Now, you are a bank teller.
You wear a pale professional suit, thick glasses like the bottom of a beer bottle, blond hair, children and daughters, and happen to be middle-class.
Your husband is not good at cooking. He can go to the department store to choose a tie for himself, but he doesn't know how to tidy up a fish in the kitchen. You only have to cook the potatoes the night before, remove the bones of the herring, take a tablespoon of flour on a plate after get off work, and sprinkle some salt and pepper.
On this day, if there are no accidents, your life should be as orderly as I said. But an accident happened.
Robbers came to rob the bank, fired countless shots at the ceiling, and everyone ran around with their heads. You squatted under the cabinet and sounded the alarm, but he was caught upright. He took you hostage and said he would blow your face.
I would like to ask, will you fall in love with him?
There is a woman named Bianca Linde.
She is a bank teller in the movie [Stockholm] . She fell in love with the robber played by Ethan Hawke. During the 130-hour "hostage life", she kissed, had sex, and gasped with him, like two Hungry fish.
What's even more incredible is that the film opened with a line of subtitles: BASED ON AN ABSURD BUT TRUE SRTORY. ——Adapted based on absurd but true events.
01
Stockholm, the capital and largest city of Sweden, consists of 14 islands and a peninsula, known as the "Venice of the North".
There are four distinct seasons here. Every winter solstice at the end of December, there are only 6 hours in the daytime. By the summer solstice at the end of June, the daytime will exceed 18 hours.
In 1973, it was just such a summer. A man wearing sunglasses, a leather jacket and a wig walked into a credit bank. Without a word, he raised his machine gun and fired at the ceiling. People panicked and scrambled, but he laughed twice and said, " The party has just begun! "
This man was Jan-Erik Olsson, 32 years old, from Ekeby in southern Sweden, and had a history of robbery.
He hijacked three bank employees as hostages, and threatened them, and made three conditions to the police: 1. To release his prisonmate Olofson, who was serving his sentence, and bring him to the bank building; 2. Provide 3 million crowns of unmarked cash; 3. A road car.
The conditions are somewhat different from those in [Stockholm], but they have little effect.
Like the film, the police agreed to all of Olsen's conditions.
But Olsen insisted on taking the hostages in the car to ensure that he could leave safely. Not only that, but even the hostages seemed to have been brainwashed, shouting in the connection with the Swedish president, " I repeat, I want to leave by car with the robbers! "
As soon as this statement was made, public opinion was in an uproar, and even the President of Sweden was shocked, and the police did not dare to act rashly.
As a result, the robbers took hostages inside the building, and the police stood up outside the building. The two sides began a 130-hour tug-of-war.
This is the first hostage crisis Sweden has ever faced.
Many TV media reported the incident in a live broadcast, and various solutions emerged. [Stockholm] also mentioned, "There are enthusiastic citizens who have put forward a lot of suggestions to end this crisis. So far, the authorities have received more than 200 calls."
One of the reporters connected to one of the hostages and asked, "How does it feel to be with a criminal?" The woman replied without thinking, "Not bad."
The reporter asked again, " But do you trust them? "
The woman replied, " At least more trustworthy than the police. "
The Swedish people were refreshed again, and they were shocked to discover that these hostages actually refused to cooperate with the police, and instead stood on the side of the robbers.
In the end, the police chose to release tear gas to the vents of the bank building to force the robbers to submit. The effect was excellent.
But the hostages were depressed and showed obvious hostility to the police after they were saved. What's more unexpected is that when they walked out of the bank building, the hostages actually offered to let the robbers go first to prevent the police from killing the donkey.
That's all, after the case was over, a female hostage fell in love with the robber Olsen regardless, and went to jail to plead with him for life, and raised money everywhere, asking a lawyer to come and help him out of guilt. Another female hostage has been making friends with the two robbers.
This is the origin of " Stockholm syndrome ".
Also known as "hostage syndrome", in simple terms, it is the victim's feelings towards the abuser, and even help the abuser's psychology in turn.
02
Many works in film history have similar plot settings, dating back to 1946 [Beauty and the Beast] .
The heroine Belle's father was imprisoned by a wild beast for stealing roses from the castle. Upon hearing the news, Belle rushed to the castle and bravely asked the beast to replace her father with herself as a hostage.
In this way, Belle began to live with the beast, and gradually discovered that there was a gentle and kind heart hidden under the beast's ugly appearance.
Although he is imprisoning Belle, he is willing to send someone to dress her up. After learning that Belle is a girl who loves to read, he generously opened the door of the study room to show her the collection of books on his shelf that reached the ceiling, and said that they could be loaned to Belle.
Over time, delicious and delicious, Belle gradually opened her heart, began to have a good impression of the beast, and finally found that she fell in love with the beast.
Emma Watson remade this story in 2017, and it was controversial because of this "Stockholm" setting after it was released. But Emma Watson denied in the interview, saying that Belle’s thoughts are independent, and that it is only a collision of opinions with the beast, and it does not belong to the Stockholm syndrome.
This is actually not very accurate. In a lecture at Harvard University, Dr. Jingduan Yang, the attending physician of "Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine" at Jefferson University, analyzed 4 prerequisites for hostages to produce Stockholm syndrome:
1. The hostages were actually threatened by the kidnappers;
In [Beauty and the Beast], Belle is imprisoned by a beast, and this beast has a vicious appearance, which is a threat to Belle.
Including [Stockholm] mentioned above, the robbers tied up the bank teller first, then said viciously, "Don't play tricks, or I will blow your face", and yelled at the president: "I'm very violent!"
These threatening words made the bank teller on the verge of collapse step by step, crying and saying to the kidnapper: "Please don't, please, I have a child."
2. The hostages can feel the kidnapper’s goodwill and his actions;
In the 1970s, Frank Ochberg, the psychiatrist who defined the term "Stockholm syndrome", believed that:
In addition to being intimidated, traumatized, and degraded, victims with "Stockholm syndrome" are often unable to speak, eat, or move, and even have to apply for the toilet.
In this case, if the kidnappers fed the hostages with food and water, or allowed them to go to the toilet, the hostages would be grateful. And the greater the contrast between these behaviors and the identity of the kidnappers, the stronger the gratitude of the hostages. This feeling is the basis of Stockholm syndrome.
Such as [Beauty and the Beast], Beast not only lends the book to Belle, but also drinks soup, dances, walks, and even snowball fights with her.
In [Stockholm], the hostage coincided with her menstrual period. The robbers not only helped her ask the police for sanitary napkins, but also put on her body armor, and even gave her half of the only food, which can be said to be caring.
3. Hostages usually do not get outside information;
The FBI believes that the important condition for the creation of Stockholm is that the hostages are isolated from the outside world, and there is only a single view of the kidnappers. [Beauty and the Beast] and [Stockholm] do not need to repeat, the former is imprisoned in the castle, and the latter is trapped in the vault, neither can receive outside information.
4. Make people feel that there is nowhere to escape.
Under extreme circumstances, once the hostage is convinced that his life is in the hands of the robber, it is almost impossible to escape from the hands of the robber. At this time, the hostage’s sense of helplessness will increase sharply, and a kind of environment will arise. Under the leader-the identity of the robbers.
In [Beauty and the Beast], Belle tries to escape, but is surrounded by wolves and struggles. Fortunately, the beast saves her from becoming a Chinese meal.
In [Stockholm], what the hostage cares about is not whether he can escape, but whether he can escape with the robbers. This inappropriate expectation made the road ahead difficult, and after two failed plans, she fell into despair.
Once this symptom occurs, the most obvious manifestation is distrust of the rescuer. Still taking [Beauty and the Beast] as an example, Belle yelled at the villagers who held torches and claimed to punish the beast: He is not a beast! As for [Stockholm], as I wrote earlier, the reporter asked the hostages "Do you trust them?" The hostage replied "More trustworthy than the police." Perhaps it is precisely because of the hostage crisis that occurred in the 1970s that a large number of "Stockholm movies" emerged during this period, such as [Fools in Science City] , [Vulture 72 Hours] , [Hot Day Afternoon] . [Fools in Science City] written, directed and acted by Woody Allen, talks about a food store owner who was accidentally frozen and woke up 200 years later as the police’s most wanted criminal and had to start fleeing. In the process, he disguised as a robot, sneaked into the heroine's home, and kidnapped the heroine, but the two gradually fell in love with each other in the future.
[Hot Day Afternoon] is adapted from real events and talks about a bank robbery that occurred in the middle of summer in American history. The robber played by Al Pacino first intimidated the hostages and asked them to obey orders, and vowed to ensure the safety of the hostages. They also expressed humane concern for their urgency and claustrophobia. Sure enough, 8 hours later, the robbery was broadcast live, everyone was as happy as making a movie, and some people showed up for the Stockholm sign.
After the 1980s, [Tie me, tie me] , [Buffalo 66] , [Better of Heart] and [Strategic Master] are the most typical in this respect. The plots of the first two are very similar. There is a male protagonist who just came out of a certain cage, and then kidnapped the female protagonist and asked each other to be his girlfriend. As a result, during the days of being kidnapped, the emotional elements slowly fermented, and the heroine actually took the initiative to the man sincerely.
[Strategic Master] is the story of a Jiang Yang thief who was thrown into prison for 30 years due to a mistake, and then decided to escape from prison. George Clooney's role as a thief is unwilling and vowed not to succumb to fate, and just happens to run into a female detective who has a bad vision and has repeatedly fallen into the hands of bad men. So he kidnapped her and embarked on a desperate way. Unexpectedly, on the way to escape, the two had a good impression of each other. After being forced to separate, the hostess vowed that she must personally capture her lover and bring him to justice.
Ang Lee's [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon] also has an obvious Stockholm complex. Luo Xiaohu kidnapped Yujiaolong to the uninhabited desert. Under such a desperate situation, without Luo Xiaohu, Yujiaolong could not survive. This is very much in line with 1, 3, and 4 of the 4 preconditions I mentioned earlier. After that, the two met in the cave, Luo Xiaohu held Yujiaolong's feet and picked horse fleas for her. At this time, Yu Jiaolong said, "Return the comb to me." Luo Xiaohu said, "No one can order me." The frustrated Yu Jiaolong took the small crossbow and pierced Luo Xiaohu's chest. And Luo Xiaohu didn't fight back, nor did he dodge.
All of these are obvious gestures of goodwill, and they are also the cornerstone of Yujiaolong's subsequent Stockholm syndrome.
03
The beginning of the movie [Stockholm] gave a rough explanation of the disease:
However, criminal psychology expert Nils Bejerot believes that this kind of example can be seen in various experiences. For example, prisoners in concentration camps and prisoners of war may have Stockholm syndrome, and it is both male and female, but the proportion of women is higher than that of men. On the high side. But why would anyone have such a complex?
Duan Hongbin's "Viewing Stockholm Syndrome and SM from Evolutionary Psychology" believes that this is a survival strategy for women.
It is extremely difficult for women in primitive society to survive without the help of men. The best choice for those women who are unfortunately used as slaves is to love their masters and have children for them. That is, the complete transformation of values is the so-called self-brainwashing.
Lin Yihan also wrote in "Fang Siqi's First Love Paradise" that after Fang Siqi was sexually assaulted by her teacher, the only solution she came up with was, " I want to fall in love with him. What do your loved ones do to you? It’s okay, isn’t it? ” Like the Philippines and Algeria and other countries, the law of "marrying a strong offender" is still reserved to this day. The purpose is to neutralize trauma. In the same way, when being held hostage, maintaining a good relationship with the robbers may be to overcome the fear and powerlessness caused by the incident, and to gain a little sense of control from it, and then to save your life. In 2017, a study surveyed women attending a strong emergency center in Stockholm. The results showed that 70% of them were in a transient state of unconscious stiffness caused by great fear at the time of the incident.
These women are not compliant, but the body makes a normal physiological response to the threat to help them through the painful moment, but it will also reduce the possibility of resistance.
In addition, in my opinion, "institutionalization" is also a reason. Just like the line in [Shawshank’s Salvation] , “Prison is a strange place. You hate it at first, then you get used to it. Later, you become inseparable from it.” There is a person in the movie, “ Every I didn’t go to the toilet until 25 minutes later. If I didn’t do that, then I would bear with it for another hour. One day I found out that I didn’t need to report for going to the toilet, and instead I couldn’t urinate anymore. ”
That is why after being rescued, the hostages were not as happy as they thought they were, but rather depressed, even frightened and collapsed. Because they have been tamed and used to the life without freedom. To put it in a better understanding way, this is like a job. After working for a long time, the thinking will gradually solidify, and the inertia will start to become larger, forming a self-righteous comfort zone, and it becomes difficult to adapt to the new job. , New environment, and eventually lose the ability to change jobs. This is not a metaphor, this is one of Stockholm's performance. If I have to use a paragraph to summarize it, it is probably like Eason Chan’s song: It should be more than once fantasizing how to escape/but I have not given up the desire to compromise/may have been in love with the kidnappers/the bitter sea of the kidnappers/I am blindly great and crazy/ still good enough for the victim to make cheap guilty of abuse becomes an obsession / can live for you / and then enjoy when / then so be it ...... -
Author/six aunts
This article was first published on the WeChat public account [Pocier]
Reference materials:
[1] Dwayne Fuselier, Placing the Stockholm Syndrome in Perspective, 1999
[2] Graham DL, Rawlings EI, Hacker RA scale for identifying "Stockholm syndrome" reactions in young dating women: factor structure, reliability, and validity. 1995
[3] M. Namnyak, N. Tufton, Stockholm syndrome: psychiatric diagnosis or urban myth?, 2007
[4] Does "Stockholm Syndrome" really exist, Elephant Association, 2019.08.07
[5] Why most rape victims never acknowledge what happened? -Christine Ro, 2018.11.06
[6] Viewing Stockholm Syndrome and SM from Evolutionary Psychology, Duan Hongbin, 2011
[7] Stockholm swooning: 22 films where women fall in love with theirkidnappers, John Semley, Zack Handlen, Steven Hyden, Vadim Rizov, Sean O'Neal, Phil Dyess-Nugent, David Sims, Marcus Gilmer, Tasha Robinson, 2011.11.14
[8] 10 Movies That Give Us Hope For Stockholm Syndrome Romances, ZIMBIO
[9] The 15 Best Movies About Stockholm Syndrome, Patryk Kosenda, 2017.06.20
[10] Movies with Stockholm Syndrome theme-IMDb, adilah47, 2014.06.10
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