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notenderlaith · 1 year

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There's more to Portrait of a Blank Slate... [TW for dark subjects]

I have an interpretation of Portrait of a Blank Slate that makes way to much sense to me. So here's my lyrical analysis. [you might want to grab a drink this is basically a news article]

!!WARNING!!

This post talks about ab*se, personality disorders, neglect, and death. If these subject trigger you, please take care of yourself and do not read this post!

!!DISCLAIMER!! I am not a professional in anything and definitely not in psychology!!

!!The reason why I hold the views that I do is because of self education and personal experience. Know that things are complex and do not use this as a source of real life information for any reason. This is a post about art, not science and truth!!

The plot line

There are three characters: The narcissist(narc), the singer, and the victim. The victim and singer were once dating but then broke up. The victim then started dating the narcissist and is pulled into an abusive relationship. The singer still has feelings for the victim and seeing how their current relationship is unhealthy, tries to get back with them. But the victim says they are happy in their current relationship and says that they found their relationship with the singer to be boring.

What you need to know about Narcissism

Narcissism Definition (According to Mayo Clinic) : Personality qualities include thinking very highly of oneself, needing admiration, believing others are inferior, and lacking empathy for others.

The manipulation tactics of narcissists:

Bullet points:

They target codependents

They make you feel special

They use shock, awe, and guilt

They gaslight

They play hot and cold games

Making a person dependent on them. Narcissist ensure absolute control by making someone completely dependent on them. They do this by isolating the person. They tell them to not talk to other people, and control the communication methods. They say things like "I'm the only one you'll ever need." and eventually once the victim is trapped they say things like "No one will love you but me." and "You would be nothing with out me". They tear down their victim and rebuild them to serve the narcissist.

Ex: They try to make others feel special using compliments and flattery to obtain control over their victim. They then go on to play with difficult emotions like shock, awe, and guilt to maintain control over their victim. Narcissists also gaslight or practice master manipulation, weakening and destabilizing their victims; finally, they utilize positive and negative emotions or moments to trick others

They make you feel special: These self-centered individuals also go out of their way to make others feel special; not because they genuinely value something about the individual but to manipulate them. “In their personal relationships, narcissists most often gain control over others by playing to a person’s (very understandable) desire to feel special and highly valued,” says Clinical Psychologist Forrest Talley. “The narcissist may say, for example, ‘Although I only just met you, it’s clear to me that you are exceptionally bright and capable. I have a very select group of people, much like yourself, that I like to keep in contact with… I want you to be part of that group. Just give me your phone number and I’ll add it to my secret black book.’ (Sound ridiculous? It is, but nevertheless, this is what one narcissist told me years ago… no, not a patient).”

They use shock, awe, and guilt: Narcissists continue to gain control of the people in their lives by eliciting difficult emotions. “After going through a period of ‘grooming’ someone for a close relationship, the narcissist moves on to use shock, awe, and guilt to maintain control,” Talley explains. “The shock and awe come from the over-the-top, emotionally charged tantrums that erupt when the friend (spouse or lover) has done something that disappointed the narcissist. Most normal people find such dramatic reactions exhausting and strange, therefore, they begin to work hard to avoid a repeat performance.”

Hot and Cold games: “One week, they’ll flatter you to get you to do what they want, and the next week, they’ll use aggression. The negative moments are interspersed with positive ones so that you might not even realize that you’re being manipulated. The only way to defeat this is to be cautious of the flattery and positivity when it comes. Take every action with a grain of salt, and don’t let the love-bombing be a form of bribery towards you. Niceties shouldn’t be conditional.”

How a narcissist reacts to a loss of control: When a narcissist can’t control you, they’ll likely feel threatened, react with anger, and they might even start threatening you.

Source: https://thriveworks.com/blog/how-narcissists-control-you/ (the above is almost a direct copy of the article, other bits added via personal experience and already acquired knowledge.)

Information from personal experience, years of research, and therapists: Narcissists don't actually think they are the best. Deep inside of them they push away the realization of all their faults and their actions are an attempt to 'prove those faults wrong'/hide them from others. They use their codependents to validate themselves.

!!DISCLAIMER!! For the information about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), It is an incredibly basic description of the condition. In fact it is just the bare minimum to get a basic understanding of my view point. Please, if you feel like it is relevant to you in anyway, do your own research and talk to professionals. Do not make any assumptions on this information.

Lyric analysis

Here I will list the lyrics that speak the loudest on this interpretation and provide support for my opinions.

"He told me that much and now he's dead, Told me to kill my indulgences, With a sharp blow to the temple, Pick up the phone call and do everything he says"

This is the first lines from the song and it describes blindly following someone (the victim) to do very drastic things. I can't exactly tell what is going on but I do know these things:

Someone said something to the victim and now they are dead (physically or mentally or socially)

The victim then makes/takes a phone call and does everything the other person (the narcissist) tells them to do.

While it is unclear if the person who is dead is a personification of "my indulgences" or if they are separate. Either way, both parties (victim and narc) are aware of an inhalation of someone in someway and it is beneficial to the narcissist.

"So I'll wait here for you Said, "Please, just let me stay" Oh, just let me stay, oh"

This is the singer speaking. The victim has told the singer that they are not going to be interacting with them anymore; likely because the narcissist is isolating the victim to gain further control. The singer, who still cares for the victim is begging "Please, just let me stay"

"I guess you know now what to expect He lives your own life in retrospect You know it bores me? These insecurities"

This is an indication that this relationship dynamic has been going on for a while now. Now the victim is fully engulfed and under the control of the narc and the singer has now learned the way of the narc via observation. Looking back on it, the singer can tell how the victim is no longer there own person and utterly lacks a sense of self as they are living as an extension of the narc. The singer tells the victim how "it bores me", they are over it and "these insecurities" as in the insecurities of the narc, the singer doesn't understand the appeal of having to provide an excessive amount of validation to the narc.

"Breaks you down just to act as the architect"

This is the singer commenting on how the victim is not the same person they where when they were dating the singer. The narc has taken the victims sense of self and rebuilt the victim around the narc. Which is very common for a narcissist to do to codependents.

"Oh, so happy, oh, oh, so happy If only you knew just how much better things could be"

This is an alteration of an earlier line, but this time it acknowledges that the victim has become completely unaware that they are victim. The narc now has total control over them. The singer knows that the victim has become ignorant and wonders how they might respond to seeing to truth.

"Another week of action Another hypoglycemic reaction"

This relationship has been going on for a while and as the weeks pass by all parties are pulling in different directions. The longer things go on the worse things get and the victim being completely dependent on the narc is now at their utter mercy. The singer keeps pushing the narc away from the victim and in response, the narc harms the victim. Hurting both the victim directly and the singer indirectly. Trying to incentivize others to stop interfering with their control. The hypoglycemic reaction is likely referencing how basic needs are at mercy of the situation. The narc might cut off food supply as a punishment to he victim and the singer might be so occupied trying to 'save' the victim that they start neglecting themselves.

"I'm sorry, it's all so predictable"

This line seems to re-enforce the idea that is generally thought about when I ask what the meaning of this song is, but I think it supports my ideas as well. The thing is, narcissists are very predictable, once you identify a narc you can essentially read the like a script, and tell what's next in the story. Also, the singer is predictable, it is easy to guess how they will respond to the narcissist. And the codependent is also predictable, as we know that they will remain in the narcs control. It's ALL predictable.

What does this say about Wilbur?

Wilbur is known to be pretty private about his personal life and so there isn't much to go off of when it comes to what traumatic experiences he may have been through. He has mentioned once in an interview that his parents went through a divorce when Will was finishing middle school and how that affected his mental health. But he didn't go into detail on why the divorce happened.

Still, there is no telling what personal experiences he's had and how they affected this songs lyrics. He says that he writes about his personal experiences and other people often find them to be relatable. So there really are no answers for this question.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I will say that there is a heavy chance that I'm projecting, but these lyrics describe a dynamic with virtually zero accurate representations in media, and does so with great precision. I feel like even if this wasn't the intended meaning of the lyrics, or maybe he was just unaware that this was an experience he's had, this interpretation has some swell standing.

Another disclaimer: !!DON'T TRY TO DIG INTO WILBURS (or anyone's) PERSONAL LIFE!! If he doesn't bring it up then you don't bring it up!

Let me know what you think and Thank you for reading! <3

#lovejoy #lvjy #wilbur soot #wilbur #lovejoy cmwyl #poabs #portrait of a blank slate #lvjy lyric analysis #lyric analysis

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