but also my tears flow because so much beauty resides in each of the scenes, I cannot even express with precision the deep admiration I have for the talent that Joaquin possesses. Towards the beauty of music and the poignant emotion it expresses. The pure and raw talent admiring all these colors and pictures which bring out again in me the hidden desire to be director of photography.
Here is why, therefore, to cosplay and create so much in connection with this film, frees me. It's therapeutic. It is a safe filter to free me from my emotions.
Now, I leave you with some videos that made me very emotional, which will also perhaps make you understand more the connection that I make with the film and my life, for those also who know it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40sJL6welLg
This JOKER film, I don't recognize myself for nothing. It is the story of a fragile man whom society has not taken care of and who will survive anyway. By dint of treating poor people like puppets, passing them off as clowns, they become so. Crazy and uncontrollable clowns, without fear or future.
-
JOKER warns us against the lack of consideration, of looks, of listening, of indifference in the face of difference, in the face of distress, in the face of poverty. This film warns us of the consequences to be feared if we do not change this contemptuous, discriminating, superficial, audiovisual, cutthroat society. Robert de Niro obsequiously embodies this degrading America. We have to admit that the anonymous crowd, in the shadows, which disappears from the budgetary priorities, looks like the rats which are said to spread the plague. The forgotten, the miserable, those who do the trash, will go mad by dint of being denied and nothing and nobody can stop them when they come to take revenge.
My mental health is already very fragile (and no access to mental health care, waiting for 3 years at the CLSC after several attempts (...) I still have 3 years left. minimum), extreme loneliness, precariousness, illness, isolation, I have relapsed ... A chance that JOKER exists. He is my refuge.
To remake the scenes of the film JOKER for me is extremely liberating ... It represents in itself a certain therapy. I was able to free myself from a little weight by remaking the scene from his mother's file (my mother did exactly the same things to me, except that I was not adopted). I live emotions like the ones we see through Joaquin. This movie is perfection. I saw the movie almost 50 times, i know all the movie by heart, it's in my veins. Nobody really understands my obsession. But here
---
My file...
