Personality Theories In River Tam

1650 Words4 Pages

In this paper I will explore various personality theories as applied to River Tam. River Tam is portrayed in the 2002 television series 'Firefly ' and the 2005 movie 'Serenity '. She grew up as a part of the wealthy Tam family on the “core” planet, Osirius. Osirius is governed by the “Alliance,” which is a part of the Union of all planets or the UAP. The UAP was established after a war which lasted for 6 years. It is comparable to our own government combined with China’s, strict, money ruled politics, corrupt officials, etc… Early in her life, as young as 3, she was discovered to be quite intellectually gifted. She was also portrayed as being remarkably graceful which is depicted by the elegance with which she fights. At age 14, River was enrolled in the graduate physics program and had become bored with her studies. The Alliance used the guise of a school for the gifted and took River into a program used to train government assassins. She was …show more content…

Horney theorized that the conflicts we experience are based on interpersonal problems. She postulated that there were three ways to resolve conflict which were moving toward, against, or away from. A healthy person should be able to use all three methods depending on their situation. Applying Horney’s theory shows that River is a move away type person. She is so afraid of losing the ones she loves she won’t get close to anyone. She has a general fear that she will hurt someone which also aides her in placing distance between herself and others. She is highly aware that she is different from other people because of the experiments done on her. This is supported by her detached attitude. River Tam suffers from many manufactured disturbances. It is questionable what changes the brain damage caused to her personality. According to these theories her personality was well developed due to her rather calm and loving

Open Document