copyright 2011
by
Malcolm Timbers
Update: July 2011
On the first of July I have created a name for the book’s publishing business. The name of the business is
Fairy Moon Publishing.
The reason for choosing this name is that the mythology of the moon factors in as one of the dominant mythological themes in anorectic fantasies.
{1} . . . The Queen of Wonderland is an exploration into how the ancient mythology of the heroine’s descent into the underworld is rendered in the modern cultural arts. During the Middle Ages the heroic maiden’s adventure involved a struggle with underworldly demons in a quest for the salvation of her soul. A Victorian style revival of the mythology surrounding the heroine’s quest took the form of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass that eventually evolved into the modern Gothic genera of fantasies involving the heroine’s struggles with demons and vampires from the underworld. The mythology surrounding the heroine’s quest represents the ordeals faced by every girl who has ever descended into the enchanting twilight realm in order to find her true being, only to find herself being subjected to a maddening course of initiation ordeals by a horde of otherworldly spectres. The heroine’s quest usually involves a deadly transformation ordeal at the hands of these otherworldly spectres in order for her to become initiated into the mysteries of the twilight realm. Typically, the maiden is willing to undergo these ordeals in order to transcend the testy problem of becoming a woman as defined by the modern version of patriarchal realism.
{2} . . . The current popularity of Gothic fantasies surrounding a maiden and her vampire lover represents a modernized rendering of the ancient tradition of initiating the maiden in women’s mysteries. The heroine’s adventures represent an initiation into becoming a mature woman who possesses the mystique of having an intimate connection to the moonlit realm of the spirit world. Her quest is to eventually become a queen of her own wonderland realm, or in other terms, a medicine woman who possesses the power to heal the conflict created in her soul by the way that modern technological realism disregards her spiritual reality.
{3} . . . The modern heroine’s adventures represent a quest to find a meaningful sense of being after having been raised in a technologically oriented consumer culture that created a sense of confusion about her true identity. A search for one’s identity sometimes takes the individual on an adventure into the twilight realm of fantasy. While I was busy researching the phenomenon of self-harm a number of years ago, I discovered that these fairytale-like fantasies had a meaning and purpose in the development of the personality/identity. A melancholic mood of tragic romanticism accompanies the heroine on her quest to descend into the twilight realm in search of her inner-essence, or what Clarissa Pinkola Estés refers to as the “wild woman” archetype in her book, Women Who Run With the Wolves, (1992 & 1995). My research into the ancient and modern mythology surrounding the heroine’s descent into the underworld suggested that the compulsion to self-harm represents a symbolic initiation process that is imposed upon the maiden by the inhabitants of the neither realm. The discovery of a melancholic mood of tragic romanticism that runs through all the mythology of the maiden’s adventures eventually led me to research the themes found in modern Gothic literature and film, such as the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and the Twilight series, for the purpose of writing a book about the curious relationship between tragic romanticism, adolescent angst, and self-harm.
{4} . . . I became interested in the curious practice of self-harm after learning about the rise of anorexia nervosa and cutting among adolescents because I knew that self-harm could not be properly understood from the standpoint of conventional psychology or sociology.
{5} . . . Conventional psychology can’t deal with the deeper layer of the psyche where the mythological fantasies and inspirations behind self-harm originate because conventional theories only recognize an individual’s history and the biological instincts. Consequently, conventional theorists make the mistake of interpreting the myth-like fantasies of their patients as if they were nothing more than the infantile delusions of neurotic individuals. In actuality, the maiden’s descent into the underworld represents an archetypal quest that involves the transformation of the maiden into a mature wise woman. The modern maiden’s symptoms are not infantile delusions as supposed by conventional psychological theory, but the result of a mythic quest gone awry because nobody in our artificial culture of plastic and technology understands the actual situation that this child of Nature is facing or how she needs to deal with it.
{6} . . . Whenever some disturbing influence in the province of romanticism causes an individual’s normal developmental process to go awry, a fantasy spinning factor in her psychic background will invariably draw upon its archetypal storehouse of mythological themes to compensate for the individual’s inability, or failure to adapt to the normal run of the mill romantic themes in life. Our culture of scientific realism advocates a very disparaging view of romanticism, potentially poisoning romantic interests with a deadly mix. Although the sexual revolution was supposed to be a compensation for the demise of romanticism, an epidemic of self-harming asceticism broke out in its wake. Even if the individual herself renounces love because of a bad experience, her soul and her inner being will crave a romantic relationship with a fantasized lover. If an individual experiences a serious problem with developing a meaningful romantic relationship, a mythological process can become active in her psychic background that involves a theme of tragic romanticism. This psychic fantasy process serves the purpose of initiating the heroine in the ancient art of women’s mysteries. The themes involved in these mysteries are similar to the themes involved in shamanic initiation whose goal is to become a channel for otherworldly powers.
{7} . . . The melancholic nature of the psyche’s fantasies can inspire different types of individuals with different types of inspirations or compulsions, which, for example, can take the form of creating a work of abstract art, a Gothic tale about a maiden’s adventures, adolescent angst, compulsions to make modifications to one’s body, or do harm to one’s body. Fortunately there is a way to understand these mysterious forms of expressing an inner-conflict that doesn’t involve getting one’s hands dirtied mucking about in sort of quagmire that a psychological explanation makes of these things.
{8} . . . During these past six years I have been working out a way to explain the curious nature of anorexia nervosa and cutting in a way that avoids getting too deep into the mind-bending complexities of a psychological explanation. Some of my research was suggesting to me that the same style of fantasies that underlie self-harm were also being manifested in the Gothic arts. In other words, there is a creative factor that tends to inspire a certain type of individual with the inspiration to form artistic or literary analogies that reflect upon how these artists and writers experience the same cultural factors that can give rise to anorexia nervosa or cutting in those individuals who, because of an inner-conflict, are vulnerable to compulsively expressing herself in some form of self-harm. Curiously, neither creative writers nor self-harming individuals seem to understand the hidden symbolic meanings behind their own work. Apparently, being able to see these analogies requires an extremely rare talent that the producers of the creative works, self-harming individuals, and almost all analysts lack. That is, one must be able to see things that most people can’t because all modern cultures and their education systems treat this kind of vision as being something strictly taboo.
{9} . . . This volume is a product of a unique way of seeing relationships between things that are otherwise hidden in plain sight. It reveals the rather curious relationship between a certain genius of creativity, adolescent angst and self-harming behaviour. The relationship between the arts and self-harm is based upon the maxim that creativity and destruction are intimately related.
{10} . . . The original objective of this project was to explain the uncanny relationship between popular Gothic stories, and the obscure fantasies that underlie anorexia and cutting in a way that avoids getting too deeply involved in mind-bending psychological explanations. As it turns out, this project has evolved in a way that it also serves several other important functions. The main purpose of this project is to explain the meaning behind the metaphors that can be found in Gothic literature and film because these stories and videos sometimes contain visual and literary metaphors that can illustrate the nature of self-harming behaviour by way of analogies. These analogies can be found in the Gothic genera of modern fantasy literature and films that are popular among many adolescents. The second feature of this book explains the meaning of the mood, attitude and symbolism that occur in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and some of the other popular Gothic series. Understanding the underlying meaning behind these stories also explains the curious reason why so many adolescent girls become fascinated by these Gothic Fantasies.
{11} . . . It wasn’t until after I decided to take a look at the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series that I discovered that there was an academic interest in the Buffy series that had already attempted to analyse it from sociological and psychological perspectives. But these analyses proved to be rather unimaginative. Yet, I could see Gothic themes being expressed in the general attitudes of our modern culture. Anorexia nervosa and cutting are examples of an enchantment with the psyche’s own Gothic fantasies. But why are so many other adolescents fascinated by stories about a heroine who is avoiding developing an intimate relationship with a mortal male, yet becomes passionately in love with a vampire who is undead and deals in death? The Queen of Wonderland series explores this curious conundrum. Because of the vast amount of literature and film of the Gothic genera that involves the heroine’s descent into the underworld, i.e., a twilight state of mind, The Queen of Wonderland will be published as a series of volumes, this being volume one.
{12} . . . The original inspiration for writing The Queen of Wonderland was my discovery of a sentimental theme of tragic romanticism that transpires in the psychic background of a certain type of creative individual also transpires in the psychic background of all self-harming individuals. I came to this realization back in 2005 while watching the 1992 version of the Dracula movie at a time when I was researching the phenomenon of self-harm. I came to realize that the theme of tragic romanticism portrayed in the Dracula story could be interpreted as metaphor for an archetypal scenario that takes place in the background of the psyche of an individual who is experiencing a serious inner-conflict that is related to a problem involving romantic interests.
{13} . . . While working on the original project, I began to realize that my writing was becoming way too much involved in serious psychology, which would only be of interest to individuals who had a background in Analytical Psychology. I really wanted to write a book that most people would be able to read and understand. So I decided to temporarily shelve the psychology version, and do more research into how the theme of tragic romanticism was being rendered in contemporary literature and film. As a result of my research, this book and the videos it analyses can serve as a way to visually understand some of the basic concepts of Jungian Analytical Psychology, as I have included many references to C.G. Jung’s published works, but without delving into the intricacies of Analytical Psychology itself. In addition, I will publish a separate study book that will expand upon these references, which will be mainly of interest to students of Analytical Psychology. The purpose of creating a separate book for the psychological explanations is that this form of explanation would be of little interest to most people, and these psychological explanations are not necessary for a practical understanding of self-harm.
{14} . . . During my research into the theme of tragic romanticism I began to turn up more and more of what I call modern mythology involving themes that are analogous to the melancholic mood of tragic romanticism that is a distinguishing feature of self-harm. As I became more familiar with this theme, I began to realized there was a cult-like fascination with the theme of tragic romanticism among adolescents who also represent the main group of individuals who experience self-harming compulsions. Strangely, despite all the academic interest in this theme, nobody in the academic community seems to have noticed the curious relationship between modern Gothic romanticism and the fantasies surrounding self-harming behaviour. The problem with trying to understand the meaning behind the symbolic nature of this material is that its symbolism is full of paradox and irony that render it very difficult to make any sense out of it, even by its own producers. Moreover, most people are only interested in experiencing the enchantment created by these fantasies. They only want the “highs,” not an explanation why they are experiencing a sense of enchantment. Besides, many people have become wary of scholarly explanations because the academics who rule the waves of our reality tend to reduce everything of value to our feelings down to something banal in order to make it conform to the rationalizing realism of our scientific culture.
{15} . . . There are several reasons why this modernized theme of tragic romanticism has become so popular. On the one hand, these Gothic fantasies express the sort of mood that many adolescents experience living in a culture that takes a disparaging view of romanticism. It also places the experience within the framework of an enchanting fantasy. These fantasies can work on the mind as a subliminal form of therapy in a technological culture that alienates the individual from her inner-being. Like the fairytales of old, modern fantasy literature and film deals with a lot of conflict and tragedy set in an enchanting mood of romanticism, which symbolically expresses the sort of angst that many adolescents experience as the effect of the unfeeling technological culture they find themselves living in. Oh, there are feeling there alright, but they are the sort of feelings that typically expresses themselves in melancholic moods in response to cultural expectations that, at many different levels, require adolescents to bend their feelings and instincts in a way that serves as the artificial functions of our technologically oriented culture.
{16} . . . A brief introduction into our excursion into the modern problems surrounding adolescent angst will explore some of the themes in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Admittedly these older stories don’t have a whole lot of relevance to the sort of angst that modern adolescents experience. Yet, they do provide us with a historical introduction into modern literary art involving a theme of the maiden’s descent into the underworld, i.e., into the twilight realm. Curiously, the fantasies that take place in the twilight realm seem to have a mind of their own that tends to become troublesome for our heroine.
{17} . . . The stories that we will be analysing are those Gothic tales that have captured the interest of adolescents in technologically advanced cultures around the world. Specifically we will be working with the videos of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (1997-2003) with the occasional reference to several of the other ongoing Gothic series because these videos involve the style of tragic romanticism that have captivated many adolescents.
{18} . . . When I began this project I had no idea that I would wind up analysing episodes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. I decided to take a look at the Buffy series after finding that my first attempt at writing The Queen of Wonderland was becoming too much involved in serious psychology because I was working with too few examples of Gothic media. But after working to analyse the themes in the first season of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, I realized that the Buffy series contained some of the most relevant examples of modern mythology surrounding the maiden’s descent into the twilight realm. Fortunately the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series has a huge following, and because of this following, it is still available on DVDs, which, on occasion, is available in some popular retail stores. Transcripts for the entire Buffy series are also available on some Internet web sites. Because of the phenomenal interest in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, the academic community has taken a rather curious interest in this phenomenon despite their inability to comprehend what it is actually about because such a realization would seriously contradict the principles of the artificial culture that they are beholden to support.
{19} . . . Although the themes portrayed in modern teen fiction don’t appear to be in any way related to self-harming behaviour, many adolescent girls have become infatuated by a curious theme that portrays a melancholic heroine in a relationship with a ghostly lover who is portrayed in human form. Although this may not seem at all relevant to the problem of anorexia nervosa, there is a significant correspondence between the way this spectral lover is portrayed in Gothic literature and film, and the nature of the inner-voice and inspirations that has the mesmerizing power to bewitch children into developing maladies like anorexia nervosa or cutting.
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