Evaluating the Borderline Personality: A Study of Identity and Narrative Voice

Analyzing the relationship between reality and narrative descriptions of it reveals the premium placed on individuals' ability to produce coherent autobiographical narratives. Those lacking this ability, or those producing narratives that defy cultural norms often become labeled as pathological. Re-examining the relationship between narratives and reality challenges existing foundations upon which standards of normalcy become determined. Examining the film Thirteen from the perspectives of the visual and the plot narratives demonstrates ways in which the film challenges prevailing cultural definitions of normalcy. Doing so also provides insight into the ways in which the concept of reality itself has been used as a normalizing device to perpetuate the exclusion of individuals marked as pathological. The very concept of reality therefore becomes exposed as a normalizing device. Acknowledging it as such provides a way to challenge existing definitions of normalcy and its exclusionary effects on individuals who have been marked as pathological within our culture.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Hyun, Aerin Myung Hae

Contributors dc:contributor

• Micale, Mark S.

• Psychology, General

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3290254

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/81432