ALEXANDRE PERIGOT. La Maison du Fada

Synopsis – Alexandre Perigot, 2011

La Maison du Fadadraws its inspiration directly from the architecture of Le Courbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Furthermore, the title of the artwork is an appropriation of the byword given to the building by the local population in Marseille (which translates into English as ‘The House of the Mad’).

The project in this instance involves the creation of a model using a 1:15 scale – 9 metres in length, 1.6 metres in width and 3.7 metres in height – constructed in the form of an architectural matrix.

Employing Archicad software, I have built the structure of the building as a physical duplicate of its virtually-rendered model.

The above working method has already been utilised in my previous project La Maison d’Elvis in La Friche La belle de Mai in Marseille. In the meantime La Maison du Fada will function as one of my last projects, Funkypipe: a series of tubular assemblages which create an optical illusion via engine-powered motion.

La Maison du Fadawill maintain this format, presenting a kinetic tubular structure in which each level appears as an over-sized, lengthy shelf. Simultaneously, the undulating movement is intended to leave the viewer with the impression of a dancing construction.

La Maison du Fada– Can modern architecture make someone crazy?

During the projects’ development, and in advance of the construction of the Cité Radieuse complex in Marseille (1947–1952), detractors from Le Corbusier’s work ordered a psychological study be conducted to prove that the future inhabitants of the building would consequentially be driven mad.
The nickname La Maison du Fada was subsequently derived from the purpose of this scientific investigation. A ‘fada’ is someone said to be ‘possessed by the fairies,’ or in reality, suffering from psychiatric disorders such as Asperger’s syndrome, schizophrenia, paranoia, narcissistic personality disorder, etc.

Recently, the ‘fada’ personality appears to have infiltrated our television screens. Following a strong tradition originating from within the film industry, new television series seem unable to create a storyline without the ‘fada’ character. With a large range of possibilities and severity of symptoms, the characters suffer a range of illnesses: from behavioral disorders to the psychopathic climax; sociopathy to schizophrenia; hallucinations to kleptomania; obsessive-compulsive to bi-polar disorders; depression, multiple forms of addiction and anorexia.
The heroes of the contemporary television series are increasingly prone, and afflicted by, psychological disorders.

While it is certainly not the case that such typecast characters had no presence in television series of previous decades, the wave of anti-heroes witnessed during the 2000s is undeniably apparent. The growing desire on the behalf of scriptwriters to create characters of an ambivalent nature reinforces this trend. Nowadays heroes of television series resemble more and more with the recognized ailments of the fada.

The artwork La Maison du Fada is two-fold. Firstly as a kinetic representation of the Cité Radieuse in 1:15 scale. The metal structure with its tubular construction is further elaborated in its continual spiralling movement. This motorisation is in synthesis with the second component of the representation: a video projection focusing on portraits of the fada character form the big and small screen. The video projection is composed as a slide show, featuring more than a hundred portraits of actors portraying the ‘crazy’ character, and will be situated on the first level of the construction, projecting outwards on the walls of the exhibition space.

Some Observations on the Film Industry: Psychopaths, Sociopaths and Anti-Social Personalities in Television Series

The boundaries separating the psychopath and the sociopath are fuzzy at best and at worst very difficult to define. Both illnesses share a number of common features, for example, the inability to act within social norms and a lack of guilt when crossing such boundaries. The emotional void demonstrated by the central character in the series ‘Dexter’ – at least in the beginning of the series – is paralleled by the sociopathic tendencies of Tony Soprano, the leading character in the gangster drama series The Sopranos.

The standard reference guide for behavioral and mental illness, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), states that sociopathy, or anti-social personality disorder as it is also known, can be diagnosed based on the following criteria:

·       The inability to conform to social norms or to lawful behaviors, often resulting in a long-history of arrests;

·       The impulsivity or others inability to anticipate or predict the future behavior of a sociopath.

·       Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by the frequency and levels of physical violence demonstrated;

·       A complete disregard for oneself or others’ safety;

·       Chronic irresponsibility, as indicated by the inability to maintain sustained commitments or to honor financial obligations;

·       Absence of remorse or guilt, displayed as an indifference or on the contrary as a systematic research for plausible excuses for having hurt, mistreated, cheated others or stolen from others.

Narcissistic pervert

The term narcissistic pervert – which today finds itself as a huge success among the general public – was coined by the psychoanalyst Paul-Claude Racamier in his book Between Psychic Agony, Psychotic Denial and Narcissistic Perversion published in 1986.

However narcissistic perversion is not recognized as a medical condition in itself and, in terms of a clinical diagnosis, does not feature any real deviation from the traits of perversion. The character of Livia Soprano (Tony’s mother) is quickly qualified as such by his therapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi, who diagnoses her with having ‘narcissistic personality disorder.’

According to the DSM-IV the narcissistic perversion can be diagnosed based on the following criteria:

· The subject displays a heightened sense of self-importance (for instance, he/she exaggerates their own achievements and abilities, expects to be recognized as superior without having accomplished the

·  prerequisite qualifications;

·  He/she is absorbed in fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, perfection, or ideal love;

·  He/she believes themselves to be ‘special’ and unique, and subsequently only accepted or understood by high-level institutions or people in positions of power;

· He/she shows an excessive need for admiration;
· He/she thinks that everything is owed to them: they expect without reason to benefit from particularly favorable treatment and to automatically satisfy his/her desires;
· He/she uses others in interpersonal relationships to achieve their own ambitions and objectives (via lies, blackmails, verbal abuses, etc…);
· The lack of empathy: he/she is wholly incapable of recognizing and sharing the feelings and needs of others;

·       He/she often envies others and believes that others envy him/her;

·       He/she demonstrates arrogant and haughty attitudes and behaviors;

The character of Tony Soprano’s mother is presented to the viewer as a monster: incapable of love, perpetually unsatisfied and whose mind is constantly crossed with infanticide impulses. Livia Soprano is a monument of cruelty excelling in the art of manipulation, attributes which she later maximizes by orchestrating the attempted murder of her own son with Tony’s uncle, Junior.

High-Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome

It is difficult to differentiate between high-functioning autism – defined as any form of autism in which the individual is not wholly severed from the outside – and the so-called over the past ten years Asperger’s syndrome.

The DSM-IV provides limited criteria to enable us to distinguish between the two, such as:

·       Impaired social interactions;

·       The failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to his/her own developmental level;

·       An inability to spontaneous seek communal enjoyment, interests or achievements with other people;

·       A lack of social or emotional reciprocity;

·       Restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors, interests and activities;

·       Clinically significant impairment in social, occupational or other important fields.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Phobias

Sufferers of OCD – who are both videogenic and provide an endless source of gags for screenwriters – are very popular characters in television series. One example we may consider is Sheldon Cooper from the series ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ who is obsessed with order and control. He suffers from a phobia of germs and bacterial contamination, to the extent that he has selected for himself a specific restaurant for each day of the week and a permanent place in each of these restaurants, deemed ‘safe.’

The most famous victim-hero of OCD is probably Adrian Monk, leading character in the series ‘Monk.’ Employed by the police as a consultant after being removed from his detective work, he suffers a total of 312 OCD-related phobias, which he personally classifies on a scale from most to least harmful. His utmost phobia is the crowd, and at the opposite end of the scale – phobia 312 – is his fear of constipation. The phobias between these posts, which take hold of him indiscriminately – include the fear of boats, trains, fire, hail, mixers, caves and the flash of cameras. Such fears have led Monk to develop an extraordinary sense of observation and some unusual powers of deduction; he notices everything from minute details to panoramic visions, reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes – by whom also the famous character of Dr. House is inspired – with whom he shares common way of reasoning.

Dr. Kevin Casey who appears in a few episodes during the third season of ‘Scrubs’ also suffers from several OCDs. When concentrating, he is compelled to constantly repeat his own name, teamed with an over-sensitive fear of germs. Two other examples recently featured in television series are Emma Pillsbury, the school psychologist in ‘Glee,’ as well as the famous Bree Van De Kamp from ‘Desperate Housewives,’ despite the fact that the condition ‘OCD’ is never actually mentioned in the television series.

Bipolar Disorder or Maniac Depression

Another disorder which seems to feed the imagination of scriptwriters and allows for the construction of highly-contradictory characters is Bipolar disorder (also referred to as maniac depression).

Billy Chenowith – Brenda’s brother in ‘Six Feet Under’ – is a brilliant photographer, involved in a totally symbiotic and quasi-incestuous relationship with his sister. He is charming one day, but the next openly hostile and threatening without explanation. Billy finds himself caught in a revolving door between suicide attempts and mental hospitals, yet refuses to continue with his regular medical treatment.

In ‘E.R.’ the character of Maggie Wyczenski (who appears in the seasons 7, 9 and 13) has a troubled relationship with her daughter, Abby Lockhart, who does everything possible to help her. We can also use the young Waverly – Smash’s girlfriend in ‘Friday Night Lights’ – as a further example, who disappears without explanation at the end of the first season after confessing to Smash of her illness.

Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder

Schizophrenia is a form of psychosis whose manifestations can be identified via signs of dissociation, emotional discordance and delusional activity. The condition is often confused by the general public with dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple-personality disorder) as a direct result of lack of informed knowledge teamed with the misrepresentations transmitted by movies.

DSM-IV defines dissociative disorder as:

·       The presence of two or more separate identities or ‘personality states,’ each with its own consistent and specific terms of perception, thought-processes and relationship to the environment and to oneself;

·       At least two of these identities or ‘personality states’ routinely take turns in controlling the behavior of the subject;

·       The inability to recall important personal memories, so significant that such a lapse cannot be explained as simply the effect of ‘bad memory;’

·       The disruption is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition.

The character of Tara Gregson, a mother of two in the series ‘United States of Tara’ suffers from a dissociative identity disorder. The scriptwriter uses her character as an opportunity to display her array of personalities, which range from ‘T’ a sixteen-year-old particularly uninhibited girl; ‘Alice’ the archetype of the perfect housewife in the 1960s; ‘Buck’ a coarse, perverse and alcoholic Vietnam veteran; ‘Gimme’ an animal alter ego; ‘Dr. Shoshana Schoenbaum’ a hippie psychologist, and finally ‘Chicken’ the child Tara was at the age of five.

Tara gradually discovers the reasons for her disorder, by unearthing her past and childhood memories.

The array of psychological disorders displayed by characters of television series could exist as a detailed publication; such is the multitude and diversity in their occurrence. It is impossible to name them all as a footnote, because they all seem to be affected by diseases. For instance just in the series ‘Ally Mc Beal,’ the leading character Ally McBeal, suffering from hallucinations and John Cage, suffering from delirious experiences, are both worth studying. We can also recall the beautiful character of Cassie in the original series of ‘Skins,’ a moody and sensitive girl who suffers from anorexia. One may also suspect that the kleptomania of Marie Schrader – Walter White’s sister-in-law in ‘Breaking Bad’ – will one day spread and nourish the scenario when we least expect it. Finally we cannot forget to mention the addiction of House and Jackie Peyton (‘Nurse Jackie’) to Vicodin: the two of them as a single case study representing a walking psychology manual as they experience memory lapses and dysfunctions.