Narcissism in Film and on TV

The Rifleman, Season 5 Episode 9, The Most Amazing Man.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/717011

Sammy Davis Jr. plays Wade Randall who impresses the town with stories of being a gunfighter working for the railroad. Eventually, a friend of a man Randall claims to have killed challenges Randall to a shootout. Randall confides in Lucas McCain he was only a railroad cook. McCain orchestrates with townsfolk a scheme to get Randall out of the mess he created. It ends happily with Randall "retiring" from his made up life.

One series that was filled with PDs was Breaking Bad. Walter White was a Cerebral Narcissist, either overt or covert (I could see an argument for both --- that he was either an embattled overt or a covert). His partner Jesse was a BPD waif male, and their relationship was very much like an NPD/BPD friendship. Gustavo Fring was a Malignant Narcissist. Note how he seemed sort of like a Narcissist, and sort of like a Psychopath, but not really either entirely, and how he was highly paranoid and sadistic and needed power and control. That's Malignant Narcissism more than anything. He himself was very calm, controlled, and cautious, but also flew into rages and destroyed anyone who crossed him.

Lydia from the final season was probably Disingenuous HPD with BPD traits, and possible an Aspie as well. Todd was a low functioning AsPD. Very good show in terms of its probably unintentional portrayal of a variety of psychopathologies.

If you can apply Western mental health diagnosis to Westeros then Game of Thrones is also a smorgasbord of various psycho-pathologies. Cersei NPD, Joffrey DSPD Littlefinger ?DBPD /\ NPD crikey the list goes on and on.

The Social Network depicts Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg as a malignant or grandiose cerebral narcissist. The ending of the film is erily familiar. Having more than he could need, he sets alone, repeatedly refreshing the Facebook page of a former girlfriend after sending her a friend request:



That scene can be better understood by the scene where she breaks up with him:



As a covert I can't identify with his rapid-fire style and aggressiveness. I'm not that grandiose or cerebral. (I'm not sure which he is, or if it's both.).

Dysutopian narcissistic perfectionist Dr Stangelove reminds me of myself in the 1980s. I wasn't getting enough NS back then. I've come down since then and I'm less perfectionistic and more phalic. The women like me these days! If only I could loose 20 kilos!

http://youtu.be/mzddAYYDZkk

MN General Ripper becomes delusional and starts WW3. He has the body style that I'd associate with a malignant subtype. How do these actors and directors know how to play these characters?

http://youtu.be/PSofqNSuVy8

Esquire wrote:One series that was filled with PDs was Breaking Bad.

To add to the PDs, an interesting sidenote: The finale ends with Badfinger's Baby Blue. The band, Badfinger was a similar human drama. The songwriters Ham and Evans wrote songs which sounded extremely dependent, even borderline. Baby Blue, Day After Day and Without You ("I can't live, if living is without you.").

TRIGGER WARNING

The band hired a manager who became a well-known con artist. After being swindled, Ham hung himself 30 days before his wife delivered his baby. He left a note expressing an unrealistic desire to trust "everyone." A few years later Evans committed suicide in the same manner. His family attributed it to his never getting over Ham's death.

These guys were very sensitive. I'd say too much based upon the songs they wrote and their own demises over business dealings. It all began with their manager who was at least antisocial.

Adds a little to the ending of Breaking Bad.

http://youtu.be/LqeC3BPYTmE

Alec Baldwin again. Playing a top of the range N.

I think of Batman more like as schizotypal.

Odd eccentric
Constricted Affect.
No close friends except Alfred(family)
Telepathic Powers and Ilusions
Suspicious and Paranoid.

The reason I dont think he is narcissistic is that he is not self centered, nor flamboyant. He is motivated by justice not vanity.

Esquire wrote:One series that was filled with PDs was Breaking Bad. Walter White was a Cerebral Narcissist, either overt or covert (I could see an argument for both --- that he was either an embattled overt or a covert). His partner Jesse was a BPD waif male, and their relationship was very much like an NPD/BPD friendship. Gustavo Fring was a Malignant Narcissist. Note how he seemed sort of like a Narcissist, and sort of like a Psychopath, but not really either entirely, and how he was highly paranoid and sadistic and needed power and control. That's Malignant Narcissism more than anything. He himself was very calm, controlled, and cautious, but also flew into rages and destroyed anyone who crossed him.

Lydia from the final season was probably Disingenuous HPD with BPD traits, and possible an Aspie as well. Todd was a low functioning AsPD. Very good show in terms of its probably unintentional portrayal of a variety of psychopathologies.

People often claim Walter is BPD as well.

People often claim Walter is BPD as well.

I don't see a lot of BPD in Walter, personally. I feel like his emotional reactions were largely due to a supply crash at middle age, being rejected over and over again and constantly being denied supply and failing to live up to his grandiose fantasies. The scene where Walter had no problem allowing Gus to use children to sell meth, while Jesse all of the sudden developed a moral fervor over the issue, was very similar to an NPD/BPD relationship dynamic, where the Borderline will seem to be strongly moralistic about certain things (in this case, Jesse opposing the idea of kids selling meth), while the Narcissist sort of views everything with a similarly immature conscience, sort of quasi-amorally, but not entirely amoral. So the Narcissist will allow the immoral action as long as they have clean hands. Gus, as a Malignant Narcissist, had no problem actively being involved in the meth distribution, and actually probably got supply from it.