Forget the title for a moment, its just some comment I lifted out of youtube which I think is so true. But I think you'll only get it after watching the music video.
So I came across this term, Stockholm Syndrome, when I started listening to Muse a while back. In fact its one of the titles of their songs. And I became reacquainted with it again while I was watching an episode of Criminal Minds just now. I thought I might just delve abit deeper into this (And by that I mean typing into the google box at the top). Here's what I got.
In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation and have positive feelings towards their captors that appear irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, essentially mistaking a lack of abuse from their captors as an act of kindness.
In cases where Stockholm syndrome has occurred, the captive is in a situation where the captor has stripped nearly all forms of independence and gained control of the victim’s life, as well as basic needs for survival. Some experts say that the hostage regresses to, perhaps, a state of infancy; the captive must cry for food, remain silent, and exist in an extreme state of dependence. In contrast, the perpetrator serves as a 'mother' figure protecting the 'child' from a threatening outside world, including law enforcement’s deadly weapons. The victim then begins a struggle for survival, both relying on and identifying with the captor. Possibly, hostages’ motivation to live outweighs their impulse to hate the person who created their suffering.
In many cases, capture may also involve the killing (or threat of killing) of the captive's relatives, thereby isolating the captive. The captive is subjected to isolation and so sees even a small act, such as providing amenities, as a great favour. Such captives may side with their captors while believing their captors have conferred on them great importance and love. Furthermore, captives who perceive themselves as the only members of their group not to have been killed may believe that they have been shown a special interest.
This is the song's theme, as reflected in lyrics such as, "This is the last time I'll forget you/I wish I could." The song is from the perspective of the abuser. In the first verse, "I won't stand in your way / Let your hatred grow / and she'll scream and she'll shout and she'll cry / and she had a name, yes, she had a name," the individual’s girlfriend is hysterical and he deliberately avoids consoling her, which intensifies her emotional distress. He also reminds himself/listeners in the last line of this verse that she had a name. Many people are counseled to reveal their name and other personal information if ever a victim of violence, because it could arouse a shred of compassion within the attacker. It is harder for the attacker to detach themselves from the reality of their actions when they are forced to acknowledge that the victim is a real human being. The next verse again illuminates the narrator’s original stance about calming his girlfriend, but the line, “And I won’t hold you back,” is referring to his predicition that his girlfriend will take the fight to a physical level with him, and he refuses to protect her from himself. All of this leads to the classic nature of abuse relationships. “let your anger rise /and we'll fly and we'll fall and we'll burn/ no one will recall, no one will recall.” The couple starts fighting and he describes the escalation in 3 physical verbs, 2 of which, “fall” and ”burn,” allude to the destruction that has taken place. "No one will recall" means that neither of them will talk about it, it is too painful to admit now, it has become routine. The climax grips the soul, crying out, “This is the last time I'll abandon you / And this is the last time I'll forget you / I wish I could,” which expresses that the narrator neglected his girlfriend in the past. Many people believe that he is trying to say that those days are over and that he won’t do those things again, but in reality, he is doing them at that moment in the song. He is explaining, I am choosing to abandon you right now and I am choosing to forget you right now. He is ending the relationship to end the abusive cycle, and it would be much easier for both of them if he could forget her, as portrayed with,"I wish I could," because she refuses to throw in the towel and leave him,even after all the violence and pure agony. She might even feel closer to him because of the simultaneous emotions he caused her to experience. She is a victim of violence and is experiencing Stockholm Syndrome. People that have never been abused by a spouse might not understand this theory, and hopefully never will have to, but when someone you care about consistently hurts you, they stimulate a vast array of emotions at the highest intensity. Some of these include sadness, terror for your life, humiliation, and the worst of all, disappointment. The disappointment is what really messes with your mind because it hurts so much to give up hope and admit that this person will never change and will never stop. Every time a fight escalates to the point that they hurt you, you are shocked all over again, as if it had never happened before, all because you somehow convinced yourself that all those times were flukes that you might have caused, and they aren’t that person, even if it has already happened a hundred times before. The last line of the song is the most important because it refers to this woman that should feel so defeated, but instead, she has hope in life, “Look to the stars /Let hope burn in your eyes,” because hope for a better future is the only feeling that will drown out her disappointment about this truth that she already knows, but can’t accept. There is no hope for her future with this man. The emotions she feels for him, although powerful, are confusing, because as worded in the last line, ”And we'll love and we'll hate and we'll die, All to no avail, all to no avail,” she believes she loves him so much, it would probably have led to him killing her, but she also knows she hates him, which misleads the listeners into thinking that she is the abusive one, as portrayed in the first verse. It is all useless though, because the feelings were created by crippling pain that consistent abuse causes, and that made her appreciate her life like never before. Feelings of this magnitude get misdirected because she associates her abuser with the enlightenment she obtained from the trauma, and it is difficult to distinguish this person's intentions from their result.
- taken from wiki.
Intense, huh?
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