The show Revenge captures the attention of audiences across the country. Millions of people tune in every Sunday to witness Emily’s insidious agenda. The show title is solely what the episodes consist of which is seeking revenge. The research that has been conducted focuses on the question: Why do so many viewers draw their attention to this reproduced plot line? The possible answer to this question was analyzed through a series of interviews. The theory for this research includes three parts. The first part is that these viewers have a repressed desire for revenge. Watching the show is parallel to watching this repressed desire be acted upon. It is the viewers’ form of aggression. The second part of this theory also suggests that is repressed desire is associated with the mainstream culture and the aggression is associated with the resistance to the mainstream. The agression/resistance (watching the show/the experience of partaking in revenge or of satisfying the desire) then gets reproduced which reveals why the revenge theme becomes a part of our society’s culture. The third part of this theory reveals that Amanda Clarke is associated with the repressed desire and Emily Thorne is associated with the aggression. Identification between these two subjects reveals she either has repressed desire like Amanda or she has a repressed desire for revenge and heavily seeks aggression like Emily. Either identification further supports why the interviewee is drawn to this particular show.
Repressed desire for revenge is an underlying want or wish to respond to someone who has harmed him or her. This desire is initiated by some kind of wrongdoing despite it being minor or major. Throughout the interviews, there was always something that initiated their desire for revenge. The first interviewee’s desire for revenge is revealed:
I said, “Have you ever been wronged?” She responded “Definitely” without hesitation. I asked, “How did you respond to that wrongdoing?” She replied “When someone is trying to sabotage me at work, I try to want to sabotage them back” and “they try to mess with me at work and they do things so I could fail but at the same time I let it go”.
Her response is part of the mainstream culture. There is this notion of “letting it go”, “turning the other cheek” and “to forgive and forget”. It seems this mainstream approach is associated with this repressed desire to seek revenge. Again, this repressed desire is explicitly revealed when continuing how she responds to the wrongdoing:
“I want to do revenge back to them… I do… I want them to feel the way I felt when they hurt me, I want them to feel the pain, I want them to the feel humiliation, I want them to feel everything they made me feel but because I’m afraid if I do something back to them it will go wrong and then I end up being the bad person than the other person.”
Her repressed desire is strong. Her form of aggression is watching the show considering she does not actually act upon her desire. Her mainstream repression stimulates the resistance. The resistance equates again to not so much acting out the revenge herself, but watching the desire be acted upon on Revenge. Watching the show gives her the experience of being able to partake in revenge without really doing so. She is vicariously seeking revenge through Emily. She also immediately identifies with Emily Thorne indicating that aggression is heavily sought after. This further supports her affinity to the show.
The next case reveals a minor repressed desire for revenge however is still very much significant. When I said, “Have you ever been wronged?” she said “Wronged… probably. Sure I have, not that extreme. Not as big as that” (referring to the show).
She deeply thinks about the wrongdoings she has experienced in her life. She then recalls the fights with her sister regarding how she wears and ruins her clothes:
She said “I want to do something…like if my sister borrows something of mine…my clothes or anything my bags whatever and she ruins it or does something to it I’ll get really mad and I’ll threaten her, I’ll be like ‘I am going to rip up all of your stuff and throw all your stuff in the garbage, but I never actually do it’”. She continues on about her response to that wrondoing “go off and do homework so I don’t have to think about” or “probably go sit by myself, watch tv maybe, listen to music”.
She along with the previous interviewee takes the mainstream approach of not responding. She uses the outlet of watching the show to aggressively seek out her desire.
This desire can also be seen when asked who she identifies with “Don’t know, probably the old one. Not Emily. She’s crazy. I am nothing like her. I’m not the type to get revenge on someone, I let it go”. She doesn’t seek revenge like Emily but still harbors the desire to get back at someone who has wronged her. The same exact mainstream answer “I let it go” from the first case is seen again in this case. Her mainstream approach consisted of not responding to her sister’s actions (the wrongdoing) and not identifying herself with Emily Thorne. Therefore she identifies herself with Amanda Clarke’s repressed desire and feelings.
Again her mainstream repression stimulates the resistance. The resistance equates to not so much acting out the revenge herself, but watching the desire be acted upon on the television show. She described how she feels when she watches the show. During the show she is “enticed” and after the show she is “relieved”. This indicates that her desire of revenge is satisfied through her form of aggression/resistance. She is experiencing the partaking of revenge without actually doing so.
The next case was interesting. She revealed a different repressed desire. When asked which side of the character she identifies with, she responds with “none”. She doesn’t identify with Amanda Clarke or Emily Thorne. She doesn’t identify with Amanda because she doesn’t relate to her situation “I never lost parents”, she experienced “nothing tragic”. She doesn’t identify with Emily because she believes that Emily “can’t justify the wrong means to an end…there’s no honor in that”. However later into the interview she describes how she does identify with Emily/Amanda on one thing which is that she understands “being mistreated, wronged and never getting a fully apology”.
The interviewee had experienced being wronged indicating that a repressed desire is initiated:
[Have you ever been wronged?] Yes I have been wronged. [How did you respond to that wrongdoing?] I responded in a verbal manner immediately…without foul language. I defended myself and my integrity.
When asked if it satisfied her, she replies “Yes and no”. She explains “I put that person in her place” which answers the Yes. She continues, “this person was really close to her and that the relationship will never be the same” which answers the No. She also states that “this person should never have said those words, I deserve a sincere apology”. She never received one from the wrongdoer. There is definitely an underlying desire exuding from her answers. It is also interesting to see how she responded immediately unlike the previous two cases. She did not take the mainstream approach indicating to me that the desire is not seeking revenge.
The next step was figuring out her form of aggression. This is analyzed when:
I said, “Describe how you feel during and after the show?” She said, “During the show, I feel anxiety and it is nerve-racking” and after the show “I want to find out more”. She continues, “I am curious as to what happens next and I am hopeful that Emily does the better thing”.
As I was analyzing her replies, it seems that she doesn’t have a repressed desire for revenge however she does have a repressed desire for closure. She doesn’t identify with Emily indicating that she does not want to seek revenge like her. However she does identify with Emily on never getting a full apology by those who wronged her. This repressed desire for closure is aggressively unleashed by watching Revenge. She curiously tunes in to find out if Emily ever receives closure. This is parallel to her situation.
Her resistance to the mainstream is actually responding to the wrong doer at that given moment. This resistance is not reproduced because not many people chose to confront those who wronged them. However her form of aggression is still reproduced. The resistance equates again to not so much finding closure herself, but watching the desire be acted upon onRevenge. She is vicariously seeking closure through Emily. She watches the show to satisfy her desire for closure. Her hope for Emily to find closure is what she hopes for in her life as well.
The final case was similar to the third case. When asked whom she identifies with, she replies “Amanda Clarke. I understand her anger and her need to avenge her father’s death…I don’t like the extent Emily Thorne has taken… she’s blinded by vengeance. I would never do the things she does.”. She identifies with Amanda Clarke indicating that she has a repressed desire but not so much actively aggressing it. She understands Amanda’s feelings indicating that she has been wronged which in turn initiates a repressed desire:
[Have you ever been wronged? And Describe the wrong endured.] Yeah. I felt betrayed and hurt by a family member. This member was cold and shut me out of their life. [How did you respond to that wrongdoing?] I ignored it and moved passed it. [Did your actions satisfy you?] Sure... No, now that I think about it… you can’t just let go of life experiences because it can cause a build up of unhealthy feelings and emotions. [Would you have changed your actions if you had the chance?] Perhaps, I could’ve communicated clearly with that person and resolved any residual issues and moved from it together.
The interviewee has been wronged and took the mainstream approach of “ignoring it”. This mainstream approach causes her to have a repressed desire for closure and not so much a desire for revenge. It seems she also has feelings of regret because she was not satisfied with the way she handled the situation. She has a desire to change the past actions and receive closure.
Her form of aggression is like the interviewee from the third case. This can be observed when:
[Describe how you feel during and after the show.] During the show…super anxious, excited, fearful, tension. After the show, I am mad. Nothing happens. Nothing moves forward…nothing progresses.
It seems her form of aggressively seeking out the desire for closure is by watching the show. The description of how she feels after the show is parallel to how she feels in her situation. Nothing progressed in her situation. She just ignored it and did not fully express her feelings. She is mad because nothing is resolved. She tunes in every week to see if Emily receives closure and her situation gets resolved.
The mainstream approach of “ignoring it” stimulates the resistance, which is like the form of aggression. Again the resistance equates to watching the desire be acted upon on Revenge. The third and final interviewees are vicariously seeking closure through Emily’s actions. This theme of closure isn’t solely produced. It is through the plot of revenge that closure can be obtained. Therefore seeking closure along with seeking revenge gets reproduced together.
The repressed desires uncovered through these interviews support the three parts of the theory. The research of each case revealed that the interviewee had a repressed desire and was aggressively acting upon it by watching the show. The mainstream approach of “letting it go” or “ignoring it” leads to the resistance, which was vicariously satisfying their desires through the main character. The interviewees in the third and fourth case had different desires than the interviewees in the first and second case however the revenge theme still reproduced itself through their aggression/resistance. Identification between Amanda Clarke or Emily Thorne revealed whether the interviewee had a repressed desire for revenge or both a repressed desire for revenge and to aggressively act upon it. In conclusion, the theme of revenge reproduces itself in media through the repressed desires of its viewers. Also, viewers continue to watch this reproduced plotline because they all have repressed desires that need to be satisfied.