That line definitely does have a bite to it. I can practically see the younger Charles tormenting the younger Robert with it, undercutting him whenever he felt joy or enthusiasm about something. And yet I found the older Charles quite likable.
In other words, it's a huge sh!t sandwich and we're all gonna have to take a bite.
This family has perfected the art of the nervous laugh. All of them, with the exception of Robert, are all clearly miserable and they laugh as a defensive mechanism. Robert does it too, but is in no way as miserable as the rest of his family.
What really struck me, was Charles' realization of his homicidal tendencies. He attributed his homicidal urges to narcissism. One of the film crew, maybe Terry himself, asks what narcism has to do with homicidal tendencies and he states how when anyone does anything to wound your narcissism, or basically your ego, it makes you want to strike back at them with revenge, a deep hate because you have disrupted this narcissism.
My god... that is EXACTLY what happens with me. I was figured maybe I was born to be some evil person, or a serial killer or something because I continually became very angry at people if I ever feel belittled in anyway. To the point where I'm pondering driving by their house and cutting their brake line, slashing their tires, all sorts of crazy stuff. I've never actually done any of this but oh how I've dreamt.
It can be the littlest thing too, like a friend making a joke about you just to tease you etc. I would take that VERY personally, at the time, I'd just laugh nervously but after that I'd shut in and be quiet for the rest of the time, lusting about jamming a knife into their eye socket.
This statement by Charles I believe will actually help me GREATLY as a person, I don't think I would of realized this without that statement. From now on I have a goal to get over myself I guess, I can't take myself as serious as I usually do.
Old post, but I too found his philosophy about narcissism/homicidal feelings very insightful. I like the filmmaker did not immediately understand his point, but his succinct explanation was surprisingly profound and wide-reaching. Worthy of quoting.
shareNarcissism derives from lack of mirroring in childhood, normally because the mother is herself narcissistic (it's intergenerational). Rather than providing the mirroring the child needs, something she is unable to do, the mother instead uses the child as her first fully available, positive mirror, thereby standing nature on it's head and engendering another generation of narcissism. Deprived of mirroring, one forever searches for mirrors in the eyes of others, to reflect back the positive image denied in childhood (in vain, since the adult can never internalize the reflection, no matter how gratifying, in the way a child is naturally hardwired to do - like language acquisition, it's too late). People who received healthy mirroring in childhood internalize a healthy self-image and cannot be overly disturbed by contrary reflections in adulthood. But narcissists are forever at the mercy of each reflection they experience, having no true self-image with which to insulate themselves from devastating narcissistic injuries. As a defense mechanism, they develop false selves dependent upon constant gratification, which tragically can never replace the void left from childhood. I am a narcissist also, as were my parents. Alice Miller writes profoundly on this subject (see Drama of the Gifted Child).
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Charles was indeed quite witty and likeable, though I do think his sexual obsession with Bobby Driscoll was passing strange. Bobby really was a terribly unattractive child.
" I can practically see the younger Charles tormenting the younger Robert with it, undercutting him whenever he felt joy or enthusiasm about something."
Yes, any sort of happiness or satisfaction was definitely a no-no in that family. They were like sharks, always circling in hopes of scenting blood in the water and always prepared to move in for the kill.