We throw the term ‘Narcissism’ around on Project Fangirl to describe certain famous people. If you’ve been on the site long enough, you’ll know whom we’re referring to. Though have you ever wondered where the word comes from? Have you ever heard about the myth of a man named Narcissus? Well, you’re in good hands as we will be talking briefly about the story and give a few examples of fictional characters who display traits of a narcissist and how they apply to the modern day.
So, let’s start with the story of Narcissus. The tale is told in Roman Poet, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, published in 8AD. It means a man so vain that he rejects the advances of a nymph named Echo, who had been given a curse to echo those around them. He loves himself so much that he does the same with the
The gods decide to get back to Narcissus by making him fall in love with his reflection in a pool. However, he soon makes the shocking discovery that his mirror self cannot show him affection back, which leads to him eventually dying as he is not given the attention he craves.
During the time of the Ancient Greeks, this was known as hubris, which falls into the narcissism spectrum. In layman’s terms, this means excessive selfishness.
Famous Fictional Narcissists
We compiled a list of fictional narcissists, but it’s too long to fit into one section. So, we’re to break it down where possible. The first example we will use is a well-known one done a million times over the years; the Evil Queen from Snow White.
The Evil Queen is more than just Snow White’s jealous stepmother. She’s vain and cries bloody murder when the attention is not on her. This is where her line to the magic mirror comes in; “Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is fairest of them all?”
Examples of The Evil Queen’s Narcissism
One example is a scene in Snow White and the Huntsmen where Ravenna, the Evil Queen in the film, goes off the deep end and causes her darkness to show, and the glass goes flying.
The drive behind the Queen’s self-centred nature is also shown in the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves film. While similar to Ravenna, the original Queen wanted her stepdaughter dead so she could consume her heart so she could remain young and beautiful.
In the Disney Channel Movie, Descendants, Evil Queen’s daughter, Evie, is seen at the beginning of the story constantly staring at herself in her hand mirror. This is a trait she inherited from her mother. As time goes on, the tool is used as a weapon and a symbol of the past and how the present (Evie), like her fellow villain Kids, must step out of their parent’s shadows to lead lives alongside their hero counterparts in Auradon.
Narcissus
The driving inspiration for this Agrippina Files post is the man the term is coined after, Narcissus. However, we’re talking about a version of the same person from the Disney movie Hercules. Early on in the film, at the party for the titular character’s birth, Hermes tells Zeus the following:
“Fabulous party. I haven’t seen this much love in a room since Narcissus discovered himself.”
We then see Narcissus himself making kissy faces with his hand mirror. The scene lasts not even two seconds. However, it does tell us that the man in the television series that succeeds the film and tells of Hercules’ days as a teenage demigod has Narcissus as an Olympian god, but that’s not what he is in the myths. He is supposed to be a human man who is overly in love with his image.
How Does This Factor Into Real Life?
There are plenty of people in real-life who are obsessed with their looks. While some use cosmetic surgery to make themselves feel better, others do it because they want to be more attractive than they were before.
One example of this are the Kardashians and the Jenners. Most, if not all of them, have had cosmetic surgery to some degree. However, they are not in love with themselves, only with their looks. As a result, they have developed brands that have made them multi-millionaires or billionaires, if you’re Kim Kardashian, who is worth more than a billion dollars.
Shrek’s Lord Farquaad And Prince Charming
For two characters who never shared the screen, Lord Farquaad and Prince Charming from Shrek were the comic relief in their respective films, and while one was more annoying than the other, they shared one thing in common. They’re both vain narcissists.
Short Man Walking
In the first Shrek film, Lord Farquaad was desperate to be king and needed to marry a princess. The magic mirror gave him the choice of three women. Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella. And, of course, Princess Fiona.
He chooses Fiona and manages to hoodwink Shrek and Donkey into retrieving the princess. However, his hubris gets the better of him when he convinces Fiona to marry him while she is upset over an argument she had with Shrek earlier in the movie. He also hides his “nudity” when he stares at Fiona’s portrait on Magic Mirror, who is annoyed by this.
In the end, Farquaad’s hubris proves to be his undoing when he threatens Fiona to lock her in her tower after she transforms into her ogre form. He also comes across as misogynistic, given how he treats Fiona.
The Mama’s Boy
After the disaster that was Farquadd, how could he be topped? Oh, that’s an easy one. Look no further than Prince Charming, the son of Fairy Godmother. A real mama’s boy, al la Norman Bates, Charming, is in love with his image and never indeed grew up. He hates the Far Far Away equivalent of the McDonald’s Happy Meal.
Despite coming across as this handsome guy, he struggles to live without his mother after she dies at the end of the second film. He can’t stand on his own two feet half the time, and his good looks get the ladies’ attention, and he panics when he gets to the tower to rescue Fiona. He finds that she isn’t there, which upsets Fairy Godmother. Eventually, he marries the traitorous Rapunzel, who is only in it for the fortune and the “glamourous” lifestyle.
Sigmund Freud Said…
In conclusion, Sigmund Freud developed a theory he wrote about in a 1914 essay called Narcissism: An Introduction. In it, he said that narcissism is healthy and that every human is both with it. Unfortunately, while he might be correct, we do not believe it is healthy.
