THE INFERIORITY COMPLEX
According to Adler, “we all experience feelings of inferiority, since we all find ourselves in situations we wish we could improve.” We deal with our feelings of inferiority through compensation, the natural inclination to succeed in other areas in order to cover our lacking in the areas in which we feel inferior. Just as a blind man will compensate for his lack of sight by developing a superior sense of hearing, the individual compensates for his inferiority complex by developing in the areas of life in which he can feel superior. Consequently, the instinctive reaction to an inferiority complex “will always be a compensatory movement toward a feeling of superiority.”
HAMARTIA
A common element of the hero’s character in mythic structure is the “hamartia,” the tragic flaw that the hero must overcome. The term “Achilles’ Heel” refers to Achilles’ hamartia, the only part of his body that was vulnerable, because his heel was covered when he was dipped in the mystical river Styx. The most common hamartia among the classical heroes was hubris, the arrogance and conceit that would naturally afflict heroes with great powers and demi-god status.
Hamartia is the root of the inferiority complex, the basic weakness, flaw, or foible that the hero must overcome. In films, the inferiority complex is often depicted as a character overcoming great personal adversity to achieve superiority in a particular field. In Shine (1996), a man (Geoffrey Rush) goes on to become a great pianist despite a serious psychiatric illness. In a similar story – A Beautiful Mind (2001) – a man (Russell Crowe) overcomes a serious psychiatric illness to become a Nobel Prize winning mathematician. And in My Left Foot (1989), a man (Daniel Day-Lewis) overcomes severe cerebral palsy to become a great writer. In all of these stories, the heroes compensate for their disabilities by focusing with great initiative and determination on a field in which they can succeed. In addition, these characters are driven by a need to feel superior in the fields that they have chosen.
THE SUPERIORITY COMPLEX
Naturally, extreme feelings of inferiority will produce extreme reactions toward superiority. These extreme reactions are called “overcompensation.” While compensation is a normative way of dealing with the neurosis of inferiority, overcompensatory behaviors are pathological and maladaptive. Perpetual or generalized overcompensation can even lead to a “superiority complex,” a personality disorder in which the individual expresses a pathological need to dominate and humiliate others around him. Certainly, Adolf Hitler’s need to feel racially and genetically superior to others, and his pathological desire to dominate, humiliate, and exterminate those whom he considered his inferiors, could be considered a worst case scenario of a superiority complex gone wild. His madness inspired and possessed an entire generation.
In an Adlerian analysis, Hitler’s overcompensatory behaviors were an extreme reaction to a severe inferiority complex. Just a brief glance at Hitler’s personal biography, along with some historical background relating to the extreme poverty, depression, unemployment, chaos, and widespread humiliation of post-WWI Germany, would seem to support an Adlerian interpretation of the Nazi movement as an extreme reaction to both a personal and collective inferiority complex. Much depth can be added to the character of someone with a superiority complex (typically the villain), by revealing the inferiority complex behind his over compensatory behavior. When this is achieved, the villain ceases to function as a one-dimensional character. The audience understands why the villain is evil, and feels pity, as well as hatred, for his character.
In One Hour Photo (2002), Sy (Robin Williams) is an atypical villain – an insecure misfit whose dangerous obsession with a family becomes twisted and violent. But when the root of his behaviors is revealed, we realize that the torture he inflicts on the father of the family he is obsessed with is actually overcompensated revenge against his own father, who abused and tortured him. By revealing this layer of inferiority within the villain, depth is added to his character, and the level of conflict is raised within the mind of the viewer. Feelings of disgust and contempt are now mingled with pity and empathy… the villain becomes a tortured soul, as well as a torturing sadist.
SUPERVILLAINS
The “supervillains” in superhero movies are often deformed, mutated characters who are tortured by their own disabilities and driven by a need to dominate others. The Joker (Jack Nicholson) in Batman, The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) in Spider-man, and Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) in Dick Tracy (1990) are all “freaks.” Their physical deformities represent their raging inferiority complexes. Their subsequent superiority complexes are driven by overcompensation. By dominating, controlling, and destroying others, the supervillain quells his feelings of shame, anger, and disgust with himself. While the supervillain is an extreme example of overcompensation and the superiority complex, these drives and conflicts are common motivations in all characters. They can be just as effective means of character motivation in heroes (especially tragic heroes), rivals, supporting characters, or even mentors. For example, the coach who drives his team with a psychotic need for victory in order to compensate for his own failed career as a player is an archetypal example of the superiority complex in the mentor character.
CHILDHOOD FANTASIES
According to Adler, all children experience a sense of inferiority in one way or another. The universality of the inferiority complex in children is a natural result of the child’s small size, weakness, lack of experience, powerlessness, and complete dependence on adults. Children have a heightened desire to see stories about heroes that they can relate to, that is, heroes overcoming inferiority. The child hero formula in film is especially adept at piquing the child’s imagination. Disney’s “Princess Series” is directly marketed toward little girls, who naturally resonate toward the Princess Hero formula. Movies marketed toward little boys tend to have heroes who recall the classical male heroes of the Greek and Medieval tradition, such as the heroes in Hercules (1997) and The Sword in the Stone (1963). The princess fantasy in girls and superhero fantasy in boys relate to an innate “goal of superiority” that exists in all people, but is particularly acute in the minds of children – because of their natural state of physical, intellectual, and social inferiority.
THE DISNEY MYSTIQUE
By capturing a child’s imagination, you capture a child’s heart. The Disney Corporation has built an empire by appreciating and exploiting the fact that children feel especially powerless and demoralized in a world controlled by adults. By supplying a hero formula that is carefully designed to symbolize the psychological trials and tribulations of childhood, Disney acquires loyal customers at their most suggestible age. The attachment and special intimacy felt by Disney fans for all Disney products is created in childhood, and so the Disney brand itself becomes a treasured childhood memory, as well as an integral part of the individual’s identity. The purity of the individual’s association between the Disney logo and that idealistic state of mind remembered as “childhood” results in lifelong customers who’ll pay through the nose to recapture the feelings of innocence and youth that they felt as children. And, since parents re-experience cherished childhood memories through their own children, parents will line-up by the thousands to instill the same associations from their childhoods into their own children.
THE CHILD HERO’S CONFLICT
The greatest and most ubiquitous conflict in childhood is powerlessness. Children are small and weak. Adults control every aspect of their existence. Children are not allowed to control where they live, what they do, who they see, and how they spend their time. Every action a child takes is supervised and controlled by a dominating adult. “Brush your teeth!” “Eat your greens!” “Go to bed!” “Wear a sweater!” “Do your homework!” “Make your bed!” “Go to school!” “Turn off the TV!” These are the externally enforced imperatives that fill a child’s life, leaving little room for independence or individuality – much less adventure, danger, or excitement. Hence, children can relate to the conf
lict of little Simba in The Lion King (1994), when Simba is exiled from his pride of lions by his evil uncle, and must overcome his own powerlessness in order to overthrow his uncle.
While powerlessness is the essence of the child hero’s conflict, many adult heroes face moments of powerlessness at crucial points in their stories, as well. In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is tied to a post during the dramatic sequence when the holy ark is uncovered. In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is shackled and powerless when his closest ally, Han Solo, is frozen into a carbon block. By making the hero (typically the most proactive member of the cast), powerless at a critical moment, a great deal of tension is added to the plot.
ORPHAN HEROES
The child hero formula begins with a child who is suddenly freed of the domineering presence of parents or other adult authority figures. The formula begins with a basic wish fulfillment – the child hero is free – and independence is sweet. Pinocchio (1940) runs off to the stage to become an actor. Dumbo (1941) gets to enjoy life on his own in the topsy-turvy world of the circus. Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1967) never knows his parents at all; like a jungle animal, he is born free. Simba in The Lion King goes off into the exciting forest to experience life away from the watchful eye of Mother and Father. Arthur in The Sword in the Stone, Moses in The Prince of Egypt (1998), Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Cinderella, and Snow White are all orphan heroes.
The childhood fantasy of becoming an orphan expresses various wishes. For some children, it is an unconscious wish to punish their parents for their cruelty. For others, it expresses a wish for freedom from possessive and dominating parents. And for others, the dream of being an orphan represents a desire to form an independent identity completely separate from the identity of their parents. Often times, child heroes in these fantasies grow up with surrogate parents. Princess heroes such as Cinderella and Snow White grow up with evil stepmothers, while Sleeping Beauty grows up with her fairy godmothers. Other heroes – Luke in Star Wars, Arthur, Jesus, Moses, Cyrus, Perseus, Hercules, etc. – grow up with surrogate parents because their real parents are royal or even divine figures. The childhood fantasy expressed in the stories of these child heroes is the desire for a grand, illustrious sense of identity beyond the boring and mundane world of the child’s real parents.
After becoming freed from their parents, the child heroes learn their most important lesson first: they love their parents and miss their homes. The first stage of development is the realization that home is where the heart is, and that Mommy and Daddy’s tyrannical domination is really just their way of expressing love and care. The goal at this point becomes clear… the heroes must find and fight their way back home. But getting back home is just half the battle. Though the child hero’s wish for freedom and independence is fulfilled and the desire resolved, the child’s desire for a sense of power and self-determination still needs to be addressed.
ROLE REVERSAL
In the child’s real life, Mom and Dad are the champions. They are the ones who go out and battle the dragons of the world in order to save house and home. The adults are the defenders and the children are the defenseless victims. But in the child’s fantasy life, children are the characters imbued with power and strength. In their world, the children must slay the dragon, defeat the witch, conquer the black knight, or destroy the villain. In their world, it is the parent who is powerless, helpless, and completely vulnerable. Only the child hero can save the powerless parents from certain death and destruction. The theme of the child hero saving his parent (and/or the world), is ubiquitous in Disney films. Pinocchio’s journey was fulfilled when he saved Gepetto. Simba saved his pride of lions and the entire jungle kingdom from the tyranny of his evil uncle. And in the Spy Kids series (2001, 2002, 2003), the child heroes save their parents and/or world in every film.
MARRIAGE SAVING
A child’s world is rather small in perspective. The parental marriage and child-parent relationships – the cement of the family unit – can seem like the entire universe to a child. In films like The Parent Trap (1961 & 1998), the child’s world is saved when the family unit is reconnected. Instead of saving the world or their parents’ lives, the child heroes save their parents’ marriage, which in the children’s perspective is tantamount to saving the entire world.
ANIMAL HEROES
Children are very adept at imaginary animation – projecting human qualities onto animals, or even inanimate figures. Hence, movies and stories for children are often animated cartoons featuring animal heroes such as the characters in Bambi (1942), Dumbo, Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp (1955), 101 Dalmatians (1961 & 1996), The Lion King, and countless others. Children also love to project themselves into the roles of fantasy figures such as the monsters in Monsters, Inc. (2001). They can even identify with inanimate objects, such as the toys in Toy Story (1995) or the household appliances and furnishings in Beauty and the Beast (1999), and The Brave Little Toaster (1987). In a child’s imagination, the extra suspension of disbelief required to identify with a character that couldn’t even exist in the real world is just that much more fun and fantastic. Absolutely anything could happen! When animals, objects, or monsters symbolizing children save the human adult world, the victory is psychologically rewarding on a variety of levels.
PINOCCHIO
Disney’s rendition of the classic Pinocchio story has become an eternal fixture in the American psyche. The film is a very successful portrayal of the child hero formula because the hero has a quest that all children can identify with. All children have the sense that they are not completely “real,” since the adults in their world constantly limit their freedom because they are just children.” The children’s fantasy of someday developing into “grown ups” and having all of the freedom they desire is symbolized in Pinocchio’s quest of becoming a “real boy.” Pinocchio’s story begins when he is separated from his “father,” Gepetto, (the artisan who created his body). His immediate goal is to reunite and integrate with his father. But to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming a real boy, he must reconnect with his spiritual mother – the Blue Fairy, (the Goddess who gave him life).
Pinocchio’s mentor is a talking animal – Jiminy Cricket. In many Disney movies, the hero’s animal mentor must also overcome an inferiority complex. The Seven Dwarves must overcome their small size and fear of the Evil Queen in order to defend Snow White. The talking mice must overcome their small size and fear of the evil cat in order to defend Cinderella. The Candlestick and other household objects must overcome their small size to battle the invading mob and defend the castle in Beauty and The Beast. And Mushu, the miniature talking dragon, must overcome his smallness in order to help Mulan rescue the Emperor. In Pinocchio, Jiminy overcomes his self-doubt and smallness by aiding his hero and joining him in battle against the giant whale, Monstro.
Just as the hero in Campbell’s model completes his journey by returning home, child heroes typically complete their journeys by reuniting with their parents and returning home. In the end, Pinocchio and Jiminy save Gepetto. Pinocchio is rewarded for his bravery and constancy when he is resurrected by the Blue Fairy and triumphantly transformed into a real boy. However, we get the sense that whether real or wooden, Pinocchio’s true triumph came when he was reunited with his loving and devoted father.
CHAPTER TWELVE SUMMARY POINTS
All heroes must overcome something either in themselves or in their environment. In this sense, the hamartia, or inferiority complex, is a basic part of every hero’s character, and compensation is a basic element of the hero’s motivation.
Extreme feelings of inferiority may lead to overcompensation— maladaptive ways of expressing the need to feel superior that are indicative of the superiority complex.
Supervillains, who have an abnormal need to dominate others and the world around them, are extremely potent examples of the superiority complex.
You can add a lot of depth to a villain character by revealing t
he feelings of inferiority that lie at the root of his superiority complex.
Movies for children, especially Disney movies, tend to address childhood fantasies and psychological needs particular to childhood.
The superhero fantasy in children relates to their goal of superiority, the way children deal with natural feelings of inferiority that arise from being small people in a world run by big people.
Powerlessness is the central conflict in the child-hero formula.
When adult heroes are rendered powerless at crucial times in their stories, a critical element of tension is added to the plot.
Psychology for Screenwriters Page 21
