Ben Elton’s latest novel, called ‘Dead Famous,’ is a story of ten people involved in a reality television programme similar to Big Brother – called House Arrest. In the book Elton refers often to a phenomenon called “The Stockholm Syndrome.” Once again Miranda flew into action to educate us on the origin of this term…
On August 23, 1973, three women and one man were taken hostage in one of the largest banks in Stockholm. They were held for six days by two ex-convicts who threatened their lives but also showed them kindness. To the world's surprise, all of the hostages strongly resisted the government's efforts to rescue them and were quite eager to defend their captors. Indeed, several months after the hostages were saved by the police, they still had warm feelings for the men who threatened their lives. They refused to testify against their captors, raised money for their legal defence, and according to some reports one of the hostages eventually became engaged to one of her jailed captors.
This struck a lot of people as weird behaviour – and the incident compelled social scientists to research whether the emotional bonding between captors and captives was a "freak" incident or a common occurrence in oppressive situations. They discovered that it's such a common phenomenon that it deserves a name.
However the term didn’t come to worldwide notoriety until the kidnapping case of Patty Hearst in the US. Patty was a millionaire’s daughter that was kidnapped and tortured by a group called ‘the Symbionese Liberation Army.’ But even after the ransom for her was paid, she took up arms and joined their cause – calling herself "Tania" and helping the SLA rob banks.
Virtually anyone can get Stockholm Syndrome it the following conditions are met:
· Perceived threat to survival and the belief that one's captor is willing to act on that threat
· The captive's perception of small kindnesses from the captor within a context of terror
· Isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor
· Perceived inability to escape.
Stockholm Syndrome is a survival mechanism. The men and women who get it are not lunatics. A strategy of trying to keep your captor happy in order to stay alive becomes an obsessive identification with the likes and dislikes of the captor which has the result of warping your own psyche in such a way that you come to sympathize with your tormentor – sympathising with their plight.
Stockholm Syndrome has happened to concentration camp prisoners, cult members, civilians in Chinese Communist prisons, pimp-procured prostitutes, incest victims, physically and/or emotionally abused children, battered women, prisoners of war, victims of hijackings, and of course, hostages.
The syndrome also can be used to understand the compliant behaviour of those involved in a Big Brother reality show situation. The inmates name their captors, attribute personalities and qualities to (eg. The Big Brother inmates of Australia named the voices that spoke to them ‘English BB,’ and ‘Proper lady BB.’) and will follow all instructions given by them. It is this aspect and application of the Stockholm Syndrome that Ben Elton refers to in his book.
