American Horror Story: Freak Show begins its tale in Jupiter, Florida, in the year of 1952. To the untrained eye, Dandy Mott is the physical definition of beautiful, but underneath this alluring exterior is the epitome of excess wealth, and privilege taken too far to its detrimental conclusion (DeBussey, 2016). Dandy is an intellectual man-child, incapable of finding satisfaction in anything. The world is seemingly at his fingertips, and yet he is incessantly consumed with a gnawing feeling of ennui, and a prodigious sentiment of unadorned emptiness; the only manner in which he is able to placate his monotony is through voluntary deceit, and murderous action. Psychodynamic theory, in correlation to object-relations therapy, could be employed to identify, and
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Dandy is pseudo-perfectionist driven by his unbefitting demand for physical strength, and attractiveness. He is a self-avowed god, firmly embedded in the belief that he is the physical definition of human immortality. The narcissistic personality is characterized by a grandiose and exaggerated sense of self-importance, and an exploitive attitude towards others, which serve the function of masking a frail self-concept (Corey, 2017). Dandy (2014) affirmed this hyperbolic conception by saying, “I am perfection. I am greatness. I am the future. I am a god. A god that has chosen to walk among men.” The instilled notion that he is superior to others, amply illustrated by this explicit depiction, is the means by which Dandy weathers a grandiose sense of self. In the case of Dandy, it is apparent that insufficient empathy, on account of the mother, from birth into childhood, contributed to the development of a poor self-concept. Empathy may be insufficient when a parent is unable to meet the selfobject needs of the child. Ultimately, the reluctance to respond, and adequately nurture, Dandy as an infant affected his ability to properly satisfy his own needs now, as a young adult (Good
Dandy is pseudo-perfectionist driven by his unbefitting demand for physical strength, and attractiveness. He is a self-avowed god, firmly embedded in the belief that he is the physical definition of human immortality. The narcissistic personality is characterized by a grandiose and exaggerated sense of self-importance, and an exploitive attitude towards others, which serve the function of masking a frail self-concept (Corey, 2017). Dandy (2014) affirmed this hyperbolic conception by saying, “I am perfection. I am greatness. I am the future. I am a god. A god that has chosen to walk among men.” The instilled notion that he is superior to others, amply illustrated by this explicit depiction, is the means by which Dandy weathers a grandiose sense of self. In the case of Dandy, it is apparent that insufficient empathy, on account of the mother, from birth into childhood, contributed to the development of a poor self-concept. Empathy may be insufficient when a parent is unable to meet the selfobject needs of the child. Ultimately, the reluctance to respond, and adequately nurture, Dandy as an infant affected his ability to properly satisfy his own needs now, as a young adult (Good