A rant about Mendel being a bad psychiatrist that ends up in William Finn appreciation
I mean, we all know, don't date a patient (least of all things MARRY them). But the man is a psychiatrist, it is his job to help people (obviously).
Marvin is spiraling. And it is 100% his fault that his life ends up falling apart the way it does. But Mendel is too infatuated with Trina/too disinterested in his patient to offer him help before worst comes to worst.
I mean, joke all you like, but Mendel actively failed his duty as a mental health professional, even justss a doctor (hippocratic oath and such).
Everyone (except Jason, of course because he's literally 10 years old) is flawed and makes mistakes, of course. But Mendel was the only one who could have actually done something.
Now, how does that lead to William Finn appreciation?
Originally this post was about Mendel choosing to overlook how Marvin bery clearly displays many traits of Narcissistic personality disorder and Borderline personality disorder. I decided to look, just to make sure, when these two became official diagnoses. And guess what?
Both BPD and NPD only became official diagnoses in the DSM III, which was published in 1980. Yes, you read that correctly. 1980. The year in between the two years between the two acts. And that not only explains why Mendel, despite being an awful psychiatrist, probably couldn't have helped him very effectively even if he was a good mental health professional.
It also explains how, with just two years, the bitter, hateful and spiteful Marvin from March of the Falsettos manages to become a good father, gets on reasonably good terms with Trina and, as someone who needs affirmation and validation, actually makes friends with someone who is as no nonsense as Charlotte. It makes me think of More Raquetball, where you can see his old traits shine through.
This would have probably been their first big fight since getting together. Whizzer is reacting differently, Marvin reacts "accordingly" based on all the assumptions he makes.
But when Whizzer collapses he sees it had nothing to do with him. And instead of making it about himself or how bad he feels about it (both very realistic for the respective diagnoses) instead he reassures Whizzer that it will be fine. That he loves him. True growth through accepting your flaws and working through them rather than ignoring them.
I don't mean to say that the year 1981 doesn't have primary importance as the year the AIDS crisis began, because Falsettoland is about the lives lost and how communities were torn apart and how lesbians were an absolute pillar of support for all the gay men, who suffered and the majority that died.
Still, I find it fascinating that, considering so much of Falsettos is written so intentionally and so succinct in its character building and descriptions, 1981 is not only the year of one of a scar in gay history but also the first year people with those disorders were actually able to get help.
It makes Marvin even more tragic. 1981 was likely the first year he ever felt like his life was on the right track, with how much he has mended his relationships, that he not only got to be with Whizzer again but that their relationship was a good and healthy one. Treatment definitely wasn't very advanced. It was the first year of being an official diagnosis, after all. Still, the treatments helped him.
2087
origamiaround
dededos
dailybridgerton
izzy806
blakekathryn
