#Armchair psychology with Dr. J

[thecurioustale]

Liking Things that Go on to Become Popular Kinda Sucks

I have the unfortunate tendency to be something of a social contrarian. For instance, just as a throwaway example, I learned recently that my favorite whiskey, Jameson's Irish Whiskey, is also America's most popular whiskey. You might think that I was pleased, as someone who almost never holds majority tastes in anything, but in fact all I could think of was, first, that I'd been usurped, and, second, that this will inevitably lead to the collapse of the brand once it stops being the current hotness. I am a very, very light drinker, but I would still be sad if my favorite whiskey became hard to find.

My contrarian streak is not for the sake of arguing. I don't actually like arguing, for the most part. Rather, it's often a mixture of feeling personally displaced (like I mentioned above) and internally cringing at the coarseness and imprecision of popular opinions (which is also a form of displacement, but subtler and more involved).

The first reason is pretty easy to understand: I've been a social outcast my whole life and have therefore come to have a strong sense of individual identity. When something obscure that I like becomes popular, I feel like I am seen when I don't want to be seen, like I am getting unwanted attention via my interests and affiliations. This is pretty simple human psychology and I don't have much to say about it that's worth making you read through.

But the second reason is more interesting: I have this incredible compulsion toward precision in my life. Anyone who has listened to me speak in person, or read my nonfiction writing at length, will know that my sentences are often extremely heavily qualified, full of asterisks that anticipate the inevitable objections to my clean general statements in their basic form. There is almost nothing of great importance that I could say as a general truth without being at need to qualify it.

When something that I like becomes popular, it is almost always the case that the prevailing appreciation or popularity in question is unbearably simplistic to me—leading directly to one of the things that makes me chafe more than anything else: being misunderstand through oversimplification. If someone else likes something that I like, but for extremely simplistic reasons, and their understanding of the thing is what ends up being promulgated through society, then anyone who sees me and my interest in the thing will, without knowing better, be apt to classify me as just a typical fan of the thing—when in fact my particular liking of the thing is likely far more esoteric and elaborate.

It's a form of erasure mingled with misrepresentation, and of course I don't like that. This too is fairly simple human psychology, and well-spoofed in characters like Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. (Though I try not to be insufferably gatekeepy about it like he is. We all like what we like, and I'm not gonna tell other people "the right way" to like a thing.)

I should note that this doesn't apply to things that I come to like because they are popular. If I'm jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else, that's much less jarring than if I had previously liked a thing which goes on to become popular.

It doesn't always happen that I'll get upset if something I like becomes popular. In fact, it usually doesn't happen. What needs to come together for me to feel put out is either what I described above about the whiskey, where the thing I like is likely to become harder to enjoy once it inevitably loses its popularity, or it needs to be the case that the thing which becomes popular is something that I not only like but which I also pour some measure of my identity into. That's the cut in the skin that lets the act of being erased really sting.

And if this all sounds moderately petty and animalistic to you, it totally is. I am not claiming otherwise and not idealizing any of this as something you should aspire to. But maybe it's interesting to read about anyway.

[elk96]

Connection - Part 2

J Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy's portrayal) X reader.

Warnings: mentions of mental instability, depression, wound stitching.

Word Count: 861

This is loosely based on the book American Prometheus.

I'll be fine, thank you", Robert answered in his quite manner. 

"And who's gonna wash your sheets, clothes and mattress when you bleed all over the place"?, she asked him.

Christ, that woman. She had no shame in her. 

"I think you should know, Mr. Oppenheimer", she continued, "that cooperation between patients and their doctors is regarded with utmost appreciation".

An angry voice inside of him answered that he didn't give a damn about doctors and their I'll judgment -instead of voicing that opinion he let out a soft grunt as y/N helped him on his feet. 

The ground felt unsteady and the walls were spinning, but there it was, a gentle, steady hand on his back to guide him to the exit. 

y/N never left his side until she helped him on the backseat of her car. She had tied a bandage to the wound, but Robert seemed all together unwell-and she was anxious. He'd first come to her almost a month ago, and during their sessions she had grown fond of him-of the young man with the brilliant mind and complete lack of social skills and emotional connection to anything. He reminded her that she wasn't in a much better place either at his age. And that was only 2 years ago.

"I'm fine, I'm fine", he growled once she tried to help him out of the car after their short ride. Nevertheless,  he grabbed her forearm for stability as they got to her apartment.

It was nothing like what he imagined a psychiatrist's house would be-there were paintings, books, rich-coloured carpets and the remains of a fire burning in the fireplace. Nothing like Robert's terrible accommodation.

He fell onto an armchair, feeling suddenly very heavy.

"I need a smoke", he mumbled to himself through half-closed eyes. He searched his pockets with trembling hands and pulled out his cigarettes, put one in his mouth. His lighter had run out of fuel. "Do you have a lighter"?, he asked Dr. y/LN. 

He sighed. She had disappeared. His head hurt-but it was a particular feeling, he could somehow feel the steaming hot blood course through the cut. Or maybe it was all his imagination.

He shouldn't have done that. With Blackett, he shouldn't have done it. He could've killed him…

Dr. y/LN returned to the cozy living room with the first aid kit and a lighter in hand. She gave it to him and poured him a glass of whiskey-only to mitigate his pain and discomfort. Robert gulped it down.

y/N pulled out a syringe and filled it with a colourless liquid.

"This is anesthetic", she informed him, eyes focused on what she was doing. "So that you don't feel pain".

"I don't mind pain".

"No, but I do. And there's no need to add physical pain to the psychological one, right"?

Robert sighed. Every part of him insisted he tell her he is fine-he doesn't need to be taken care of, he could crawl in a corner and wait for the night to pass, but she knew. Somehow, she knew. And during their past sessions she'd been telling him so often, so convincingly that he wasn't alone in that situation, he actually dared take some comfort in her words.

"Deep breath now", y/N mumbled and Robert felt the needle poke through his skin. 

They waited in silence for the anesthetic to numb the area around his head as she washed her hands with rubbing alcohol. She tapped his skull softly.

"Did you feel that"?

"No".

"Honestly, Robert".

"No, I didn't feel that", he repeated and heard her breathe in deeply. 

The sight of the thread going through the kneedle made him cringe, so he focused on the books in the bookcase against him. 

"I didn't know you had such a wide spectrum of interests", he commented in a shaky voice. Some of the books there were really impressive.

"There's a reason I am a psychiatrist at my 23 years of age, Robert. Hopefully you'll understand that through your personal self-improvement".

She cut the remaining thread and wiped clean the area surrounding the wound. 

"Ready", she announced. She disappeared in the bathroom briefly to get rid of the blood in her hands and then emerged from the kitchen with a plate of chicken and rice. She sat on the couch next to Robert.

"Hungry"?, she asked casually. He nodded. She sighed. For a moment she looked as if she contemplated to say something, instead she fetched a book from her library.

"Crime and Punishment", Robert read as she placed on his lap.

"Dostoyevsky. Give it a go, I think you'll find it very…revealing. And, it is my scientific opinion that you should write to your friend. Apologize to him, don't let him go".

Robert's voice was low and thin as an old thread. "I did something terrible to him".

"I can imagine, from the little you've told me. It was a terrible approach on his side to announce he was getting married while you were at such a bad state. Write to him", was the last thing she said and escorted him to the door.

[didanawisgi]

PUBLICATIONS

Van Dam, N. T., van Vugt, M. K., Vago, D. R., Schmalzl, L., Saron, C. D., Olendzki, A., Meissner, T., Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Gorchov, J., Fox, K. C. R., Field, B. A., Britton, W. B., Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., Meyer, D. E. (Under Review). Mind the hype: A critical evaluation and prescriptive agenda for mindfulness and meditation research. Psychological Review

Hadash, Y., Plonsker, R., Vago, D. R., Berstein, A. (under review). Experiential selfless processing in mindfulness: Conceptual model and implicit measurement. Psychological Assessment.

Cheek, J., Abrams, E. M., Lipschitz, D. L., Vago, D. R., Nakamura, Y. Creating new forms of school-based education programs that cultivate mindfulness in young people: What the letters can tell us. (in preparation). American Education Research Journal

Perez, D. L.*, Vago, D. R.*, Pan, H., Root, J. Fuchs, B. H., Epstein, J., Clarkin, J., Lenzenweger, M. F., Kernberg, O., Levy, K., Silbersweig, D. A., Stern, E. (in press). Frontolimbic neural changes associated with clinical improvement following transference-focused psychotherapy in borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. (* shared first authorship)

Perez, D. L. Pan, H., Weisholtz, D., Root, J., Fischer, D., Butler, T., Vago, D. R., Isenberg, N., Epstein, J., Silbersweig, D. A., Stern, E. (2015) Altered threat and safety neural processing linked to persecutory delusions in schizophrenia: a two task functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

Cheek, J., Lipschitz, D. L., Abrams, E. M., Vago, D. R., Nakamura, Y. (2015). Dynamic Reflexivity in Action: An Armchair Walkthrough of a Qualitatively-Driven Mixed-Method and Multiple Method Study of Mindfulness Training in School Children. Qualitative Health Research.

Kripalu Yoga Research Consortium (listed alphabetically: Gard, T.*, Vago, D. R.*, Noggle, J., Park, C., Wilson, A. (2014). Potential self-regulatory mechanisms of yoga for psychological health: Directions for future research. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. View in: PubMed

Desbordes, Gaëlle, Gard, Tim, Hoge, Elizabeth A, Hölzel, Britta K, Kerr, Catherine, Lazar, Sara W, Olendzki, Andrew, Vago, David R. Moving Beyond Mindfulness: Defining Equanimity as an Outcome Measure in Meditation and Contemplative Research. Mindfulness. 2014; 1-17.

Davis JH, Vago DR. Can enlightenment be traced to specific neural correlates, cognition, or behavior? No, and (a qualified) Yes. Front Psychol. 2013; 4:870. View in: PubMed

Vago DR. Mapping modalities of self-awareness in mindfulness practice: a potential mechanism for clarifying habits of mind. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2014 Jan; 1307(1):28-42. View in: PubMed

Orringer DA, Vago DR, Golby AJ. Clinical applications and future directions of functional MRI. Semin Neurol. 2012 Sep; 32(4):466-75. View in: PubMed

Vago DR, Silbersweig DA. Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness. Front Hum Neurosci. 2012; 6:296. View in: PubMed

Vago DR, Epstein J, Catenaccio E, Stern E. Identification of neural targets for the treatment of psychiatric disorders: the role of functional neuroimaging. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2011 Apr; 22(2):279-305, x. View in: PubMed

Mind and Life Education Research Network (listed alphabetically: Davidson, RJ, Dunne, J, Eccles, JS, Engle, A, Greenberg, M, Jennings, P, Jha, A, Jinpa, T, Lantieri, L., Meyer, D., Roeser, RW, Vago, DR. Contemplative practices and mental training: Prospects for American Education. Child Development Perspectives. 2012; 6(2), 146-153.

Perez, D. L., Root, J., Brown,  A., Vago, D. R., Epstein, J., Cloitre, M., Silbersweig, D., Stern, E. “Frontolimbic Gray-Matter Abnormalities in Childhood Sexual Trauma-Related PTSD.” Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 2012;  24(2): 12-12.

Holzel, B. K., S. W. Lazar, T. Gard, Z. Schuman-Olivier, D. R. Vago and U. Ott . Perspectives on Psychological Science. “How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective.”. 2011; 6(6):537-559.

Min, BK, Yang, PS, Bohlke, M, Park, S, Vago, DR, Maher, TJ, Yoo, SS. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY. Focused Ultrasound Modulates the Level of Cortical Neurotransmitters: Potential as a New Functional Brain Mapping Technique. 2011; 21(2):232-240.

Vago, D. R. Nakamura, Y. . Cognitive Therapy and Research. Selective Attentional Bias Towards Pain-Related Threat in Fibromyalgia: Preliminary Evidence for Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Training. 2011; 6(35):581-594.

Vago DR, Nakamura Y. American Psychosomatic Society – 68th ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING. Mindfulness Meditation Training for Fibromyalgia: A Preliminary Study Investigating Attention-related Bias on a Dot-Probe Task. 2010; 67.

Vago DR, Nakamura Y. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference: Integrating Mindfulness-Based Interventions into Medicine, Health Care, and Society for Clinicians, Researchers, and Educators, Center for Mindfulness. Mindfulness Training for Fibromyalgia: Changes in General Symptoms, Perception of Pain, and Associated Brain Correlates. 2008.

Vago DR, Kesner RP. Disruption of the direct perforant path input to the CA1 subregion of the dorsal hippocampus interferes with spatial working memory and novelty detection. Behav Brain Res. 2008 Jun 3; 189(2):273-83. View in: PubMed

Vago DR, Nakamura Y, Volinn E. Proceedings of the meeting, “Toward a Science of Consciousness”. Mindfulness Meditation Training for Fibromyalgia (Chronic Pain Condition). 2007.

Vago DR, Bevan A, Kesner RP. The role of the direct perforant path input to the CA1 subregion of the dorsal hippocampus in memory retention and retrieval. Hippocampus. 2007; 17(10):977-87. View in: PubMed

Vago DR, Kesner RP. Cholinergic modulation of Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats: differential effects of intrahippocampal infusion of mecamylamine and methyllycaconitine. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2007 Mar; 87(3):441-9. View in: PubMed

Vago DR, Nakamura Y, Volinn E. The effects of mindfulness meditation training on cognitive and emotional biases associated with the perception of pain in fibromyalgia. 2006.

Vago DR, Kesner RP. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. An electrophysiological and behavioral characterization of the temporoammonic pathway: disruption produces deficits in retrieval and spatial mismatch. 2005; (647.5).

Vago DR, Kesner RP. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. The role of the direct perforant path in retrieval and detection of spatial change. 2004.

Vago DR, Calder A, Kesner RP. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. Functional characterization of the direct perforant path into the hippocampus. 2003.

Vago DR, Hone A, Barrett C, Wallenstein GV, Kesner RP. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. Intrahippocampal blockaded of α7, α3ß2, α2ß4, and α4ß4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors disrupts early consolidation and acquisition of contextual fear.  2002.

Wallenstein GV, Vago DR, Walberer AM. Time-dependent involvement of PKA/PKC in contextual memory consolidation. Behav Brain Res. 2002 Jul 18; 133(2):159-64. View in: PubMed

Wallenstein GV, Vago DR. Intrahippocampal scopolamine impairs both acquisition and consolidation of contextual fear conditioning. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2001 May; 75(3):245-52. View in: PubMed

Vago DR, Walberer AM, Kinikini K, Wallenstein GV. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. PKA/PKC inhibition produces a time-dependent retrograde deficit of contextual fear conditioning. 2000

BOOK CHAPTERS

Roeser, R.W., Vago, D.R., Pinela, C., Morris, L.S., Taylor, C., and Harrison, J. (2013). “Contemplative Education: Cultivating Positive Mental Skills and Social-Emotional Dispositions through Mindfulness Training,” in Handbook of Moral and Character Education. 2ND ed.

Vago, D.R., Morris, L.S., Wallenstein, G.V., Hippocampus. In Encyclopedia of Neurological Sciences, 2nded. Academic Press. 2014.

Wallenstein, G.V., Vago, D.R., Walberer, A.M. Hippocampus. In Encyclopedia of Neurological Sciences, Academic Press. 2001.

IN PREPARATION

Vago, D. R., Pan, H., Young, S., Silbersweig, D., Stern, E.Fronto-striatal-limbic Markers of Clarity in Advanced Meditators During Open Monitoring Meditation Practice.

Vago, D.R., Nakamura, Y. Anticipation and experience of pain in Fibromyalgia: Preliminary functional brain imaging evidence for modulatory effects of mindfulness meditation training.

Vago, D.R., Nakamura, Y. Causal effects of mindfulness and catastrophizing on symptom change for fibromylagia.

Davis, J.H., Analayo, B., Van Dam, N.T., Vago, D.R., Brewer, J.A., Britton, W.B. Attentive and Balanced: Empirical Operationalization of an Early Buddhist Model of Mindfulness

[jaeminlore]

six hours until dawn εïз nct

group: nct hyung line category: thriller warnings: blood, gore (minor)

Yuta peeked over a short wall, towards where the man was walking into the sanatorium, a wolf by his side. He climbed up onto the wall and crouched, looking down. "Alright, Yuta, you can do this. C'mon." He jumped over the wall and rolled in the snow, the wet substance sticking to his shirt. From somewhere inside of the sanatorium, a wolf howled. Yuta shivered and ran a hand through his hair. He looked up at the sanatorium windows. The sanatorium looked like an old castle, torn and decrepit. It seemed many of the stone windowsills and accents had fallen down a long time ago. Now they lay in broken ruins under a snowy blanket. Beside him was a fountain, also broken. Whatever water used to be there was now soaked up in snow and a broken statue of what used to be a gargoyle. He approached the front door rather daringly, ready to confront the man who hurt Sicheng. Who killed him. Inside the sanatorium was even more like a castle post-war. That, or a creepy asylum from a horror movie. The building was abandoned, crumbling at every corner. There were two doorways, one labeled as a chapel and the other as an administration office. Yuta walked towards the chapel first, his spirits a bit shot at the fact that the door needed a security pass to be opened. "Damn it," he hissed. Cupping his hands around his eyes, he peaked through the window. Inside was that man, tall and layered in coats. He was tossing something at the two wolves beside him. Yuta grimaced when they bared their teeth. He decided to find the key card and confront the man. Since the administration hall was the only place to go, that's where he went. In the first office to his right, a yellowed newspaper was set on the desk. He picked it up and read the headline to himself, "Reporter assassinated on Blackwood Mountain." He put the newspaper down, figuring he was wasting time, and checked the next room over. On this room's desk was some kind of doctor's form. Yuta turned it over and read the messy scrawl on the other side. One of those guys tried to BITE me! I'm going to report it to Dr. Bowen! He turned it over and read the actual form: Report Follows RE: the initial state of the twelve miners after the collapse of the mine, and subsequent rescue, at Blackwood pines. Admittance: on receipt of the twelve patients at the Sanatorium's medical facility, we fully expected to find emancipated shells of men, starved and confused. Thankfully, the miners appear cogent and relatively healthy, attributed to their apparent discovery of emergency food supplies in the mine. Inhibited respitory function was detected in a few of the older men, as predicted, as well as symptoms of pneumonia.

Psychologically, after being trapped for 23 days, the shock of reintergration has been difficult for some of the group: though their outward health is better than excepted, they do seem affected by their time in the mine. TREATMENT: due to the delicate nature of some of the patients, we have closed off the A wing of the Sanatorium. Psychological evaluations will take place as soon as possible. The men with respiratory problems have undergone a bronchoscopy, and have been prescribed streptomycin. The others are simply kept under strict, 24 hour observation. — Dr. Nicholas Henry Fowlis Bowen Yuta felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he shivered involuntarily. Something felt off about this entire thing. He quickly exited that room and, having walked down the dark hallway for awhile, found a sign labeled "Morgue." He walked down the stairs and entered another room. There, buried under what looked to be fresh guts, was a machete. Without a second thought, as he felt he had already seen too much today, Yuta grabbed the handle and strapped it to his jeans. The room was bare, with darkened wood as a floor. There was some kind of ashy tint to everything, and Yuta felt creeped out just by the aesthetic of it all. He noticed what looked to be a telegram. Reply immediately : reporters and snoopers to be kept away at all costs. To Mr. J. Dragg — Incident Update — - 12 survivors received at sanatorium - showing signs of mental trauma may need to contain - Local press now have scent of blood, becoming a problem. - Please advise further Yuta threw the piece of paper back onto the desk ("Who wouldn't want to report this lovely place?") and quickly left towards the next room on the way to the morgue. He stopped in the doorway, after hearing a mysteriously rhythmic tapping noise. The source of the noise was a lot scarier than Yuta had intended. It was some sort of contraption: a hand waving back and forth by mechanics. The closer Yuta got, the closer he could smell that it certainly was an actual hand. He crinkled his nose and tried not to think about it too much. He looked closer and saw that there was some kind of tag tied around the wrist. Yuta reached forward to grab and read it —

SNAP! The hand must've served for some kind of bait, because a bear trap had been hidden underneath. It snapped up, capturing two of Yuta's fingers in it's sharp hold. Yuta felt a searing pain in his fingers, and he had to bite back a legitimate scream. He couldn't open the trap, no matter how hard he tried. Yuta looked down at the machete strapped to his pants. He really had no choice. He picked up the machete and braced himself, fear and adrenaline pumping blood through his already severed fingers. He lifted the machete into the air. "Three, two — oh no — one!" SHIIING! The slice of the knife made Yuta see stars, and he screamed loudly this time, shaking his severed hand in pain. [something at the end of the hall is alerted at his screams. it creeps closer] "Eeny meeny miney mo, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers let him go... I don't know where the heck to go... okay..." he muttered, looking around the room. Perhaps fate was on his side, because the room seemed to be some kind of old nurse's office, and there was an entire case full of bandages. Yuta grabbed a roll and tied it around his hands until he felt that it was okay enough for him to continue on. He walked into the morgue finally, and searched the shelves on the walls first. He didn't find a key card, but he did find what looked to be a very distorted skull in a jar. The skull was huge, but the jaw seemed small. The skin was discolored and grotesque. "This place just gets weirder and weirder." Since Yuta could never really leave things alone, he decided to take out all of the body drawers and look at them. The first one he opened held a dead man in a uniform, who had a chapel card in his front pocket. "Thank you," Yuta snatched it up. He opened another one and saw nothing but a registration of death. Name: Mark Lee Assessment: body was not discovered until post-24 hours after death. Sections of the intestine and kidneys were apparently eaten by something. The last one he opened had nothing but a death tag: "Michael Bowen; attacked by inmate. Fatal lacerations to the throat. Nice..." Yuta grimaced and stalked away from the drawers. He turned to see another chapel entrance near the back. He half-wondered if people had funerals here. He unlocked the chapel and walked into what seemed to be simply the staircase to the chapel. To his right, a wolf let out a sharp bark. "Ah!" Yuta shouted in surprise. He turned and ran up the stairs, the dog nipping at his heels. "Easy!" he squealed once he realized he was at a dead end. "It's okay," he lowered his voice into something softer, "That's it. Good boy." The wolf finally whimpered softly, and sat back on it's haunches. Yuta kept walking until he ended up in what seemed to be an usher's room, where a window overlooked the chapel. He looked through and saw the man leaving the chapel, perhaps making his way back outside. Yuta groaned in frustration and climbed down the stairs, back towards the actual chapel entrance. He stuck the key card in. Once he was in the chapel, it wasn't long before the second wolf caught a whiff of him and tried to attack. Yuta held his palm out and began to speak softly yet again. "It's okay. Easy, boy." Once the wolf seemed satisfied that Yuta had no intentions to harm it, it calmed down and went back to minding its own business. Yuta approached the middle of the chapel. All of the pews had been taken out, and the place looked like a small clubhouse more than anything. An old armchair sat in the middle, with a side table and a large cigar waiting beside it. Yuta picked up the cigar, noticing it to be the same brand as the butt he and Sicheng found in the mine earlier. He put it back in its case and walked over to the man's trunk. Opening it, he saw bones, seemingly fresh and somewhat meaty. He grabbed one.

To the left, a map hung on to the old wall. It was marked up in the same way the one in the mine was. Only instead of repairs, this one was covered in creepier captions. "American man died here," Yuta read one, "Canadian teen died here," was another. And finally, a bunch of red circles with the label "sighting." Newspaper clippings about death were tacked to the map, along with a picture of what seemed to be twelve men in overalls, all smiling for the camera. Below the map, a pistol lay seemingly unused, and a green jacket was hung up nicely. Yuta grabbed both. Ready to pursue Sicheng's attacker, he went to leave the building. The man seemed to like to be safe, for he put a padlock on his door upon leaving. Before he tried to escape, Yuta whistled the wolf over and handed him the bone he had previously taken. He patted the canine's head and told him goodbye. Yuta then pointed the pistol at the padlock, covered his face with his arm, and shot the lock at nearly point-blank distance. Figuring he had already lost a lot of valuable tracking time, Yuta darted down a set of stairs, into a dirty room. There were visible pipes everywhere, some dripping with dirty sewer water, others completely dry. He kept walking, and the throbbing in his fingers seemed to get more noticeable as the minutes went by. Simply choosing to ignore this, Yuta went towards the next door he saw; also padlocked. There was a barrel in front of the door, so Yuta grabbed it and shoved it out of the way. It fell into its side, spilling oil all over the floor. Yuta winced and pointed once again at the padlock. He shot at the lock, and sparks flew from the metal on metal. They caught on the oil, and it quickly spread a fire around Yuta's feet. "Oh no." He looked around and realized every other barrel was labeled as one with flammable liquid, and that if he didn't get out now he might become human barbecue. He jumped over the fire and away from the door as quickly as he could before one of the barrels exploded, sending him face-first into the stone ground. - [a figure in a white mask watches through security footage as a couple passes a gate. as it closes, he clicks his remote, locking the gate.] "I can't believe Taeil is dead," Taeyong muttered. "I can't believe how he died," Kun replied. Just the thought of what a shaken Doyoung and Ten had recalled to them had Kun shivering in fear. "No, I mean what if they were wrong?" "What?" Kun looked at his older friend. "Maybe we should have checked the shed to see if it was really true" "I don't know," Kun hesitated, "There are some things that once you see them, you can never unsee them" "I guess... but some things you need to see for yourself," Taeyong seemed troubled. "I'll take their word for it," Kun said. "Thank goodness we're already here. Let's get this thing working."

He strode up the the cable car station, with Taeyong following quickly behind. Beside the door, there was an axe, its blade stuck in the wood. "Look, an axe! I feel much better with an axe." Kun tugged the weapon free and checked it over. Taeyong pulled at the door handle. "Great," he muttered. "It's locked. Break the door down, will you?" Kun shook his head and fearfully looked behind him before whispering, "If we make a bunch of noise, he's gonna hear us." "Have you got any better suggestions?" Taeyong asked, his eyes narrowing at the locked door in distain. "I don't know. What about..." Kun trailed off until he saw a window, just to his left. "Look, a window!" Taeyong eyed the small frame. "I couldn't fit my pinkie finger in there if I tried." "No, come on," Kun walked over to the window and began to try pushing his body through. "You won't fit in there either, Mr. I-eat-MacDonald's-four-times-a-week." "Fine," Kun muttered. Taeyong did have a point there. He walked over to the door and swung the axe down, tearing up the wood until the door finally opened. Inside of the station, nearly everything was turned over and thrown around. It looked as if a tornado had gone through. Papers flooded the floor, and furniture was turned on it's side. "This is crazy," he said. "Weren't we just here a few hours ago?" Taeyong asked, hiding his hands behind his shirtsleeves. "This must've just happened." "What is going on?" "It's gotta be the guy ... the one who got to Ten and Doyoung ... and Taeil..." "He's gotta know this is the only way back," Kun deducted. "Don't say that," Taeyong fretted, his pupils darting from side to side. "Look, the cable car is all the way out there." Kun looked out the window and gestured for Taeyong to do the same. Indeed, the cable car had been turned on and off at just the right time to have it hanging right in the middle of the cable. "Well... I mean that's not far right? you can jump it?" "I'm not superman, Tae. Flattered, though." Kun turned around and headed for the back of the station. "What are we gonna do then?" "I don't know." "Everything is so messed up," Taeyong whined. Kun ignored Taeyong's complaining and instead studied the map on the wall. "Hey, look, a fire tower!" "Hey, Magellan, maybe we should get this cable car working and get in the road, huh?" Taeyong finally snapped. Kun knew Taeyong's anger was just out of worry, so he continued to look around. He found the control panel and sighed as he studied the buttons. "No key, no cable car." "What about the fire tower on the map?" "It's an option," Kun shrugged. Taeyong rose his eyebrows, looking hopeful, "Maybe it has a radio or something! I mean it would wouldn't it?" "Probably, yeah."

"We've got to get to the radio." "Let's go, then." They exited quickly, and Taeyong kept from fretting out loud until they were off the ladder of the cable car station and well on their way to the radio. "What if it doesn't work?" "It will," Kun promised. "If it doesn't, we need another plan." "Maybe we can just climb down," suggested Kun. "Climb down what?" Taeyong looked at Kun curiously. "The mountain." Taeyong stopped for a moment, having been shocked by Kun's suggestion. "Are you serious?" "Hopefully we won't have to." "Do you think the psychopath is just going to give up and run away?" Taeyong said sarcastically, taking larger steps to catch up with Kun. "No," Kun admitted, "but maybe we can find a safe place and hole up. You know, wait it out. It'd be a lot easier to do all of this in daylight." "As long as we don't hide out in the lodge," Taeyong said smartly. "That's where he expects us to go." "Right," Kun said, leading them both across a long wooden bridge. The moon could be seen in the distance, leading the way for the two of them as it spotlighted upon the snow. Just across the bridge, there seemed to be a dead end in the form of a cliff. Kun went to get a closer look. Taeyong followed, his eyes trailing the ground. "Be careful around here," he said, pointing to a danger sign that had been buried halfway under the snow. Hearing a grunt behind him, Kun turned around, startled. An entire herd of elk had snuck upon them, apparently unnoticed by the two distracted boys. Kun gripped his axe. "Why are they coming closer? Taeyong?" "I don't know," Taeyong hissed back. If they stepped back any, they might fall off a cliff. If they stepped forward, they would walk into a heard of what looked to be a bunch of angry, antler-clad deer. - [the figure in the mask stands at the doorway of the bathroom, watching as jaehyun is relaxing. his body is hidden by bubbles, and with earbuds in his ears, he has no idea that someone else is in the room.] [the figure leaves, slamming the door shut behind him. the candles in the bathroom blow out at the gust of cold wind.]

Jaehyun took off his earbuds, startled by the abrupt noise of the door slamming. "Hello? Guys? What are you doing out there?" He chuckled under his breath, "Being creepy, probably." After receiving no answer, Jaehyun sighed and got out of the bath. He grabbed a towel off of its hook and tied it around his waist. Carefully, so he wouldn't slip, he padded across the tiled floor towards where he had placed his clothes. Only a single sock was left on the chair, causing Jaehyun to let out a huff of annoyance. "Seriously, guys?" he yelled. "We're still doing pranks? This isn't cool, ya know! Not cool at all!" He walked out of the bathroom, "Doyoung? Taeil?" In the hall, candles were placed in threes everywhere, creating a strange ambiance to the lodge. Jaehyun half-wondered if Doyoung had botched up the lighting, and they had to use candles to see. That didn't explain the red balloons — each painted with a large black arrow — tied to the staircase. He began to climb down, grimacing, "This is all really funny guys: watch Jaehyun parade around in a towel ... but I'd really like this to be over now." He landed on the main floor and looked around. When he spotted no one, he frowned and continued down to the bottom level, "If you're trying to freak me out, you're succeeding!" The last balloon he could see pointed into the theater room. Jaehyun walked in slowly, expecting the three boys to be waiting with his clothes, a movie title screen on the projector. Everyone would laugh at Jaehyun and Ten would toss him his clothes and tell him to get dressed before he got to cold. Then they would watch something stupid like Anchorman to ease the tension. Instead, he was greeted with an empty room, and nothing playing on the screen. "Guys, stop! Come on, I'm done with this! I really don't appreciate the silent treatment anymore!" The doors to the theater slammed shut then, and Jaehyun let out a yelp of surprise. He looked towards the screen and saw that it was stuck on some kind of old movie countdown. "Hello, Jaehyun," a voice appeared over the speakers. Its distorted tone frightened Jaehyun, and he found himself turning every which way for the source. "Looking for me? I don't think you'll have much luck by looking, Jaehyun." "What's going on?" Jaehyun asked, his voice shaking slightly. "You'll only see what I want you to see. And I have a lot to show you," the voice chuckled, "Open your eyes." The screen turned black before a video of Jaehyun in the bathroom could be seen. "He's quite handsome isn't he? A beautiful bathing bird." "What? Why did you..." Jaehyun subconsciously tied his towel closer to his waist. "Do you think he has any idea what lies ahead? Do you think these were the last happy moments of this creatures life?" "Why are you'd showing this to me..?" Jaehyun asked, his face turning red with rage and embarrassment. "Why are you watching?" Jaehyun turned around to look for the source of the voice, and when he turned back to the screen, it had changed videos. Jaehyun gasped in horror. "Taeil!" he yelled at the screen, as his friend was mercilessly sawed in half with no warning. "WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU MANIAC, WHAT DID YOU DO?" "I'm going to give you ten seconds," the voice said calmly. "Nine ... eight ..." "No," Jaehyun backed up into the wall. "No, no, no, no, no!" "Seven ... " "Please no!" Jaehyun yelled. His entire body felt paralyzed, and he wasn't sure he could fight back even if he tried. The figure in the mask strutted in then, swinging the theater doors open. He had a syringe in his hand. "Jaehyun?" "No!" Jaehyun screamed, looking for another way out of the theater room. The maniac twirled the syringe in his hand as he spoke in a sing-song type of voice, "Jaehyun..." "Please, don't!" Jaehyun screamed. He tried to run past the maniac, and push him aside so he could bolt. He didn't anticipate the maniac's manic grip on his arm. He felt a sharp pain on the side of his neck, and suddenly everything was numb. He closed his eyes. [...]

[ba2a-harrison-ashe]

BA2a: Strategies/Story Adaptation - Story Analysis Draft 3 - 12.02.2018

Introduction “The two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” (Stevenson, 1886) Duality being a key theme in Jekyll & Hyde, I decided to explore it further through my story, as well as explaining my thought process behind it. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde is a gothic mystery novella written by Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson in “Bournemouth, England” and published by “Longmans, Green and Co” in the “January 1886”( Robert Louis Stevenson, n.d). With my essay, I aim to analysis my adaptation, which will cover duality, Victorian society, and the Stevenson’s novella and Jack the Ripper’s similarities. As well as covering animation, inspiration, art direction, symbolism, and more.

Inspiration What inspired me to write about the notorious killer Jack the Ripper was the fascination of his persona.  This was due to his inherent violence toward women, the duality of his character, and the location of both stories and the mystery surrounding his identity. With violence, both Mr. Hyde and Jack the Ripper committed crimes with an utter disregard for remorse. Within the novel, Hyde’s violence is an “ape-like fury” beating Sir Danvers so brutally that “bones were audibly shattered” (Stevenson, 1886). In contrast, Jack’s crimes left bodies “mutilated…with organs missing” (Casebook.org, 2018), depicting the man’s horrific nature, linking the two due to their inherent violent nature. In the novella, duality is a key theme that explores the personalities of the flawed cast of characters. In Dr Jekyll’s case, his desire to act freely without fear of being reprimanding for his actions, “no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.” (c.10, Stevenson, 1886) Evil being a catalyst of Victorian’s domineering society and the inherent good and evil within man. In finding a way, he transforms into Edward Hyde. For the Ripper, the duality concerning his identity is him being Jack the Ripper and an anonymous Londoner; “a normal man at day time and a serial killer at night” (Blazeski, 2016), causing people to fear his mysterious identity as his gruesome crimes continued.

Onto the subject of women, Victorian psychology depicted a woman below a man psychologically, as Hysteria was “a common medical diagnosis… exclusively in women”, a relied upon Victorian Psychology that depicts “a disease caused by deprivation in particularly passionate women”, painting the Victorian women’s brain as inferior to their male counterparts, as it is solely susceptible to this “disease” (Victorian-era.org, 2018). Comparing both characters, their murders are targeted towards the minorities of Victorian society. In reports, Jack is believed to have “a great hatred of women” (Dearden, 2014) and used his murders to mutilate their bodies is an act to humiliate, while Mr. Hyde clubs “an elderly gentleman to death”, and tramples a “little girl” (Stevenson, 1886) because the two crossed his path. In addition to their violent natures, they tend to be narcissistic. Hyde seeing everyone as below him. During chapter 10, Hyde’s inflated ego is shown when a women speaks to Hyde, while his response is to “smote her in the face” (pp.24c.10, Stevenson, 1886), highlighting Mr Hyde’s violence to civil people because their discomfort is fine as long as it doesn’t affect his well-being. Contrasting, Jack was confident in his killings; confident enough to boast about murders before occurring. Where during the “double murder of Stride and Eddowes”, an “earlobe was found cut” (Casebook.org, 2018), as specified in a letter sent beforehand. This displays Jack’s confidence over the investigators, since they had yet to apprehend him. 

Through these comparisons from women, brutality and dual identities, the two killers are illustrated in extremely similar ways which influenced me to write about the fictional possibility of them both sharing a similar backstory. Or identity? Richard Mansfield: “a Victorian American actor” (Jones, 2012) and manager born in Helgoland, Germany on 24 May 1857 (Blazeski, 2016) who starred in the play version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He began playing Jekyll & Hyde upon the plays released in “1987” (Blazeski, 2016), where Mansfield played the role of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, occurring a year before “the first murder of Mary Ann Nicholls” that occurred on “31 August 1988” (BBC, 2014). Referencing back to the two killers being one in the same, Mansfield’s portrayal of Edward Hyde was extremely convincing, and he became a suspect of the Ripper murders. The on stage transformation from a gentleman into a mad killer “to be so realistic that women in the audience fainted”  (Blazeski, 2016), highlighting how through Victorian’s being judgemental and suspicious ultimately drove me to write my adaptation in such a way that insinuates that the fictional formula in Stevenson’s novella influenced the real-life events of Jack the Ripper. Back to the topic on period, the convenience of using this subject due to both Jekyll & Hyde (1886) and the murders of Jack the Ripper (1888) both occurred within a short amount of time. Theories surrounding Jack and why he was never apprehended suggests a wealthy background. It’s reported that perhaps a “long sharp knife…used by surgeons” (pp.51-117, Rumbelow. D, 1990), which suggests a chance of him having a medical background.  Moreover, this may even begin to hint toward him never being apprehended, possibly due to his high standing within society. On the other hand, Russell Edwards, a self-proclaimed “armchair detective” is convinced that “23-year-old Polish immigrant… Aaron Kosminski” (Dearden, 2014) is the serial killer’s true identity. Despite Kosminski being a low-class Jewish Polish barber, Edwards assures he is the killer. In one case, a message was written on a wall in Goulston Street, near two recent victim’s location claiming the “killer identifying himself as Jewish.” (Dearden, 2014)  Strengthening the argument of Jack being Kosminski. Moreover, when reported for being suspected for being the Ripper, Kosminski was said to have “strong homicidal tendencies” (Sir Melville Macnaghten), which makes the suspect more likely to be Jack. From all my previous made arguments, the link between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to Jack the Ripper, to Aaron Kosminski flows coherently, so I felt I wanted to play with the dynamic in order to merge the two stories. I wrote my adaptation’s first draft but began to struggle with finishing the story. What I was trying for was allegory – trying to layer a deeper meaning into my story but decided to redraft. Revisiting combinatory play from our lectures, I felt that my first draft was just a retelling of Jack’s murder, so changed the idea to Jack being made by Dr Jekyll’s formula.

2D Animation For the style of animation, 2D was chosen for the story to emulate the likeness of a newspaper. The use of black in the story would be akin to print undergoing a “massive expansion” (Taunton, 2014), a subtle nod to the period and industrialisation. As mentioned previously, I wanted the theme of Duality to be a big contributor in my story. After researching, I became inspired by Frank Miller’s Sin City and its heavy contrast as seen in the comics, a “noir hero is a knight in blood caked armour” (F. Miller, 1997), symbolling the duality of the society and Jack, showing everyone with the same capacity for good and evil. With colour, the idea was to highlight Jack’s emotions using colour spotting to represent his emotions, controlling “how meaning is communicated” (Robinson, 2017) to the reader to show Jack as human to make him more relatable to the readers.  However, I physically wanted his appearance to border on the uncanny.

What inspired his appearance was the album “Wish You Were Here” (Pink Floyd, 1975) and its cover art, photographed by Storm Thorgerson. The piece below depicts a faceless agent selling Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” album in the desert, a depiction of “thoughts and dreams” (S.Thorgerson, 1978) existing within the real world. With him being faceless, this adds to the mystery of his identity since he was never apprehended for his brutal murders.

Conclusion

Bibliography

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