the Torture of Jodie Spiteri (thread)

my personal interpretation of spiteri's torture is that it was, in part, joan using jodie as a proxy to punish *herself* for letting bea humiliate her by escaping the prison at the end of s2

Here are my arguments:

first, this theory depends on establishing a pattern of behaviour where joan externalises her own "weakness", projects it onto others based on a similarity, and addresses it through that proxy.

we see her do that during the kangaroo court meltdown:

she was unravelling for some time before that - looking at her reflection in the mirror and seeing herself in uniform, insulting herself - "are you just gonna stand there and take it?" AND then encouraging prisoner joan (on the other side of the mirror) to "dismantle" vera.

this unravelling culminates in the kangaroo court meltdown. her insulting the prisoners is conceptually *identical* to her (through her Governor reflection) talking to and insulting herself (as a prisoner) in front of the mirror in 5x2. her speech is entirely self-referential:

"you need me! *without me, you're nothing* more than pigs" is what she says to "the prisoners" (to herself) during the kangaroo court

"stay with me. *without me you're nothing* you're worse than nothing. you're a vicTim" is what the Governor tells joan (in her mind) during 8x4

she's weak as a *prisoner*, thus the other *prisoners* became an external, physical manifestation of her weakness, and she addressed them (herself) as such

this scene never really made sense back then, without the context on her mental state we got in s8 https://twitter.com/pamsbabe/status/1307064162070286338?s=19

the kangaroo court meltdown is thus one instance where joan externalised her weakness, projected it onto others who are similar (she is strong as a Governor and weak as a prisoner [see mirror scene above], hence the proxy were the prisoners), and addressed it through the proxy

we can use the kangaroo court meltdown analysis as a framework for, hopefully, explaining the spiteri torture.

it's fairly well-established (and supported by canon) that joan's insults at jodie are self-referential - they are actually what joan thinks about herself

a layered interpretation of the spiteri torture, one that agrees with the theory of joan "externalising" her weakness, is that joan was "recreating", with jodie as a stand-in for *her*, the punishment she received from her father whenever she wasn't "good enough" as a child.

the mantra she repeated to jodie - "you're worthless, you're pointless,no one misses you... you're nothing", again, resembles how the Governor (the adaptation *closest to her father* in nature) sees joan - "so pathetic", "without me you're nothing. you're worse than nothing".

why is jodie a stand-in for joan in this trauma reenactment?

if joan was indeed recreating her childhood "punishment", it seems reasonable to look for similarities between jodie and a younger joan. one way to do this is through comparison with kath, who is joan's "blank slate".

the only thing i can recall with absolute clarity about jodie is the way she was constantly tugging on her sleeves, the same way kath does in s8.

we could go further than this superficial point - the show gave us an even younger joan, which is very useful for this comparison.

a more impressive argument for why joan chose jodie as a proxy in punishing herself, is a picture of young joan next to jodie.
i, personally, find the physical *similarity* striking. jodie is what a *weaker* joan could have easily grown up to become.

about the trauma reenactment:

i've covered the self-referential insults, the slapping followed by tenderness (PLEASE! compare this gif and the one in the first tweet....)

an understandably overlooked part of the torture is the *water* joan threw over jodie (yes, to wake her up)

but (and here i take you to the island of pseudo-intellectualism), the water was also evocative of joan's original trauma - the death of her mother and thus her father's *ultimate punishment* (her kid hallucination was drenched for no apparent reason! - she wasn't in the tub!)

to recap:

joan felt humiliated by bea, which gave rise to a militant edge :)

joan reacts almost exclusively inwards - her self-loathing ("deep down she feels... unworthy" she said of vera, but it's true for her too, yet again) means she turned the militant edge towards herself.

jodie's torture was self-referential - joan used her as a proxy to punish herself

it's only one instance of her tendency to externalise her weakness, project it on someone similar, and address it through that proxy (kangaroo court meltdown is another example of the same pattern)

(god, what shame she must have felt as a child if the only way she can conceptualise weakness as an adult is through expelling it and attaching it to someone else....)

jodie is chosen as a proxy on account of (at least) the physical similarity she shares with young joan

the torture was joan reenacting the trauma of her father's punishment when she wasn't "good enough" as a child - hence the combination of insults, slaps and tenderness -> "it's possible to love and hate at the same time"

the water she threw at jodie adds another layer of interpretation re: trauma reenactment, now that we know what happened to her mother.

this bit does feel like an over-intellectualisation though, even for me. or...? do feel free to expand if you like the idea.

of course joan had additional motives for the torture - proving to bea she could get to her, proving to her that she was in control, etc. there is a notable duality in the motivation for all of joan's decisions. i'm simply offering a single perspective.

this thread probably didn't say anything new, so feel free to expand and contribute. theories about jodie's torture are particularly interesting to me, since it sometimes feels out of place (as only intending to demonise joan) in the story arc of our favourite governor.

(end?)