I also heard a little about the story of Jeanne d'Arc before, and I remembered that she was a national hero in France, but what happened? Not much more. I recently watched Luc Besson's 1999 film "Joan of Arc" and found the story quite interesting.
After checking some background information, the film is still very realistic. The background of the story is that in 1420, King Charles VI of France and King Henry V of England signed an agreement. Charles VI promised that after his death, the territory of France would be owned by England. Two years later, the two kings died one after another. The 10-month-old Henry VI succeeded to the British throne; while the French crown prince Charles VII certainly refused to give up the land. So the battle began, and the British invaded France.
In fact, Britain and France have been fighting for centuries before this. Anyway, it is a "playing house" game between brothers to grab territory. It is not unusual to play again this time. The question is, why did the French King Charles VI give away the country when he was alive? As soon as I understand, it turns out that this gentleman is a mental patient, known as "Mad Charlie". It's no wonder that the French court in the movie lens has a strange air of gods. The Crown Prince Charles VII has a bit of a cockfighting look, the strange arrangement of meeting Joan of Arc for the first time, and the funny scene of verifying that Joan of Arc is a virgin, all in this way. Something weird happened in the background. The uniform "pot head" hairstyle of the palace guards also adds a touch of joy. It seems that the handsome men on the French runway still inherit this hairstyle.
From a political point of view, the patriotic Joan of Arc is nothing more than a pawn used by the ruling class: in the case of France's declining retreat, the use of Joan of Arc's enthusiasm and popular belief stories to recover Some lost ground. And once he achieved his goal of being crowned emperor, he would not care about the lives of the people, no longer reinforce the army, or even betray Joan of Arc, so that Joan of Arc was later captured, sold, tried, and burned to death. This kind of pattern of "flying birds are exhausted, good bows are hidden, cunning rabbits die, and lackeys are cooked" is not uncommon in ancient and modern times.
On the other hand, from a psychological point of view, the image of Joan of Arc shown in the movie is not just as simple as a heroine. The Joan of Arc is likely to have the following two problems.
1. PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder)
Joan of Arc witnessed the tragic picture of her sister being first killed and then raped by British soldiers as a child, and her sister gave up her hiding place to protect her. This trauma has brought a great psychological impact on Joan: in the film, there is a "flashback" where Joan suddenly recalls this painful memory and experiences the trauma again. At the same time, she showed typical PTSD survivor guilt symptoms, repeatedly berating the priest why she didn't die, but her sister. The priest's weak reply, "Because God has a more important mission in you," may have further inspired Joan to think that she was chosen by God to repel the British army.
However, PTSD is not enough to explain that Joan of Arc came forward at the age of 18, met the crown prince, and asked to lead troops to attack the British invaders. She is a peasant, illiterate, and has no formal military training. What supports her? According to her own description, it is the call of God. And she got a long sword in the wilderness, which is her sign.
After joining the war, Joan of Arc never played cards according to military common sense, or behaved very differently from the war habits at that time, for example: she took the lead and rushed to the front line, Unlike other generals who hide in the rear to give command; as soon as she arrives at a certain place, she will attack the city without resting; she requires a direct frontal attack, regardless of the deployment of the opponent's troops; she wakes up the soldiers to attack the city at dawn, regardless of the enemy or the enemy. Both sides were sound asleep, so the British army was caught off guard in her pajamas; she was shot with an arrow, and she was pulled out regardless of whether it was 37 or 21, leaving the blood flowing... All of this was because she firmly believed that God had chosen her, Therefore, no matter what she does, God will protect her and help her; it is precisely because of this "God" thinking that the enemy army is dumbfounded, often caught off guard, and even shot while lying down; this indomitable spirit also infected the French soldiers, Their morale was high, like the help of God; it also frightened the British, and their soldiers began to suspect that their aggressive war was not blessed by God, so they stopped. When Joan of Arc was captured, British soldiers urged her to be burned to death. She would not die for a day, and the soldiers would not dare to fight for a day.
So, is Joan of Arc really the saint chosen by God? Is there really God's will behind her? Just imagine, why does God want to help France? The UK is also a Christian country. Does the nation, this political-geographical division, matter to the God of heaven? Moreover, the British and French rulers have always had intermarriages, but in fact they were still one family. Is God helping the French people to repel the invaders? According to this logic, the Chinese people should give more Chinese Joan of Arc girls during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to fight off the devils. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling, who believed in Christ, should also have won the country. If God chose Joan of Arc, why did he finally allow her to be captured and burned? Why bother to intervene in human wars so much, instead of blowing wind directly to let the ruler hear the "voice" and change the ruler's thinking?
If the "voice" that Joan of Arc claims to hear is not from God, then the foundation of her personality, in addition to PTSD, supports her bravery. Joan of Arc likely suffered from Schizotypal Personality Disorder, at least tendencies.
Second, schizotypal personality disorder (Schizotypal Personality Disorder)
Patients with schizotypal personality disorder are usually considered "weird" or "weird". They have the concept of implication, that is, connecting meaningless things directly to themselves, erroneously interpreting accidental or external events as having special and unusual meanings to them. They also immerse themselves in "fantasy thinking," believing they can see through or have telepathy. In addition, there will be unusual perceptual experiences, such as feeling as if someone else is in the room. The incidence is about 3%.
In the film, Joan of Arc had a long conversation with a certain image (God? Angel? Satan? Illusion?) in the cell, fully expressing the characteristics of the above patient. The figure finally said: You didn't see what was. You saw what you wanted to see. If this is an inner dialogue of Joan of Arc, then at that moment she seemed to understand something.
Delusions and hallucinations are also the basic characteristics of patients with schizophrenia, but patients with schizophrenia show more "no sense of reality", and it is impossible to lead the army to fight. Schizotypal personality disorder is still real.
When Joan of Arc was less than 20 years old, she was sentenced to the stake by the Inquisition for "heresy and witches". 500 years later, he was canonized by the Vatican Pope.
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