Borderlines In Song And Story

My weakness for the “classical arts,” in a world where “beats” pass for music and random words pass for poetry, is known to anybody who knows me. There are a couple of people who discuss classical arts with me in secret, at work or play. Like the opera “Carmen.”  I think it is the favorite of a lot of people.  Even though it was written in French by Georges Bizet, the use of traditional Spanish musical songs and dances gives it more snappy tunes than even George M. Cohan could cram into one show.

I was minding my own business and singing the habanera to myself. “For love is like a gypsy child/ who has grown up without any rules…”

I told a counterpart in my own profession. “Carmen is a model to all Spanish borderline personality disorders.  A perfect model.”

He was surprised.  “Carmen is a gypsy.  She acts like a gypsy.”

“No,” I told him.  “She acts like a borderline personality disorder. She induces our male hero to desert his unit in order to spend some sexy time with him, and then she dumps him cold.  That is acting like a borderline personality disorder.”

He was laughing and shaking his head.  “When you talk about arts or history, or any of the intellectual stuff we both like to talk about, you make it sound fun and simple, like a patient or the girl next door.”

“I just talk like regular people, and simple.  Carmen is a borderline’s borderline.  Don’t tell me you can’t see it.” At this point, most folks I know think this disorder is genetic, transmitted from a mom to some of the daughters.  (This seems to occur less frequently in males.) My esteemed colleague said gypsies seem to marry each other.  I rest my case. Gentle male readers, be careful.  A creator with a sense of humor seems to have made many borderline women drop-dead attractive.  As far as I can figure, they tend to mate with allegedly “normal” men, whom they wrap around their fingers.

Here are the criteria.  Apply them to your favorite heroine of song and/or story, and I am willing to bet they fit. The first one listed is the abandonment issue.  I remember this scene, in Mme. Bovary, where Emma Bovary is waiting for both her husband and her lover and is saying she has been abandoned.

Here is a personal, practical, and powerful website for those people (and their families) who actually have this disorder.  I have heard estimates of the prevalence varying from 1% to 2% of the population.

This happens in real life, too.  From Marilyn Monroe to Paris Hilton. Allegedly normal men, beware.