By Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"
Q. Fame and TV shows about celebrities usually have a huge audience.
This is understandable: people like to see other successful people.
But why people like to see celebrities being humiliated?
A. As far as their fans are concerned, celebrities fulfil two
emotional functions: they provide a mythical narrative (a story that
the fan can follow and identify with) and they function as blank
screens onto which the fans project their dreams, hopes, fears,
plans, values, and desires (wish fulfilment). The slightest
deviation from these prescribed roles provokes enormous rage and
makes us want to punish (humiliate) the "deviant" celebrities.
But why?
When the human foibles, vulnerabilities, and frailties of a
celebrity are revealed, the fan feels humiliated, "cheated",
hopeless, and "empty". To reassert his self-worth, the fan must
establish his or her moral superiority over the erring and "sinful"
celebrity. The fan must "teach the celebrity a lesson" and show the
celebrity "who's boss". It is a primitive defense mechanism -
narcissistic grandiosity. It puts the fan on equal footing with the
exposed and "naked" celebrity.
Q. This taste for watching a person being humiliated has something
to do with the attraction to catastrophes and tragedies?
A. There is always a sadistic pleasure and a morbid fascination in
vicarious suffering. Being spared the pains and tribulations others
go through makes the observer feel "chosen", secure, and virtuous.
The higher celebrities rise, the harder they fall. There is
something gratifying in hubris defied and punished.
Q. Do you believe the audience put themselves in the place of the
reporter (when he asks something embarrassing to a celebrity) and
become in some way revenged?
A. The reporter "represents" the "bloodthirsty" public. Belittling
celebrities or watching their comeuppance is the modern equivalent
of the gladiator rink. Gossip used to fulfil the same function and
now the mass media broadcast live the slaughtering of fallen gods.
There is no question of revenge here - just Schadenfreude, the
guilty joy of witnessing your superiors penalized and "cut down to
size".
Q. In your country, who are the celebrities people love to hate?
A. Israelis like to watch politicians and wealthy businessmen
reduced, demeaned, and slighted. In Macedonia, where I live, all
famous people, regardless of their vocation, are subject to intense,
proactive, and destructive envy. This love-hate relationship with
their idols, this ambivalence, is attributed by psychodynamic
theories of personal development to the child's emotions towards his
parents. Indeed, we transfer and displace many negative emotions we
harbor onto celebrities.
Q. I would never dare asking some questions the reporters from
Panico ask the celebrities. What are the characteristics of people
like these reporters?
A. Sadistic, ambitious, narcissistic, lacking empathy, self-
righteous, pathologically and destructively envious, with a
fluctuating sense of self-worth (possibly an inferiority complex).
6. Do you believe the actors and reporters want themselves to be as
famous as the celebrities they tease? Because I think this is almost
happening...
A. The line is very thin. Newsmakers and newsmen and women are
celebrities merely because they are public figures and regardless of
their true accomplishments. A celebrity is famous for being famous.
Of course, such journalists will likely to fall prey to up and
coming colleagues in an endless and self-perpetuating food chain...
7. I think that the fan-celebrity relationship gratifies both sides.
What are the advantages the fans get and what are the advantages the
celebrities get?
A. There is an implicit contract between a celebrity and his fans.
The celebrity is obliged to "act the part", to fulfil the
expectations of his admirers, not to deviate from the roles that
they impose and he or she accepts. In return the fans shower the
celebrity with adulation. They idolize him or her and make him or
her feel omnipotent, immortal, "larger than life", omniscient,
superior, and sui generis (unique).
What are the fans getting for their trouble?
Above all, the ability to vicariously share the celebrity's fabulous
(and, usually, partly confabulated) existence. The celebrity becomes
their "representative" in fantasyland, their extension and proxy,
the reification and embodiment of their deepest desires and most
secret and guilty dreams. Many celebrities are also role models or
father/mother figures. Celebrities are proof that there is more to
life than drab and routine. That beautiful - nay, perfect - people
do exist and that they do lead charmed lives. There's hope yet -
this is the celebrity's message to his fans.
The celebrity's inevitable downfall and corruption is the modern-day
equivalent of the medieval morality play. This trajectory - from
rags to riches and fame and back to rags or worse - proves that
order and justice do prevail, that hubris invariably gets punished,
and that the celebrity is no better, neither is he superior, to his
fans.
8. Why are celebrities narcissists? How is this disorder born?
No one knows if pathological narcissism is the outcome of inherited
traits, the sad result of abusive and traumatizing upbringing, or
the confluence of both. Often, in the same family, with the same set
of parents and an identical emotional environment - some siblings
grow to be malignant narcissists, while others are
perfectly "normal". Surely, this indicates a genetic predisposition
of some people to develop narcissism.
It would seem reasonable to assume - though, at this stage, there is
not a shred of proof - that the narcissist is born with a propensity
to develop narcissistic defenses. These are triggered by abuse or
trauma during the formative years in infancy or during early
adolescence. By "abuse" I am referring to a spectrum of behaviors
which objectify the child and treat it as an extension of the
caregiver (parent) or as a mere instrument of gratification. Dotting
and smothering are as abusive as beating and starving. And abuse can
be dished out by peers as well as by parents, or by adult role
models.
Not all celebrities are narcissists. Still, some of them surely are.
We all search for positive cues from people around us. These cues
reinforce in us certain behaviour patterns. There is nothing special
in the fact that the narcissist-celebrity does the same. However
there are two major differences between the narcissistic and the
normal personality.
The first is quantitative. The normal person is likely to welcome a
moderate amount of attention - verbal and non-verbal - in the form
of affirmation, approval, or admiration. Too much attention, though,
is perceived as onerous and is avoided. Destructive and negative
criticism is avoided altogether.
The narcissist, in contrast, is the mental equivalent of an
alcoholic. He is insatiable. He directs his whole behaviour, in fact
his life, to obtain these pleasurable titbits of attention. He
embeds them in a coherent, completely biased, picture of himself. He
uses them to regulates his labile (fluctuating) sense of self-worth
and self-esteem.
To elicit constant interest, the narcissist projects on to others a
confabulated, fictitious version of himself, known as the False
Self. The False Self is everything the narcissist is not:
omniscient, omnipotent, charming, intelligent, rich, or well-
connected.
The narcissist then proceeds to harvest reactions to this projected
image from family members, friends, co-workers, neighbours, business
partners and from colleagues. If these - the adulation, admiration,
attention, fear, respect, applause, affirmation - are not
forthcoming, the narcissist demands them, or extorts them. Money,
compliments, a favourable critique, an appearance in the media, a
sexual conquest are all converted into the same currency in the
narcissist's mind, into "narcissistic supply".
So, the narcissist is not really interested in publicity per se or
in being famous. Truly he is concerned with the REACTIONS to his
fame: how people watch him, notice him, talk about him, debate his
actions. It "proves" to him that he exists.
The narcissist goes around "hunting and collecting" the way the
expressions on people's faces change when they notice him. He places
himself at the centre of attention, or even as a figure of
controversy. He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and
dearest to him in a bid to reassure himself that he is not losing
his fame, his magic touch, the attention of his social milieu.
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AUTHOR BIO (must be included with the article)
Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant
Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West
Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review,
PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International
(UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health
and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and
Suite101.
Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government
of Macedonia.
Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com