Essay Example: Narcissism and Stalking

Movies have always been a powerful tool in shaping public opinion on different issues affecting society. Mental issues have been one of the topics addressed in countless films, and among these films is Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which aired between 2015 and 2019, where different themes were addressed. The main protagonist Rebecca Bunch has different problems relatable to different mental characteristics. However, this paper will examine the Narcissistic and Stalking behaviors demonstrated by Rebecca throughout the series.

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Narcissism has a conspicuous place in the imagination of people since it is used to refer to individuals who seem to be too full of themselves. It is thus easy to label someone who spends lots of time talking about oneself as a narcissist, but it is much more complicated than that (Hart et al., 2018). Narcissism does not necessarily mean there is a surplus of self-esteem. It also includes the hunger for admiration or appreciation, a need to be the center of attention, and an expectation of wanting to be given special treatment that reflects a higher status (Hart et al., 2018). High levels of narcissism can be damaging to professional, romantic, and familial relationships.

According to experts, around 5% of people have narcissistic tendencies (Back et al., 2013). Narcissism causes individuals to feel, behave, and think in ways that hurt themselves or others (Back et al., 2013). For one to be considered a narcissist, several diagnostic characteristics have to present. These features include overinflated feelings of self-importance, need to be excessively admired, feelings and desires to be only associated with people from high-status backgrounds, a sense of entitlement, the willingness to use other people to achieve personal goals, the lack of comprehending and considering other people’s needs and feelings, and snobby and arrogant attitudes and behaviors (Back et al., 2013). An individual has to demonstrate at least five of the mentioned features to be considered a narcissist, which Rebecca does throughout the series.

The series is centered around Rebecca, who is in her late twenties, a brilliant Yale and Harvard graduate who is a successful real estate lawyer in Manhattan. She, however, is unhappy because she is struggling with anxiety and depression. She suffers a mental breakdown soon after being offered the position of partner at her firm. In this state, she visualizes a metaphorical sign that pushes her to visit an ex-boyfriend called Josh, who she met in summer camp a child. After speaking briefly with him and guided by her predisposition for romanticizing and her mental problems, she decides to leave her life in New York and move to West Covina, which is Josh's hometown, to begin a new life. Her new life environs a life spent with her ex-boyfriend Josh.

After moving, Rebecca soon finds out that Josh is in a long-term relationship with a girl called Valencia and immediately begins to stalk her and obsess over her since she views Valencia as being competition. She also befriends her coworker, Paula, who romanticized the passion Rebecca demonstrates for Josh and begins to help her plot how they will get Josh and Rebecca together. Rebecca also meets one of Josh's closest friends, Greg, who shares a real spark and begins an on and off the relationship. Still, throughout these relationships, Rebecca is solely focused on winning the love of the unavailable Josh.

During the first season, she deceivingly tries to get information from Valencia, organizes a party to trick Josh in becoming her friend, sexually and romantically uses Greg to be closer to Josh. She repeatedly tries to modify her reputation by performing good deeds to receive positive attention, breaks into the guy's house, and enrolls in therapy but ignores everything her therapist advises her. She does eventually cheat on Greg with Josh after Valencia and Josh become engaged. These actions demonstrate that she has a sense of entitlement and the willingness to use other people to achieve personal goals, which are essential critical features of narcissism behaviors.

Rebecca’s most significant transgressions can be demonstrated when she neglects Paula when she needs her the most as she discovers she is pregnant and decides on an abortion. Rebecca is completely unavailable and self-absorbed in Paula's time of crisis because she is preoccupied with her plans on getting a makeover to get back at her ex-lovers. Greg, who already struggles with alcoholism, initiates steps towards recovery and almost relapses after discovering that his ex-girlfriend and best friend betrayed him. She does not respect Greg's boundaries and pursues a friendship while putting the possibility of a relationship on the table. Rebecca is soon fascinated by the thoughts of a love triangle. However, her plans are frustrated by Greg and Josh, who breaks up with her after she fakes a pregnancy scare. She is so insensitive that she tracks down Valencia to have someone to share her problems. These actions clearly show that Rebecca has no regard for other people's feelings, a conspicuous feature of narcissist people.

The next prominent feature seen in the series is Rebecca's tendencies of stalking people. Different features show an individual is a stalker. According to the Institute of Justice, staking is defined as a course of actions that are directed to a specific person and involves repeated occasions of physical and visual nonconsensual communication that can lead to reasonable fear (Uhl et al., 2017). Most of the time, people share a prior intimate relationship, but more often, the stalker desires a personal relationship with the victim (Uhl et al., 2017). Also, the stalker regularly fantasizes or thinks about the victim, and these fantasies can be angry and vengeful or love-oriented. Many stalkers also have a history of failed relationships or have difficulties communicating with others (Ferreira & Matos, 2013). Most stalkers are also intelligent and are always motivated by thoughts that the victims they are pursuing are the only ones that can make them happy (Ferreira & Matos, 2013). Other typical stalker characteristics are that they are usually manipulative, jealous, narcissistic, and deceptive, which are all features that can describe Rebecca.

Soon after moving to the town and discovering that her love interest had a serious relationship with a girl called Valencia, Rebecca immediately follows her around as she obsesses over their relationship. Rebecca also stalks Josh’s family members with intentions of getting invited to thanksgiving since she wanted to outshine his girlfriend. Rebecca also follows him to summer camp and manages to break into his house, where she deletes messages from his cell phone. In the second chapter, Rebecca gets her to wish, and they begin dating and soon afterward break up. Later on, she seeks to find Valencia, and they later discover that Josh is dating another girl, Anna, and start stalking her.

Rebecca and Valencia are still not over Josh, and they internet stalk him to keep up to date with his life. After they find about Anna, they also internet stalk her to learn as much information they could about her. However, their efforts bore no fruit because she seems perfect, which makes them both jealous. This discovery makes them opt for other deep stalking behaviors and decide to visit the bar she frequently visited to stalk her. After making a premature conclusion that Anna is a drug dealer after seeing her with a white powder, they accidentally run over Anna's cat and pretend that it was not their fault. They then see this an opportunity to get more intel on the relationship between Anna and Josh. Their efforts hit a brick wall because they discover that the relationship between the two is fine. They then proceed to do more snooping where they discover that the white powder, they thought was cocaine was just an eye powder for eyebrow growth. These behaviors demonstrate that Rebecca has common traits that define a stalker.

Rebecca is a hard character to stick by owing to her stalking, trespassing, and manipulation. She is not just mildly flawed; she is pathologically prone to delusions, self-absorption, and the inability to accept and learn from her mistakes in a cycle characterized by dysfunction. Rebecca blatantly hurts and ignores people around her, the same people that supported her unconditionally. She regularly makes up wild scenarios related to her desires and desperately tries to make them come true. Therefore, it is without a doubt that her personality is characterized by ORI and stalking tendencies accompanied by her narcissism trait.

References

Back, M. D., Küfner, A. C., Dufner, M., Gerlach, T. M., Rauthmann, J. F., & Denissen, J. J. (2013). Narcissistic admiration and rivalry: Disentangling the bright and dark sides of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(6), 1013.

Ferreira, C., & Matos, M. (2013). Post-relationship stalking: The experience of victims with and without history of partner abuse. Journal of Family Violence, 28(4), 393-402.

Hart, W., Tortoriello, G. K., & Richardson, K. (2018). Narcissists’ perceptions of narcissistic behavior. In Handbook of Trait Narcissism (pp. 283-290). Springer, Cham.

Uhl, C. A., Rhyner, K. J., Terrance, C. A., & Plumm, K. M. (2017). Perceptions of stalking: The impact of threat level and victim response. Violence and Victims, 32(2), 299-310.