Self-Conscious Emotions

Blog Post #8

The eight blog-post covers self-conscious emotions. These emotions are differentiated from outcome emotions because they are intrinsically connected to a self-evaluation. The four major self-conscious emotions are pride, shame, guilt, and embarrassment. In this blog, I'll discuss how our protagonist, Edward Scissorhands, experiences all three of the negative emotions.

Shame vs Guilt vs Embarrassment

Before applying these concepts to our main character, it is important to explain what each means, given that many times people will use these interchangeably. Shame is the most extreme of the three, and this is because it means that the individual sees themselves as flawed and attributes whatever failure occurred to the whole self. Guilt, by comparison, focuses the blame on the behavior that caused the emotion. In addition, Guilt usually leads to seeking reparative action, while shame is typically followed up by retreat or aggression. Embarrassment is the least impactful of the four. This occurs when an action creates a perception of us to others that does not align with what we want to be seen as.

How does this apply to Edward?

In the movie, Edward feels guilt and shame on separate occasions. In both of these times, these feelings are mixed with embarrassment. The first time he feels guilty in the film is when he first meets Kim. In this interaction, Edward is sleeping in her bed, and she is unaware of this. The sight of a scissor-handed gothic man in her bed naturally causes intense fear and anger. Edward demonstrates all of the visual cues of guilt with his head hanging low and avoidant eye contact. Yet, I feel like what stops this from becoming shame is that he takes future action to remedy the situation with Kim. The reason embarrassment is here is that although he had never met her since the moment, he saw Kim's photo, he was attracted to her and wanted to make a good impression. The instance he does feel shame, though, is after he is caught breaking into Jim's house and is reprimanded by Peg and Bill. The exact physiological signs are there, but I would take it even further by saying he looks like he wants to withdraw from the situation. In fact, this is the beginning of his actual withdrawal when he runs away. There's embarrassment here because Peg is the one character that has constantly been by his side, and to disappoint her is a crushing blow for Edward, who wants her to positively perceive him.

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