Sunday, June 29, 2014

Statement Analysis, Hollywood and Mental Health in Language



Does the language of Marilyn Monroe reveal childhood abuse?

Did Marilyn Monroe suffer from a dissociative disorder?
Was she abused in childhood?
If so, is it in the language?

What about other Hollywood types?

Does it show up in language?
Could therapists benefit from Statement Analysis training in diagnosing?  What about counselors, teachers, and others who rely upon language to assist in life?

I'm not a fan of Hollywood gossip, other than it reveals human nature.  Kaaryn Gough has said she finds it demeaning to the dignity of Statement Analysis.  That's not an argument I'd oppose her upon, as I do not wish to trivialize our principles with short, and sometimes even foolish, self serving statements from gossip columns.

For those of you who do read such things, please keep a few tips in mind.  These tips may actually prove useful, as you become adept at spotting certain things, in 'real life' scenarios.

For those uninterested in the gossip pages, there are lessons still to be gleaned.

First, however, I have a theory on the profession of acting.  This will likely tweak the nose of a few readers, but some of you may find it interesting.

I openly wonder if successful actors have a form of personality disorder known as "Dissociative Disorder" is one of its varied forms.

I once read a study that concluded that an overwhelming number of Hollywood personalities suffer, in some form, from Dissociative Disorder.

Dissociative Disorder (DD) can be caused in childhood by childhood abuse, where the victim "disassociates" herself from the abuse and the abuser.  I have done extensive research on childhood sexual abuse and it makes sense.

The child of three, for example, who is being sexually abused, is in a most horrific state:

1.  The abuser is likely someone she has not only trusted, but has been created to trust.
2.  The abuser is doing something to her that she does not understand.
3.  The abuser's actions may not be painful, but actually pleasurable, causing a confusion in the brain that can never be rectified.
4.  The abuser may be imprinting (depending upon the age of the victim) patterns that will last a lifetime.
5.  The victim will suffer for the rest of her life, along with every single person who loves her.  The collateral damage is acute and broad.

While being abused, the victim learns to think of something else until it is over, as the brain
must shut itself down in order to survive this unnatural, evil activity.

As an adult, we hear this in the language, with the victim using words like "floating" (this is very common) and "watching" the abuse.

This little three year old is now many times more likely to:

a.  use drugs
b.  become promiscuous
c.  abuse alcohol
d.  self abuse
e.  depression
f.  poor grades
g.  illegal behavior

and...

is many times more likely to attempt suicide.

These are stats.  I use stats in language, as readers know, to guide me to "likely" positions.  This is where the Statement Analyst's conclusion shines, as the stats, step by step, guide him.

Back to DD.

This ability to disassociate herself from the abuser, especially when practiced in such a young age, becomes something the brain can do, for some, at will.

Hollywood is a vile, disgusting place where many talented, but wicked individuals, exploit one another for their own personal gain.  One is "in" one day, and "out" the next.  The exploitation is seemingly unbearable, yet every day, thousands of young people show up at studios for a shot at fame.  The "reality" TV shows appear quite popular, though they have little connection with reality, themselves. Individuals appear willing to do anything for a moment of fame before a camera.

Granted, some behavior is explicitly done for media attention.  When a young woman from New York City goes to a NY Mets game, and lifts up her shirt to expose her breasts, while giving herself a ridiculous name ("gaga"), she is doing something most of us would not do.  She cares only that she will be on the news, to help her singing career.  It is not her voice that she was exposing.  It was her breasts, which will, with age, change.  This is why the word "vanity" is often interpreted as "passing away", or "lacking permanence."

Yet, the John Belushi's who abuse their own bodies and destroy themselves through substance abuse, gluttony, and a self destructive lifestyle, tell us that not all bad behavior is for show.

Over the years, I have read biographies of a few actors, including Cary Grant, Bob Hope, John Wayne...the stars of my parents' generation, of whom I grew to love watching.

Reading their own statements, however, is far more eye opening.

Think of what an actor does for a living.

"John Wayne, American hero."

Why is John Wayne an "American hero"?  What has he done?  Specifically, what has he done that was "heroic"?

I love some of his movies.  I think he and Patricia Neal were one thing, while he and Maureen O'Hara, in "The Quiet Man" were amazing.

But, what has John Wayne done?

He simply pretended to be someone else.

This is what actors do.

They pretend.

Recently, someone paid $2,000,000 dollars for a handwritten manuscript of a song from Bob Dylan.

2 million dollars for a piece of paper with song lyrics.  As a Bob Dylan fan, I would not have paid $10 for it on ebay, unless, of course, I believed it would increase in value.

2 million dollars.

Do you really think that 50 years from now it will be of any value?

Imagine someone spending a fortune on a piece of paper written 50 years ago by Cole Porter.

Would anyone today even recognize the song, no less who Cole Porter was?

Dylan said, of the song, that it was basically a bunch of song titles he had in his head that he wrote down and put into one complete song.

Two million dollars?

The public likes to part with money, just ask Charlie Rogers.  There sometimes appears little discernment.  Recently, the public was petitioning (and fund raising) for a father who is now accused of deliberately locking his son in his vehicle in order to end his son's life.

Can you get a refund?

They pretend to be someone else, with so much skill, that they make a fortune doing so.  In a sense, they are liars.

Now, think of the "casting couch" renown of Hollywood.

How did the Myrna Loys, Barbara Stanwicks, Heddy LaMars,  and others of Hollywood's Golden Age (the 1930's) survive such indignities at the hands (and bodies) of sleazy producers, owners, directors, etc?

Why does it seem that the profession of acting produces so much substance abuse?

Why does it seem that the profession of acting produces so many suicides?

What happened to "Norma Jean"?

I think that the study that found that many actors have DD is not only on the right path, but I think it may be more than even the study suggested.  I think that to, professionally, "become" someone else, may be rooted in childhood abuse.

Remember "Lie To Me" highlighted that many abused children learn to read faces, hence, pick out liars, because they had to, via survival?  The "natural" or "truth wizard" character had been abused in childhood, hence, she learned to quickly read a change in the face (micro expression).

I think there's some truth in this, while avoiding the "truth wizard" claims, for now.  

If you love old movies, don't read accounts of their lives.  Perversion, gluttony, cheapness, prejudice, and a trail of broken lives will only ruin the movie watching experience for you.  Heather has repeatedly said, "Don't tell me!  Just let me think Monty Wooley is a kind hearted professor" in "The Bishop's Wife" so she can enjoy it each Christmas.

Bing Crosby using his son's head as a punching bag, or Bob Hope making his maid bend over to pick up a dollar...

or how about this?

An actor plays a role that is "socially responsible" and suddenly, the one who "faked" being a ______, suddenly is in the news campaigning as an "expert" in this or that "socially responsible" cause.  Due to the recognition of his face, he may even get an audience in the United Nations, or in the White House.

Yet, he is no expert.  He has not lived it.  He pretended to, and pretended with enough skill that audiences believed it.

These "heroes" produce nothing.  They do not find cures, nor do they feed the masses.

Remember the actor who went to New Orleans to "save the black children" on a boat, but the boat sank because he had too many cameras and too many cameramen to film him?  There was no room for children, black or white, in his boat. It produced more than a few chuckles, but it highlights just how delusional one can be.

I liked "Marley and Me", the movie about the yellow lab from Hades.  The star, making millions, with a face recognizable all over the globe, made an attempt on his life.  The few quotes I read told me that it was not a publicity stunt.

How terribly sad.  How terribly tragic.

Marilyn Monroe was passed from man to man, beginning with a man who her mother brought into the house, who sexually abused her in childhood.  She seemed to have found relief in pretending to be someone else.

The language she used is strange, but indicative of childhood abuse.

She did not get to see her children's children at Christmas time.

What to look for?

1.  Note Passivity

Why?  Why would passivity be important?

Recognize that when a Hollywood or celebrity personality is speaking, the information may likely not only be deceptive, but deliberate.

Deliberate?  Why would a celeb deliberately give out information that is humiliating or degrading?

Passivity is often used to conceal identity or responsibility in statements.  Sometimes this is necessary (medical professions have to speak without revealing identity of patients)

What does Kim Kardashian do for a living?  She walks around NYC trying to get someone to take a picture of her rear end.  She produces nothing.  She does not contribute to life.  Why someone would care about her rear end isn't a puzzle I can solve.  This reminds me to remind you, if you are one to read the quotes:


2.  Go to the Least Common Denominator (LCD)

Human behavior will go to great lengths for the fulfillment of "self" more than anything else.  Stretching the points of history is an example of how far a thief will go to disguise his intentions.  This can be individualistic, or it can be the spirt of larceny in a nation, as seen in its elected official, who is doing the thievery on a larger scale.

Dylan:  "What was Hitler thinking with that mustache!"

I've read some things about the wearing of a gas mask but even if that was the origin, self promotion seems more likely as Hitler spent time in front of the mirror.  Whatever the reason, it was something that people noticed.

Cassius Clay, the boxer, was genius at self promotion.  The more people hated him the more people paid to go see him.  The context of some of his quotes will help you in analysis.

I hate to take away enjoyment of the "Andy Hardy" movies, but was there a more immoral abuser of women than Mickey Rooney, the "beloved" "American icon" of children's stories?  For every one Shirley Temple (who seemed to survive), there appears to be 100 Mickey Rooneys.

What of the accounts of Elvis Presley's depravity, with local mothers bringing their virgin daughters to him, in between half-pound butter and banana sandwiches?  What was it inside of him that desired to humiliate innocence?  Worse, what was within these mothers?

Can you listen to the language, with the possible context of least common denominator, in mind?

I spoke to a man who's business partner was approached by a Hollywood mother from hell, who's teenaged daughter with lots of talent, was fearful of the "casting couch" that awaited her.  The mother paid a camera man to "break in" her daughter, and desensitize her to the "inevitables" that her daughter would have to overcome to be a star.  The account was credible, but it was not unique.

We analyzed the account of Woody Allen's daughter.

She was truthful about the sexual abuse.  It was in her language.

This is something that you might want to consider about DD:

Those suffering from various dissociative disorders can sometimes mimic sociopathic behavior.  They can, at times, appear to be utterly calloused towards the suffering of others.

I once interviewed a woman about this very point.  I asked her how she had the ability to not share a single tear over the heartache she inflicted upon a close loved one.

She said that she simply disassociated from it, as she had done since childhood, to the point where "it did not exist" as if it "never happened,"

Frightening language.

This is from a 1962 article on Marilyn Monroe.  Those who exploited her kept her silence by medical restraint.

They drugged her into compliance.  You can read the article, but better, listen to the words she herself chooses.

What questions would you ask her?

There are signals in the language that may suggest the mental illness that would later surface, be medicated back down, only to rise again, until suicide finished her off.

Note that some words have been emphasized to assist.  Note "raw" and "human nature", and design questions you would ask, (LCD that she refers to)



"Sometimes wearing a scarf and a polo coat and no makeup and with a certain attitude of walking, I go shopping or just look at people living. But then you know, there will be a few teenagers who are kind of sharp and they'll say, "Hey, just a minute. You know who I think that is?" And they'll start tailing me. And I don't mind. I realise some people want to see if you're real. The teenagers, the little kids, their faces light up. They say, "Gee," and they can't wait to tell their friends. And old people come up and say, "Wait till I tell my wife." You've changed their whole day. In the morning, the garbage men that go by 57th Street when I come out the door say, "Marilyn, hi! How do you feel this morning?" To me, it's an honour, and I love them for it. The working men, I'll go by and they'll whistle. At first they whistle because they think, oh, it's a girl. She's got blond hair and she's not out of shape, and then they say, "Gosh, it's Marilyn Monroe!" And that has its ... you know, those are times it's nice. People knowing who you are and all of that, and feeling that you've meant something to them.
I don't know quite why, but somehow I feel they know that I mean what I do, both when I'm acting on the screen or when if I see them in person and greet them. That I really always do mean hello, and how are you? In their fantasies they feel "Gee, it can happen to me!" But when you're famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way. It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who is she who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, you know, of any kind of nature and it won't hurt your feelings. Like it's happening to your clothing. One time here I am looking for a home to buy and I stopped at this place. A man came out and was very pleasant and cheerful, and said, "Oh, just a moment, I want my wife to meet you." Well, she came out and said, "Will you please get off the premises?" You're always running into people's unconscious.
Let's take some actors or directors. Usually they don't say it to me, they say it to the newspapers because that's a bigger play. You know, if they're only insulting me to my face that doesn't make a big enough play because all I have to say is, "See you around, like never." But if it's in the newspapers, it's coast-to-coast and all around the world. I don't understand why people aren't a little more generous with each other. I don't like to say this, but I'm afraid there is a lot of envy in this business. The only thing I can do is stop and think, "I'm all right but I'm not so sure about them!" For instance, you've read there was some actor that once said that kissing me was like kissing Hitler. Well, I think that's his problem. If I have to do intimate love scenes with somebody who really has these kinds of feelings toward me, then my fantasy can come into play. In other words, out with him, in with my fantasy. He was never there.
It's nice to be included in people's fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake. I don't look at myself as a commodity, but I'm sure a lot of people have. Including, well, one corporation in particular, which shall be nameless. If I'm sounding picked on or something, I think I am. I'll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it's disappointing. These are the ones you aren't interested in seeing every day of your life.
Of course, it does depend on the people, but sometimes I'm invited places to kind of brighten up a dinner table like a musician who'll play the piano after dinner, and I know you're not really invited for yourself. You're just an ornament.
When I was five I think, that's when I started wanting to be an actress. I loved to play. I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. It was like you could make your own boundaries. It goes beyond house; you could make your own situations and you could pretend, and even if the other kids were a little slow on the imagining part, you could say, "Hey, what about if you were such and such, and I were such and such, wouldn't that be fun?" And they'd say, "Oh, yes," and then I'd say, "Well, that will be a horse and this will be ..." It was play, playfulness. When I heard that this was acting, I said that's what I want to be. You can play. But then you grow up and find out about playing, that they make playing very difficult for you. Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loved anything that moved up there and I didn't miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.
When I was 11, the whole world was closed to me. I just felt I was on the outside of the world. Suddenly, everything opened up. Even the girls paid a little attention to me because they thought, "Hmmm, she's to be dealt with!" And I had this long walk to school, two and a half miles [there], two and a half miles back. It was just sheer pleasure. Every fellow honked his horn, you know, workers driving to work, waving, you know, and I'd wave back. The world became friendly. All the newspaper boys when they delivered the paper would come around to where I lived, and I used to hang from the limb of a tree, and I had sort of a sweatshirt on. I didn't realise the value of a sweatshirt in those days, and then I was sort of beginning to catch on, but I didn't quite get it, because I couldn't really afford sweaters. But here they come with their bicycles, you know, and I'd get these free papers and the family liked that, and they'd all pull their bicycles up around the tree and then I'd be hanging, looking kind of like a monkey, I guess. I was a little shy to come down. I did get down to the curb, kinda kicking the curb and kicking the leaves and talking, but mostly listening. And sometimes the family used to worry because I used to laugh so loud and so gay; I guess they felt it was hysterical. It was just this sudden freedom because I would ask the boys, "Can I ride your bike now?" and they'd say, "Sure." Then I'd go zooming, laughing in the wind, riding down the block, laughing, and they'd all stand around and wait till I came back. But I loved the wind. It caressed me. But it was kind of a double-edged thing. I did find, too, when the world opened up that people took a lot for granted, like not only could they be friendly, but they could suddenly get overly friendly and expect an awful lot for very little. When I was older, I used to go to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and try to fit my foot in the prints in the cement there. And I'd say, "Oh, oh, my foot's too big! I guess that's out." I did have a funny feeling later when I finally put my foot down into that wet cement. I sure knew what it really meant to me. Anything's possible, almost.
It was the creative part that kept me going, trying to be an actress. I enjoy acting when you really hit it right. And I guess I've always had too much fantasy to be only a housewife. Well, also, I had to eat. I was never kept, to be blunt about it; I always kept myself. I have always had a pride in the fact that I was my own. And Los Angeles was my home, too, so when they said, "Go home!" I said, "I am home." The time I sort of began to think I was famous, I was driving somebody to the airport, and as I came back there was this movie house and I saw my name in lights. I pulled the car up at a distance down the street; it was too much to take up close, you know, all of a sudden. And I said, "God, somebody's made a mistake." But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, "So that's the way it looks," and it was all very strange to me, and yet at the studio they had said, "Remember, you're not a star." Yet there it is up in lights. I really got the idea I must be a star or something from the newspapermen; I'm saying men, not the women who would interview me and they would be warm and friendly. By the way, that part of the press, you know, the men of the press, unless they have their own personal quirks against me, they were always very warm and friendly and they'd say, "You know, you're the only star," and I'd say, "Star?" and they'd look at me as if I were nuts. I think they, in their own kind of way, made me realise I was famous.
I remember when I got the part in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jane Russell - she was the brunette in it and I was the blonde. She got $200,000 for it, and I got my $500 a week, but that to me was, you know, considerable. She, by the way, was quite wonderful to me. The only thing was I couldn't get a dressing room. Finally, I really got to this kind of level and I said, "Look, after all, I am the blonde, and it is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!" Because still they always kept saying, "Remember, you're not a star." I said, "Well, whatever I am, I am the blonde!" And I want to say to the people, if I am a star, the people made me a star. No studio, no person, but the people did. There was a reaction that came to the studio, the fan mail, or when I went to a premiere, or the exhibitors wanted to meet me. I didn't know why. When they all rushed toward me I looked behind me to see who was there and I said, "My heavens!" I was scared to death. I used to get the feeling, and sometimes I still get it, that sometimes I was fooling somebody; I don't know who or what, maybe myself.
I've always felt toward the slightest scene, even if all I had to do in a scene was just to come in and say, "Hi," that the people ought to get their money's worth and that this is an obligation of mine, to give them the best you can get from me. I do have feelings some days when there are scenes with a lot of responsibility toward the meaning, and I'll wish, "Gee, if only I had been a cleaning woman." On the way to the studio I would see somebody cleaning and I'd say, "That's what I'd like to be. That's my ambition in life." But I think that all actors go through this. We not only want to be good, we have to be. You know, when they talk about nervousness, my teacher, Lee Strasberg, when I said to him, "I don't know what's wrong with me but I'm a little nervous," he said, "When you're not, give up, because nervousness indicates sensitivity." Also, a struggle with shyness is in every actor more than anyone can imagine. There is a censor inside us that says to what degree do we let go, like a child playing. I guess people think we just go out there, and you know, that's all we do. Just do it. But it's a real struggle. I'm one of the world's most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.
An actor is not a machine, no matter how much they want to say you are. Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer. You're gay, you're sick, you're nervous or whatever. Like any creative human being, I would like a bit more control so that it would be a little easier for me when the director says, "One tear, right now," that one tear would pop out. But once there came two tears because I thought, "How dare he?" Goethe said, "Talent is developed in privacy," you know? And it's really true. There is a need for aloneness, which I don't think most people realise for an actor. It's almost having certain kinds of secrets for yourself that you'll let the whole world in on only for a moment, when you're acting. But everybody is always tugging at you. They'd all like sort of a chunk of you.
I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated. This industry should behave like a mother whose child has just run out in front of a car. But instead of clasping the child to them, they start punishing the child. Like you don't dare get a cold. How dare you get a cold! I mean, the executives can get colds and stay home forever and phone it in, but how dare you, the actor, get a cold or a virus. You know, no one feels worse than the one who's sick. I sometimes wish, gee, I wish they had to act a comedy with a temperature and a virus infection. I am not an actress who appears at a studio just for the purpose of discipline. This doesn't have anything at all to do with art. I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work. But I'm there to give a performance and not to be disciplined by a studio! After all, I'm not in a military school. This is supposed to be an art form, not just a manufacturing establishment. The sensitivity that helps me to act, you see, also makes me react. An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everybody jumped on his violin?
You know a lot of people have, oh gee, real quirky problems that they wouldn't dare have anyone know. But one of my problems happens to show: I'm late. I guess people think that why I'm late is some kind of arrogance and I think it is the opposite of arrogance. I also feel that I'm not in this big American rush, you know, you got to go and you got to go fast but for no good reason. The main thing is, I want to be prepared when I get there to give a good performance or whatever to the best of my ability. A lot of people can be there on time and do nothing, which I have seen them do, and you know, all sit around sort of chit chatting and talking trivia about their social life. Gable said about me, "When she's there, she's there. All of her is there! She's there to work."
I was honoured when they asked me to appear at the president's birthday rally in Madison Square Garden. There was like a hush over the whole place when I came on to sing Happy Birthday, like if I had been wearing a slip, I would have thought it was showing or something. I thought, "Oh, my gosh, what if no sound comes out!"
A hush like that from the people warms me. It's sort of like an embrace. Then you think, by God, I'll sing this song if it's the last thing I ever do, and for all the people. Because I remember when I turned to the microphone, I looked all the way up and back, and I thought, "That's where I'd be, way up there under one of those rafters, close to the ceiling, after I paid my two dollars to come into the place." Afterwards they had some sort of reception. I was with my former father-in-law, Isadore Miller, so I think I did something wrong when I met the president. Instead of saying, "How do you do?" I just said "This is my former father-in-law, Isadore Miller." He came here an immigrant and I thought this would be one of the biggest things in his life. He's about 75 or 80 years old and I thought this would be something that he would be telling his grandchildren about and all that. I should have said, "How do you do, Mr President," but I had already done the singing, so well you know. I guess nobody noticed it.
Fame has a special burden, which I might as well state here and now. I don't mind being burdened with being glamorous and sexual. But what goes with it can be a burden. I feel that beauty and femininity are ageless and can't be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won't like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it's based on femininity. I think that sexuality is only attractive when it's natural and spontaneous. This is where a lot of them miss the boat. And then something I'd just like to spout off on. We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it's a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift. Art, real art, comes from it, everything.
I never quite understood it, this sex symbol. I always thought symbols were those things you clash together! That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things they've got symbols of! These girls who try to be me, I guess the studios put them up to it, or they get the ideas themselves. But gee, they haven't got it. You can make a lot of gags about it like they haven't got the foreground or else they haven't the background. But I mean the middle, where you live.
All my stepchildren carried the burden of my fame. Sometimes they would read terrible things about me and I'd worry about whether it would hurt them. I would tell them: don't hide these things from me. I'd rather you ask me these things straight out and I'll answer all your questions.
I wanted them to know of life other than their own. I used to tell them, for instance, that I worked for five cents a month and I washed one hundred dishes, and my stepkids would say, "One hundred dishes!" and I said, "Not only that, I scraped and cleaned them before I washed them." I washed them and rinsed them and put them in the draining place, but I said, "Thank God I didn't have to dry them."
I was never used to being happy, so that wasn't something I ever took for granted. You see, I was brought up differently from the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy. That's it: successful, happy, and on time. Yet because of fame I was able to meet and marry two of the nicest men I'd ever met up to that time.
I don't think people will turn against me, at least not by themselves. I like people. The "public" scares me, but people I trust. Maybe they can be impressed by the press or when a studio starts sending out all kinds of stories. But I think when people go to see a movie, they judge for themselves. We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.
Once I was supposed to be finished, that was the end of me. When Mr Miller was on trial for contempt of congress, a certain corporation executive said either he named names and I got him to name names, or I was finished. I said, "I'm proud of my husband's position and I stand behind him all the way," and the court did too. "Finished," they said. "You'll never be heard of."
It might be a kind of relief to be finished. You have to start all over again. But I believe you're always as good as your potential. I now live in my work and in a few relationships with the few people I can really count on. Fame will go by, and, so long, I've had you fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experienced, but that's not where I live.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

M Monroe, early MK Ultra victim, dissociation would be part of it.

MK Ultra program is proven to have existed -Clinton apologized for it. Most records were destroyed by order of then CIA director Helms.

No reason to think it still doesn't go on and Hollywood is likely full of its victims.

Anonymous said...

I have been diagnosed with DID and always wished to be an actress from my earliest play. I too have wondered about actors/actresses and their ability to step into roles, as I am able to do this depending upon my needs, often at will, though a few times my ability has not come through.

BostonLady said...

As I've matured, it is easier to see how Hollywood sells vapor. I've become cynical when any actor/producer, etc preach about what they feel "should" be followed. Many haven't ever been to college and are just good at pretending. They read words that are written for them. So when they get up on the pulpit of an awards show and start imparting their standards on life, I have a hard time taking it seriously. But, I know that there are many who take their word as gospel. When I was a teen, I did. I believed the garbage put out. It's really sad how we are manipulated by the big Hollywood machine. From shoe styles, purses, hair to politics.

I also am upset by the "hero" title being bestowed upon someone who just pretends. The people who are not recognized in this world are the real heroes. Firefighters, Police,EMT, Nurses, Doctors, Teachers, Day Care providers.. They deal with day to day life and death situations. They are not rewarded with high salaries. Those are given to someone who can throw a ball or catch a ball or bounce a ball. aka sports.

Value is placed on pretend. Perhaps because it is easier and more palatable than reality.

Anonymous said...

When I was a teen I knew that actors/entertainers wanted to be thought of as heroes, so I would pretend to be a "damsel in distress", so that "the target" had an opportunity to "rescue" me and give themselves an opportunity to react in a manner that was noble, so they could be "real heroes" when the media wasn't there to capture the moment.

My best friend and I became quite good at it. We fooled our "audiences" many times.

The payoff was free admittance to the shows, sports events, and concerts in Southern California.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

BL,
if you have become cynical over hollywood, I can only guess how much S/A has increased the cynicism!

Anonymous, interesting account.

I thought there would be angry comments left on how "Brad Pitt is a hero" and so on.

Nothin.

Peter

Nic said...

human nature in a raw kind of way

Primal comes to mind. De-evolution ... individual welfare of the worst sense versus the common good. In my opinion, Hollywood is its own society with its own "governing rules" and entitlements/payment schedule.

If I have to do intimate love scenes with somebody who really has these kinds of feelings toward me, then my fantasy can come into play. In other words, out with him, in with my fantasy. He was never there.

The term 'method acting' in my opinion is a euphemism for DD. And, today, when interviewers/reporters ask actors about the parts they play, the actors are always pointed in saying it is "the character", not them. (i.e., method acting). It has dawned on me that actors of my time, not excluding those who came before them, but I am most familiar with today, never have 'known' *themselves*. They are always taking off the jacket of a character and putting on another. That when they are in-between parts, they are with a stranger and then, what? The only 'real' thing they know is their past and then they can't cope? Coping mechanism = drugs and alcohol, eating disorders, cutting, etc. More than one actor is on record saying that they have to have time to be by themselves after "playing" a character before they can be with their friends and family. Which is something else I notice, they put friends before family. And also, that *so much* is contrived and fake about their personal lives. For example, I've discovered many romances and marriages are arranged, for one of two reasons: publicity or "bearding" (providing the illusion of a heterosexual couple but the reality is one is gay). They (pr/people making money off of the actors) are afraid that if fans find out about their "inventory's'" sexuality, that they would not be able to buy-in to the leading man/woman in a heterosexual relationship on screen and the "revenue stream" would dry up. Here she validates what I've been thinking: Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer. You're gay, you're sick, you're nervous or whatever.

The more I read about Hollywood, the more I think that it is a disgusting human trafficking industry.

When I was five ...

This whole paragraph makes me sad. It's basically an executive summary of her childhood from the age of 5 on. Escaping into a fantasy world and not liking the "grim" world. She describes making her own boundaries in her fantasy world, the flip side being that her boundaries in the "real world" were exploited. She refers to not missing anything "there" (distancing) while spending the *whole day and night* alone at the movie theatre. And that she corrects play to playfulness and how they made "playing" very difficult for "you". So there is a negative connotation to "playing" and a fun and innocent connotation to "playfulness". b[snip]There is a censor inside us that says to what degree do we let go, like a child playing. [end snip] Note the words child and play.


I'm with you, Peter. There is a reason why there is so much substance abuse, alcoholism, and self-promotion of the worst sense. The boundaries of most of these actors have been blurred. I say that because many times it's documented *after* their passing, that they had horrible things happen to them growing up and 'breaking into" the industry. The people who society says they can trust, they can't.

I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but I am watching with great interest what comes of the "Bryan Singer's sex abuse scandal" and who else is implicated.

Nic said...

I can't stop thinking about this article.

One other thing I didn't comment on but I can't stop thinking about is the control factor.

She had no control over her sexuality until she was 11/12 years of age and basically documents it by recanting stories about the boys parking their bikes by the fence. Still she allowed those people in "trust" exploit her by allowing her to use her sexuality to the benefit of "the family".

It's so sad. It really makes focus on what I'm seeing as my kids begin to stretch their wings/social spheres. Up until a year ago, I controlled who came and went (scheduled play dates). Now with the move of residences, new neighborhood, new schools/friends, I don't know their parents. I meet them *after* my kids have made friends. I'm more leary than ever, LOL...

Nic said...

*residence

Sus said...

Nic, I'm right with you. I also cannot stop thinking about it. I find Marilyn Monroe to be deeply introspective and intelligent. This writing shows she was fighting for her identity, but it was always taken away from her. Or shown that just Norma Jean wasn't good enough. I find it amazing that she knew this and could easily clarify it. Of course, we know she covered her pain with addictions and ultimately lost the battle to keep her identity.

I note how she switches between the use of "I" and "you". She makes a definite distinction between herself (I) and Marilyn Monroe (you).

The distinction or boundaries as she called them, were begun at 5 years of age. It is interesting that the only way she could have control was by "playing" or pretending.

By 11 she saw she had another way out...the use of her looks and sexiness. She may not call it that, but it was flirting and sexiness. I think it's an important time because she traded her exterior self for some control over her life. Which became her norm.

Notice the negativity and defensiveness surrounding "being kept." Again, she tried to keep control of her own identity. Another split. Norma Jean may not have been kept, but Marilyn I think was.

I love her description of acting...letting the world in on your secrets for a moment, then they want all of you. (Paraphrased) There she says it. Acting is another world, another identity. Then the world wants you to keep that identity. It's the only one they like.

So much more here, but I'll stop. I would love to do a comparison to how someone like Ben Affleck is like this.

Skeptical said...

Amy Green, wife of Marilyn's photographer Milton Green, said she and Marilyn were walking in New York one day and Marilyn looked at her and said, "Do you want to see me turn into her?" (meaning her persona of Marilyn). Amy said it was amazing to watch - her walk changed, her demeanor changed, her whole physicality changed as she became the actress Marilyn Monroe.

Ali said...

Hi Peter, FYI original Cole Porter lyrics run to about $15,000.00

http://store.paulfrasercollectibles.com/Cole-Porter-Handwritten-Musical-Notes-p/pt134.htm

I enjoy reading your blog.

Elsie said...

At a Guardian interview at BFI Southbank last year, Curtis explained the genesis of the "kissing Hitler" remark.

"Someone said to me, 'Hey, what's it like kissing Marilyn?' I said, 'It's like kissing Hitler. What are you doing asking me such a stupid question?'

That's where it came from," he said.

linnet said...

Some actors lie about everything, even things that people will tell is a lie, and things that are not important.

Angelina Jolie lies so much, and it is fascinating to see how she is never questioned about in in the media.

She lies about stupid things like wearing jeans and bathing her children.

To how she "wrote" a manuscript, how she met her current partner, what her children do, how much plastic surgery she has had (none she says, yet it is obvious she has had nose job, chin implant, cheek fillers and botox), how many sexual partners she has had, what languages she can master, and the list goes on.

Stupid lies who have no purpose whatsoever.

Hearing Brad Pitt is acting the same way, surprise me not, he always was an idiot.

Betty said...

I think that's an arguable theory with a lot of merit, Peter. Where is the study?
While I read it I got the feeling she was bipolar 2, more depressive. I do agree that the hypersexualizatiin indicates abuse as does the overwhelming notations of her clothing shifting from general to singular day (sweatshirt...every day? what value?)
She's also ambivalent as to men's motives. She begins by saying how she loves it and then goes in and out with that feeling. She starts out seeing the world as altruistic and then goes darker and not just with Hollywood.

I see her reflected in this letter as being highly intelligent--intellectually gifted--and deeply over analytical...to the point she confuses herself and has an ambivalent, overly fluid world view. I guess that part fits with Bordeline and/or DD, but also with bp2.

I recently read a few books on how highly intellectually gifted women get pathologized by psych's and can be thought of as comorbid with many things due to rapid speech, complexity of ideas (that many people have trouble following due to the analytical nature plus atavistic reflex to write women off as crazy) and the feeling of being an observant outsider, ostracized---garnering disparate reactions from people in society. So, naturally you would have trouble having less plasticity with your self concept. So these women seek help for loneliness, internalizing criticisms and the alienation of being different yet meaning well, etc., and get tagged with bipolar, borderline, ADD/ADHD, DD, and sometimes, depending on the degree in disruption or "cognitive dissonance" causing anxiety, they get histrionic personality disorder.

Being an actress fed into this and I see her struggle waxing and waning about how people perceive and treat her so disparately and also with so much erraticism and reactivity. She is so confused. Add to that the desire to escape into characters with clear emotional and personal margins, and also those who were not so cerebral, and it seems to have been an overwhelming mix for a very introspective and analytical woman.

Yes, she may have been abused. But I think we rush to pathologize behaviors that are outside of the 'norm' in society. In fact "personality disorder" in essence means a way of coping that has become destructive to the individual. Well, where do we draw the line from giving out an insurance code to the highly intelligent?

Have you ever been around highly gifted children? They are celebrated in schools, often times, while they are young. Later they are crushed to discover, especially if they are sensitive, how often people project their own insecurities onto them with hostility, disdain or simple abandonment/ignoring. That's not in the DSM. Who has the problem there?

I have great respect for psychology and psychiatry but the fact of the matter is psychiatric appointments are hundreds of dollars for 15 minutes of med management. Yes, 15 minutes. Even hospitalization garners the patient a diagnosis within a simple three or so sessions and has Dr bias. You wont get a PD diagnosis in the hospital unless its billable.

In any case, my diagnosis is highly intelligent woman who over analyzes life and has a shaky idea of where she fits in, shaken by the, you might say, bipolar way in which OTHERS constantly treat her, like clothing, dispassionate and devastating. She was raised inside a movie theater.

Betty said...

Past tense intended, I know that was Marilyn Monroe.

Betty said...

One last thing, for the woman I described, I think it would be both welcome and confusing to be characters that people loved and who were generally appealing yet see that reaction transformed in real life. I think Marilyn deeply needed to be loved consistently and unconditionally by a stable person (though she woukd probably have run.) ok. finis

Anonymous said...

Peter,
A very interesting take on acting. What about spies who knowingly lead double lives? How do they cope with dual identities? And why would they chose such a profession? Do we need statements to analyze to figure out why?