17 WAKANDAN SURROGATES

HEALING TRAUMA THROUGH PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Janina Scarlet & Jenna Busch

“Learn from the pain.”

“Connection is why we’re here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.”

—social work researcher Brené Brown²

At a time when real-world tragedies can be too difficult to bear, fictional stories can help people find a way to cope, manage, and heal. People who witness violent events, such as hate crimes, tragic deaths, and school shootings, may develop anxiety or trauma-related stresses.³ In addition, people who lose loved ones in a violent way are likely to experience posttraumatic reactions, such as guilt and isolation. Social isolation can further increase people’s distress and symptoms, as well as slow down their recovery.4 On the other hand, social connections can help many individuals to improve their mental health functioning even after traumatic events.⁵ This kind of social connection can be seen when Black Panther’s bodyguards, Ayo and Aneka, are attacked by Namor, the Prince of Atlantis. After the attack, Ayo and Aneka support one another, helping each other to get through that experience.⁶ Although some individuals may not feel comfortable creating meaningful social connections with people in real life, they may instead form friendships with fictional characters, such as the Black Panther. Can such relationships with fictional characters be helpful in managing one’s trauma symptoms?

ISOLATION AND CONNECTION

People who experience a traumatic event often undergo feelings of guilt, anger, and regret. We see this in the way T’Challa is hesitant in dealing with Killmonger after dealing with the loss of his father.⁷ In addition, individuals who experience trauma may struggle when it comes to reaching out to others. These individuals are likely to isolate themselves at a time when they are in most dire need for support.⁸ In the process of saving his country from Doctor Doom, T’Challa destroys the source of the nation’s wealth and power it.⁹ Remorseful over this, T’Challa leaves his title and riches behind to go fight crime instead in Hell’s Kitchen, where no one knows him and he has no friends. He even isolates himself from his then-wife, Ororo Monroe.¹⁰

Social isolation can take the form of withdrawal from others, canceling meetings, dates, or appointments, as well as emotional flatness, or the avoidance of confrontation with other people.¹¹ Trauma survivors might withdraw from some or all sources of social support, such as family, romantic partners, and friends.¹² Alternatively, they may minimize their emotional distress, pretending that they are unaffected by the traumatic experience.13 Erik Killmonger sheds no tears for his father as a child when he finds his body. When he has a flashback of that time, the vision of his father asks him why he is unable to cry for him. In response, Killmonger shrugs and says, “Everybody dies.”¹⁴

On the other hand, receiving social support can alleviate symptoms associated with trauma, anxiety, and depression.¹⁵ In fact, seeking out and accepting continuous support can serve as a form of resiliency. Specifically, after a traumatic event, social connection can become a buffer against mental health disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.¹⁶ Examples of this include M’Baku of the Jabari tribe helping to calm T’Challa’s mother and sister when two believe that T’Challa is dead¹⁷ or when, in the comics, attorney Foggy Nelson helps T’Challa enter the United States after Daredevil leaves Hell’s Kitchen.¹⁸

PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Human beings have an innate need to experience a sense of belonging. Such a sense of belonging can be obtained when an individual is willing to be vulnerably transparent with themselves and others.¹⁹ T’Challa is open with his wife, Ororo Monroe (Storm of the X-Men), about the fact that he needs to test himself as a normal person without powers. He admits his vulnerability to her and, in turn, her acceptance of his desire allows him to process what he goes through after his battle with Doctor Doom.²⁰ Although a sense of belonging is typically thought of as having a real, in-person connection with others, scientists are finding that connections with fictional characters, such as the Black Panther, can also create a sense of belonging.²¹ A relationship with fictional characters is called parasocial relationship.²²

JOINING THE WAKANDAN TRIBE

Reading passages about beloved characters, or watching movies or TV shows featuring one’s favorite characters can lead to people experiencing lower rates of loneliness and isolation.23 In fact, when establishing parasocial relationships, people often adopt the characters’ culture, phrases, and actions.²⁴ Hence, connecting to characters such as T’Challa and his people can encourage real individuals to feel and act as if they were a part of the Wakandan family, while potentially boosting their sense of belonging and connection. Such a connection can help people feel better about themselves and potentially improve their mood and performance.²⁵ In fact, some athletes demonstrate significantly improved performance after thinking about (i.e., being primed with) Black Panther or performing the “Wakanda forever” salute.²⁶

Parasocial relationships can serve as social surrogates for people at a time of emotional distress. Such relationships can take the place of surrogate friend groups, family members, or even romantic partners. These relationships can allow people to fulfill their need to belong through fictional characters by allowing the individual to have social support without the risk of social rejection.²⁷

Because many individuals who experience trauma may struggle with social connection, and because social connection is beneficial when it comes to recovering from trauma-related disorders, it stands to reason that finding safe ways for individuals to understand their traumatic experiences can be helpful in recovery.28 On more than one occasion, T’Challa speaks to his father T’Chaka in the spirit world.²⁹ Viewing such connections with deceased family members through the lens of fiction can help viewers to process and understand their own grief.³⁰

At a time when real-life social connections may be challenging or inaccessible, parasocial relationships can take the form of surrogate social support systems for people who experience trauma. In fact, relationships with fictional characters, such as Black Panther, appear to increase mental well-being for individuals who experience traumatic events. Furthermore, individuals with a traumatic history appear to be more drawn to establishing parasocial relationships than individuals without a trauma history.³¹

RETELLING OF THE TRAUMA NARRATIVE THROUGH PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Traumatic experiences can lead trauma survivors to develop unhelpful narratives. For example, people like T’Challa, who lose a loved one in a violent manner, may believe that that they should have somehow been able to prevent the traumatic event or that the world is a dangerous place.³² After his father is killed in an explosion, T’Challa chooses to keep Wakanda’s technological advancements from the outside world, believing the world to be too dangerous to have access to it. Despite Nakia and W’Kabi’s insistence that their help could make a difference in the world, T’Challa chooses to stay isolated from it. Only after he faces the repercussions of this decision does T’Challa change his mind, deciding to share Wakandan technology with the world.³³

Some trauma survivors may struggle with coping with their experiences because they have difficulty conceptualizing what happened to them. Most individuals are not taught how to label and identify their emotions. Hence, when a traumatic event takes place, people may not be able to understand their experiences, or trauma reactions.34 After finding his father’s lifeless body, Killmonger puts his anger and hurt into the art of killing. Specifically, he makes a game of how many people he can kill while in the armed forces.³⁵

Parasocial relationships can assist trauma survivors by teaching them how to understand and report traumatic events to the proper authorities.³⁶ For example, by learning about a fictional character’s assault experience, viewers/readers can learn to understand and label their own assault experiences, as well as learn how to ask for help.³⁷ When T’Challa has to face becoming a king after his father’s death, he asks Nakia to be with him, as well as his mother and his sister Shuri.³⁸

In addition, case studies and recent research studies show that when people establish meaningful connections with social surrogates, such as the Black Panther, they are more willing to commit to therapy.³⁹ The most helpful therapy interventions in treating trauma-related disorders, such as PTSD, include an exposure to one’s traumatic event (retelling one’s trauma story until it becomes less triggering). Many people may avoid treatment because of fear of doing an exposure in therapy. However, parasocial relationships appear to strengthen the individuals’ willingness to participate in exposures and adhere to treatment.⁴⁰

NARRATIVE EXPOSURE THERAPY

During traumatic events, the sounds, smells, and visual cues can become associated with emotional arousal, such as anxiety, fear, and anger (the classic fight-or-flight response). In the future, when individuals see, hear, or smell something that reminds them of the traumatic event, they may become triggered and experience a fight-or-flight response again. Memories that trigger fight-or-flight response are called hot memories.

SUPERHERO THERAPY

Janina Scarlet

In many ways, parasocial relationships can serve as examples of appropriate coping behaviors when someone experiences a tragic or a traumatic event. As such, fictional characters, especially superheroes such as T’Challa, can serve as active mentors to the viewers. T’Challa’s grief, his coping skills, his honor, and his commitment to doing the right thing,41 can inspire the viewers to engage in similar behaviors.⁴²

Superhero therapy refers to incorporating popular culture characters, such as T’Challa, into evidence-based therapy to help people learn how to become their own version of a superhero in real life. This treatment can be used to help people manage depression, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders.⁴³ This treatment incorporates the retelling of the trauma survivor’s origin story in connection to his or her parasocial relationships. For example, an individual who experienced a devastating death of a loved one (his or her origin story) may relate to T’Challa’s grief over his father’s passing. This individual may then be asked to consider what guidance someone like T’Challa may provide for him or her when he or she is struggling with grief.⁴⁴ After going through the loss of his father, perhaps T’Challa would counsel someone going through grief to imagine a conversation in which the deceased comes back to speak to the bereaved. By incorporating T’Challa’s mentorship, the trauma survivor would then be invited to retell his or her origin story from a survivor’s perspective, thus increasing his or her sense of resilience.⁴⁵

In order to reduce the impact of the trauma on the individual, the trauma survivor going through narrative exposure therapy (NET) might be invited to list his or her positive and negative life experiences in chronological order (a lifeline). The individual would then be invited to discuss his or her lifeline events over time until the hot memories become less triggering for the trauma survivor.46

For example, if T’Challa participated in narrative exposure therapy, he would first write out his lifeline, which would include the birth of his sister Shuri, the death of his father T’Chaka, the rite of passage, and the dissolution of his relationship with Ororo Monroe after his father’s death.⁴⁷ Other events on his lifeline would include joining up with the Avengers while they battled over the Sekovia Accords,⁴⁸ as well as his country being overrun by aliens.⁴⁹ He would subsequently go through his lifeline in detail, processing the painful memories with his therapist to help him cope with his own hot memories.

ASSEMBLING YOUR AVENGERS TEAM

After experiencing a devastating loss, such as losing one’s parent, as T’Challa does,⁵⁰ some people might struggle with understanding and processing their experiences. Some might minimize their emotional pain, while others might isolate from their support groups.⁵¹ Forming a parasocial relationship with fictional characters, such as T’Challa, can have positive effects for someone going through trauma.⁵²

A fictional character, like T’Challa, can become especially relatable to the viewers when he is going through something similar to what they are experiencing. Such parasocial relationships can allow the individual to feel a stronger sense of social connection, and can help promote prosocial behaviors, as well as create a path for healing.⁵³ Specifically, parasocial relationships can be used in a mental health setting to help survivors to understand and process their traumatic experiences, as well as to find a sense of resilience after a traumatic event. Furthermore, parasocial relationships can encourage people to take courageous steps toward recovery and toward helping others.54 Therefore, such implementation of fictional characters into counseling can help trauma survivors become their own versions of a superhero in real life.⁵⁵

NOTES

1. Marvel Heroes (2013 MMORPG).

2. Brown (2015), p. 253.

3. Fallahi & Lesik (2009).

4. Wilson et al. (2006).

5. Pietrzak et al. (2009; 2010).

6. Black Panther #2 (2017).

7. Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

8. Gabriel et al. (2017); Wilson et al. (2006).

9. Black Panther: The Man without Fear! #519 (2011).

10. Black Panther: The Man without Fear! #519 (2011).

11. Wilson et al. (2006).

12. Tsai et al. (2012).

13. Wilson et al. (2006).

14. Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

15. Pietrzak et al. (2009; 2010).

16. Pietrzak et al. (2009; 2010).

17. Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

18. Black Panther: The Man without Fear! #519 (2011).

19. Brown (2015).

20. Black Panther: The Man without Fear! #519 2011).

21. Derrick et al. (2009).

22. Derrick et al. (2009).

23. Derrick et al. (2017).

24. Gabriel & Young (2011).

25. Derrick et al. (2009); Howard & Borgella (2018).

26. Howard & Borgella (2018).

27. Derrick et al. (2009).

28. Gabriel et al. (2017); Tsai et al. (2012).

29. e.g., Avengers #21 (2014); Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

30. Markell & Markell (2013).

31. Gabriel et al. (2017).

32. Resick & Schnicke (1992).

33. Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

34. Elbert et al. (2015); Neuner et al. (2004).

35. Black Panther (2018 motion picture); Rise of the Black Panther #4 (2018).

36. Garbarino (1987); Scarlet (in press).

37. Garbarino (1987); Scarlet (in press).

38. Black Panther. (2018 motion picture).

39. Scarlet (in press).

40. Scarlet (in press).

41. Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

42. Scarlet (in press).

43. Rubin & Livesay (2006); Scarlet (2016); Scarlet (in press).

44. Scarlet (in press).

45. Scarlet (in press).

46. Neuner et al. (2004).

47. Black Panther (2018 motion picture); Avengers vs. X-Men #9 (2012).

48. Captain America: Civil War (2016 motion picture).

49. Captain America: Civil War (2016 motion picture).

50. Black Panther (2018 motion picture).

51. Gabriel et al. (2017); Wilson et al. (2006).

52. Markell & Markell (2013); Scarlet (in press).

53. Gabriel et al. (2017); Scarlet (in press).

54. Rubin & Livesay (2006); Scarlet (in press).

55. Scarlet (in press).