Watching television and dvds with my daughters lately I've been really taken with how many contemporary girls' movies replay this theme of transformation by the fairy godmother beauty industry and social redemption through the love of a rich man. It's also played out in our fascination with house and garden make-overs and the fantasy of a perfect and beautiful life that they seem to promise. There's nothing very 2009 about this image of Cinderella but I selected it from the thousands of images available because it shows Cinderella before her moment of transformation, in the ashes of her grief and humiliation. Images of her splendid triumph abound. We are fonder of these, perhaps they cater to our own narcissism. The birds in the picture above are helping Cinderella sort out lentils from the ashes so her step-mother will let her go to the ball. Like a lot of fairy tales it illustrates the psychological function of splitting: the "good fairy god-mother" and the "wicked step-mother and sisters."
This has got me thinking about the different versions of Cinderella and their symbols. I want to talk in particular of the Brothers Grimm version and speak about my associations to Narcissism in their story. We will explore loss of the good mother, envy, as well as projection and splitting through the story of Cinderella. I will refer to the theories of the origins and treatment of Narcissism in the opposing theories of Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernberg and also the recent writings by the psychoanalyst Neville Symmington who lives in Sydney and has published many very readable books. I've included a couple of my favorites. "Becoming a Person" includes two of his papers on Narcissism.
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