Defense Mechanisms in Pop Culture

Defense Mechanisms in Modern Entertainment
Mayra Solis
3rd Period – Psychology
1/30/2015

We all have an affinity for particular fictional characters, whether on television, books, or movie screens. In lots of cases it is for their spunk, their personality, or way of thinking, and what we do not know is that many of these characteristics come from psychological concepts and each character can represent these ideas. Defense mechanisms are a common basis for these character tropes and are present in movies like Mean Girls and J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter book series for the sake of character development. Based off of self-help book, Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, Mean Girls is considered iconic in the Young Adult film genre. Although it had the typical high school plot, Mean Girls was more relatable than any other movie with similar storylines simply because the script and characters mimicked high school and teenage behaviors almost exactly. The use of Defense Mechanisms like Reaction Formation, Displacement, and Rationalization take place throughout the entire movie itself. The story centers around Cady Heron, the daughter of zoologists who have moved to Illinois after a 12 year research study in Africa. She had been homeschooled all her life until the move and is introduced to the wild jungle of high school and its social hierarchy, with the Plastics: Regina, Gretchen, and Karen, (the “mean girls)” reigning at the top. After befriending them, Cady is betrayed by Regina George when she gets into a relationship with Aaron Samuels, a boy Cady had a crush on, even after Regina was aware of Cady’s feelings towards Aaron. From that moment forward, it was ultimately Cady’s goal to break the Plastics apart by sabotaging them. Reaction Formation, taking authentic feelings and switching to the exact opposite, is introduced during one of the first times Cady encounters Regina. While conversing, a random girl passes by and Regina compliments her by telling her that her skirt is pretty, but the minute the girl leaves, she turns around and tells Cady that “that is the ugliest effing skirt” she’s ever seen. Cady is quick to remember that Regina had said the same about the bracelet her mom had made her, hinting at Regina’s two-faced personality. Reaction formation tends to happen when someone fears to be criticized because they have a liking towards something that is deemed unacceptable in society, so perhaps Regina did like the skirt, but because it was vintage and from the 80’s, it wasn’t cool for her to think that. As the story progresses, Cady manages to become Regina’s confidante, making Gretchen feel unappreciated by who she felt was her best friend. After Regina dismisses Gretchen’s idea of making “fetch” a popular slang term, she cracks under all the humiliation Regina puts her through. Gretchen uses Displacement by expressing her frustration through an essay on Brutus and Caesar (Regina being Caesar and Gretchen portraying Brutus), “Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?... People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that 's not what Rome is about. We should totally just stab Caesar!” Displacement is essentially taking out negative emotions on someone or something that is less threatening. While Gretchen is angry at Regina, she fears her because of her popularity and her power to control the school’s attitude towards anyone, which could end up harming Gretchen’s reputation. Moving towards the climax of the film, Cady hosts a party without her parents knowing and invites Aaron Samuels as an attempt to seduce him, however, she is so inebriated that she throws up on his feet and he runs away. As she chases him outside of her house, she encounters the first two friends, Janis and Damien, who were involved in her entire plan of sabotaging the Plastics and not invited to the party. Cady uses Rationalization, to justify her actions by claiming that she had to “pretend” to be plastic and act like she had no affiliation with them, since they were not a part of any cool cliques, but Janis responds by saying that Cady is no longer pretending and has become “Plastic” herself. Debuting in 1997, the Harry Potter series, written by J.K Rowling, soon skyrocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. The memorable storyline settles around the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard and his adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with battling some enemies. Harry Potter’s parents were killed by the dark wizard Voldemort when he was one years old and unintentionally left alive, from that moment Voldemort has been wanting to kill Harry and rule the wizarding world. J.K Rowling became an incredibly well known author and went on to develop 7 Harry Potter books total, but she is highly regarded in the writing community because of her immense thought she puts into each character and scene, and by analyzing the scenarios from both the novels and movie adaptations, it is clear to see the Freudian concepts such as Projection, Repression, and Regression. In order to fully comprehend Voldemort’s character, it is important to know some of the general HP background. Muggles are people of no magical descent, Purebloods are the progeny of both wizard and witch, and Halfbloods are the children of one magical parent and a Muggle. In regards to social status, Purebloods are the top of the hierarchy, while Halfbloods (the term Mudblood used as a slur), are not as equally respected. Voldemort, born Tom Marvolo Riddle, was born a Halfblood: his father a wealthy Muggle and his witch mother Merope Gaunt. Riddle became an orphan since his father had abandoned his mother and she had died soon after giving birth. Riddle wished that he had been born a pureblood rather than accept his heritage, and so he changes his name to Lord Voldemort. Once Voldemort gained enough power over the majority of the wizarding community, he begins to target all Halfbloods and killing them. This is a clear example of Projection, as he is projecting his feeling of inadequacy on others. Many scenarios throughout the book are essentially due to a characters response to a certain action, for example, continuing onward with Voldemort’s story, he is introduced to the concept of a Horcrux. A Horcrux is an object where a Dark (evil) Wizard or witch integrates a piece of their soul in order to achieve immortality. When Voldemort was still a Hogwarts student, he had received this information from his Potions teacher, Professor Slughorn. After the series of tragic events led by Voldemort himself, Slughorn is ashamed as he is a reason for how Voldemort has continued to wreak havoc all along, and it is because of his negative feelings that he subdues the memory and even remembers it incorrectly. With that being said, Professor Slughorn experiences repression, where he suppresses an unacceptable desire or action and leaves it in his unconscious. About 17 years after Harry’s parent’s death, he is on the brink of destroying Voldemort once and for all by gathering and obliterating all of the Horcruxes. Harry has his two best friends, Hermione and Ron, accompany him in search of the remaining objects, but tensions arise when Ron (who is infatuated with Hermione) believes that Harry is making a move on Hermione. As a result of the sudden negative emotions and anxieties Ron is experiencing, he regresses into childish anger, resulting in numerous temper tantrums and abandoning his friends. Although not an extreme example, Ron goes through Regression, the returning into a child state in order to escape the present problems. Overall, there are a multitude of shows, movies, and books that have woven Freud’s concepts into their storyline to build a certain persona. These are mainly used to allow the audience some form of connection with the characters as they are experiencing something that we can relate to. It is because of these ideas that we have those common character tropes known to the entertainment business. So thank Freud, because without him, the greatest chick flick ever known probably wouldn’t even exist.

Works Cited
Cherry, Kendra. "Repression and Suppression - Defense Mechanisms." Psychology.about.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.
Fallon, Kevin. The Daily Beast. N.p., 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.
"Harry Potter Wiki." Harry Potter Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.
Mean Girls. Dir. Mark Waters. THEVID Technicolor Distribution Services, 2004. DVD.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone Harry Potter. NY: Listening Library, 1999. Print.

Cited: Cherry, Kendra. "Repression and Suppression - Defense Mechanisms." Psychology.about.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. Fallon, Kevin. The Daily Beast. N.p., 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2015. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. "Harry Potter Wiki." Harry Potter Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. Mean Girls. Dir. Mark Waters. THEVID Technicolor Distribution Services, 2004. DVD. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone Harry Potter. NY: Listening Library, 1999. Print.