An Insight on Freudian Excuses, Courtesy of "Shiki" (also, Cori Falls)
So, those of you who have access to Cori Falls' rants probably remember the way she railed against the notion that Jessiebelle could ever, EVER be sympathetic or have any psychological reason for her behavior:
There's absolutely NOTHING that can possibly be said to defend Bitchybelle's rotten behavior or explain why she's so detestable! I know a lot of people theorize that she was abused as a child or that somebody who was really close to her died and she just doesn't know how to express herself, but you know what? Those theories are pure speculation! There's NO evidence to back them up, which technically renders them invalid! (At least Giovanni, Mewtwo, and the like have actual proof, no matter how subtle or obscure, so that a case can be made in their favor, but with Jessiebelle it's all "maybes" and "what ifs," and that just doesn't fly!) Besides, even if Jessiebelle really is from an abusive family or if somebody close to her died, it DOESN'T excuse her from being so mean to James! Uh, James came from an abusive family, Jessie's mother died when she was a little girl, and Meowth was abandoned and tortured by humans for most of his life, but do you see THEM out whipping and torturing people?! I don't think so -- J & J & M are the sweetest, most loving characters on the show, despite all of the hardships they've been through!
Personally, I think Jessiebelle is a spoiled little rich bitch who's never worked a day in her life and always has everything handed to her on a silver platter. James is probably the only person who's ever stood up to her or refused to give her what she wants. That could be why she's so obsessed with torturing him -- she misinterprets his independence and defiance as "improper" behavior and thinks he should be "corrected" so that she can have what she wants.
What Cori Falls doesn't seem to notice is that she has a ready-made Freudian excuse, right in that last paragraph.
There's this idea that I've been tossing around for awhile, which I wasn't entirely sure what to make of until I actually watched the anime "Shiki." The least you need to know here is that there is a character in "Shiki" who, from my understanding (I'm not sure if this was ever actually made clear in the anime), used to be spoiled, but these days he gets ignored by everyone in his family while his little nephew gets all the attention, thus explaining why he's self-absorbed in story and always desperate for attention, at least initially. And I was amazed by how much psychological sense it made--if he were used to getting too much attention, then of course he wouldn't react well to suddenly getting no attention at all.
But it's a little hard to tell if that was intentional, or if the notion that he was ever spoiled would be designed to make him even more unsympathetic. Because it seems like in certain corners there's an unwritten rule that if a character's backstory does not involve suffering, it doesn't count as a Freudian excuse, no matter how much psychological sense it makes.
Which brings us back around to Cori Falls. She seems to think that the only excuse which would possibly begin to explain why Jessiebelle torments James is if Jessiebelle was either abused or someone close to her died--in other words, if she suffered. And she shoots right back by saying that Jessiebelle was instead coddled, as though this automatically invalidates the notion that she could be anything more than evil, through and through--never mind that spoiling someone can be psychologically damaging. But apparently for Cori, the notion that Jessiebelle is not expressly described as having suffered in canon is reason enough to declare "Some people are just evil, and she's one of them."
There's absolutely NOTHING that can possibly be said to defend Bitchybelle's rotten behavior or explain why she's so detestable! I know a lot of people theorize that she was abused as a child or that somebody who was really close to her died and she just doesn't know how to express herself, but you know what? Those theories are pure speculation! There's NO evidence to back them up, which technically renders them invalid! (At least Giovanni, Mewtwo, and the like have actual proof, no matter how subtle or obscure, so that a case can be made in their favor, but with Jessiebelle it's all "maybes" and "what ifs," and that just doesn't fly!) Besides, even if Jessiebelle really is from an abusive family or if somebody close to her died, it DOESN'T excuse her from being so mean to James! Uh, James came from an abusive family, Jessie's mother died when she was a little girl, and Meowth was abandoned and tortured by humans for most of his life, but do you see THEM out whipping and torturing people?! I don't think so -- J & J & M are the sweetest, most loving characters on the show, despite all of the hardships they've been through!
Personally, I think Jessiebelle is a spoiled little rich bitch who's never worked a day in her life and always has everything handed to her on a silver platter. James is probably the only person who's ever stood up to her or refused to give her what she wants. That could be why she's so obsessed with torturing him -- she misinterprets his independence and defiance as "improper" behavior and thinks he should be "corrected" so that she can have what she wants.
What Cori Falls doesn't seem to notice is that she has a ready-made Freudian excuse, right in that last paragraph.
There's this idea that I've been tossing around for awhile, which I wasn't entirely sure what to make of until I actually watched the anime "Shiki." The least you need to know here is that there is a character in "Shiki" who, from my understanding (I'm not sure if this was ever actually made clear in the anime), used to be spoiled, but these days he gets ignored by everyone in his family while his little nephew gets all the attention, thus explaining why he's self-absorbed in story and always desperate for attention, at least initially. And I was amazed by how much psychological sense it made--if he were used to getting too much attention, then of course he wouldn't react well to suddenly getting no attention at all.
But it's a little hard to tell if that was intentional, or if the notion that he was ever spoiled would be designed to make him even more unsympathetic. Because it seems like in certain corners there's an unwritten rule that if a character's backstory does not involve suffering, it doesn't count as a Freudian excuse, no matter how much psychological sense it makes.
Which brings us back around to Cori Falls. She seems to think that the only excuse which would possibly begin to explain why Jessiebelle torments James is if Jessiebelle was either abused or someone close to her died--in other words, if she suffered. And she shoots right back by saying that Jessiebelle was instead coddled, as though this automatically invalidates the notion that she could be anything more than evil, through and through--never mind that spoiling someone can be psychologically damaging. But apparently for Cori, the notion that Jessiebelle is not expressly described as having suffered in canon is reason enough to declare "Some people are just evil, and she's one of them."