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Student
Professor Annie Gray
ENGL 111-29
Date
Argumentative Synthesis
Word Count: 2,063
Crazy Good: Multiple Personalities, Mystery, and Family Values in
Showtime’s United States of Tara
Laughing at a person who is crazy -- that’s crazy, right?
But that’s precisely what The United States
of Tara, a Showtime series created by Steven Spielberg and authored by Diablo Cody, writer of the film Juno
(Sepinwall, 2011, para. 5) , asks viewers to do. Premiering in 2009 and running through 2011, the shows
three seasons are a comic drama documenting the life of fictional character Tara Gregson who suffers from a
disability known as dissociative identity disorder (DID), frequently identified in lay terms as split personalities.
Tara is a Kansas suburbanite with a husband, (Max), teenage daughter (Kate), and teenage son (Marshall).
She also has multiple personalities, known as “alters.” In Season 1, she has four alters -- Alice, a 50s
housewife; Buck, a Vietnam vet; T, a rebellious teen; and Gimme, an animal-like creature – but by the end of
Season 3, when the show was cancelled (“United States of Tara Cancelled,” 2011, para. 1), she sported seven
alters. With humor and sensitivity, the show presents her disability and her family’s efforts to cope with it while
also coping with their own crises of daily life. The show offers a compelling story line and a presentation of
American family likely to satisfy viewers.
It seems unlikely that a weekly television series on Showtime could offer an accurate portrayal of a
serious mental disability, doesn’t it? But that’s precisely what the United States of Tara is – a largely accurate
portrayal of DID. That’s not to say that there aren’t some minor flaws in the presentation.
Tara’s alters, for
example, are exaggerated almost to the point of stereotype. They are dramatically different, one from the
other, so much so that when Tara transitions, it’s immediately clear which alter she’s becoming, even before
she opens her mouth. If it is Buck, her shoulders square. If it is T, her jaw goes slack and her frame becomes
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loose and wiggly. If it is Alice, she pushes her chest forward and purses her lips. If it is Gimme, she crouches
in a feral stance. And after the transition is complete, the alter quickly dons a distinctive wardrobe and hair
style -- from T’s pony-tail and tight jeans to Alice’s perfectly coiffed hairdo and narrow-waisted dresses.
Psychiatry professor Richard Kluft who has authored books on multiple personality disorder (DID) says that
Tara’s alters are better delineated than is typical in the case of a real person with DID: “Most alters only differ
from each other in very subtle ways” (as cited in Derakhshani, 2009, para. 14). In addition, Kluft notes that
Tara is much more open about her disability than are most people who have the disorder. She doesn’t try to
keep it a secret (Derakshani, 2009, para. 14). In fact, in “Aftermath” (Season 1), it becomes clear that the
community in which the Gregson’s live is well aware of Tara’s condition and that Tara herself sometimes flaunts
her alters. When Marshall’s teacher treats him unfairly in school, Tara becomes Alice (the most organized and
controlling of the alters), waltzes into the school to take the situation in hand, and on the way encounters two
members of the Parent Teacher Organization. They greet Tara’s alter by name: “Hello, Alice.” And this
greeting indicates clearly that Tara’s alters are no secret. They are recognized by the community, visible and
known.
Despite some minor differences in the fictional Tara’s manifestation of DID from those of a real-life
person with DID, the show’s basic claims about DID are correct. In fact, the show’s creators hired an expert,
Richard Kluft, cited above, to serve as a member of the show’s staff – its technical advisor (Derakshani, 2009,
para. 9). Kluft points out that women with DID are likely to have more alters than males with DID and that
having only 4 alters (as Tara does in Season 1) would be unlikely for a woman with the disability (Derakshani,
2009, para. 13), but Tara doesn’t stop at 4 alters. By the end of Season 3, she has added Chicken (a 5 year
old), Soshanna (a therapist of sorts), and Bryce (her half-brother) to the ranks of her alters. These additional
alters – while they may seem like a gimmick to keep the show fresh – actually make the depiction of DID on the
show more, not less, realistic.
Gaps in Tara’s memory also accurately represent the real experience of DID. Kathy Steele, president
of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, points out that as people with DID
transition from one alter to another, they experience a “sense of losing time and self-puzzlement about who
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they are,” and they are “not clear about what’s happening in their lives in the present” (as cited in Flatow,
2009, para. 19). Tara clearly has this experience. In Season 1, “Aftermath,” she says, “Having multiple
personalities is like having a kegger in your brain. Only you’re passed out cold while everyone else is trashing
the joint.” She then calls a family meeting at which she takes notes while her husband and children fill her in
on what’s happened while she was “gone.”
On a deeper level, Tara’s sister’s disbelief in Tara’s diagnosis and her therapist’s difficulty dealing with
Tara’s condition capture the real, widespread debate about whether DID is a real condition and how it should
be treated. In an article published in Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Stickley and Nickeas
(2006) argue that “mental health professionals are largely ignorant of the condition and treatment” (p. 180),
and this lack of knowledge is well portrayed by Tara’s therapist who shows, during Season 1, an increasing
discomfort in treating Tara, actually slipping into her chair and letting out her breath – in relief – when a
therapy session with Tara concludes.
Tara’s sister takes this difficulty to a higher level, wondering if Tara’s
condition is genuine. She says to Max, Tara’s husband, “Why can’t she just stop. It’s not even a real
disease.”
Many specialists in the field say something similar. A psychotherapist guest caller on a 2009 radio
interview summarized the dissonance like this: “There’s a lot of resistance in the psychiatrist and
psychoanalytic communities to recognizing DID” (as cited in Flatow, 2009, para. 63).
One question that viewers of The United States of Tara might have is this: If DID is a real and serious
disease would a person afflicted by the disease really be capable of living a relatively successful life, as Tara
does?
Tara is not institutionalized. She lives at home with her family, manages to work (sometimes), attends
her children’s events, runs the household, has a good relationship with her husband, and lives – aside from the
manifestation of the alters – a relatively normal middle class, suburban life style. Could a real person afflicted
with DID do all these things?
The answer is yes. While it is true that people with DID typically have a hard time coping with day-today life, some manage it beautifully for long stretches of time (Stickely & Nickeas, 2006, p. 184). Stickley and
Nickeas (2006) describe the experiences of Rhonda Coyle as evidence of the ability of real people with DID to
lead relatively normal lives. As with many DID sufferers, Rhonda Coyle suffered abuse as a child, which caused
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her to “leave [her] body to escape the pain,” (p. 181) resulting in the emergence of alters or a fragmented
personality.
Coyle dealt with the difficulties caused by her DID – such as gaps in her memory – by becoming
obsessively organized, taking notes about where she was and what she doing and using these notes to keep
track of her responsibilities.
Using this coping technique, she rose to an advanced level in her field, which was
forensic mental health, education, and social services (p. 184). Stickley and Nickeas (2006) write that Coyle
“fully succeeded in marriage, raising a family and rising to a senior management position” (p. 184). In other
words, though not many people with DID may be as functional as Tara is depicted as being, they do exist.
But it’s not just the relatively accurate portrayal of DID that gives The United States of Tara value. In
fact, for viewers, the show’s accuracy is probably minimally relevant. What is relevant is the level to which the
show keeps their attention and brings them back week after week. While it has been claimed that the show has
a “flimsy, disposable quality” (Murray, 2010, para. 7), this type of criticism is probably linked more to its length
– each episode runs only 30 minutes – than to its quality. Indeed, for a 30-minute show in which it must be
difficult to develop complicated plot lines, The United States of Tara does a relatively effective job of generating
story arcs that encourage viewers to return. One of the compelling story arcs is a a mini-mystery: why is Tara
the way she is? As Stickley and Nickeas (2006) point out, DID is often caused by childhood trauma (p. 181).
In season one of United States of Tara, one plot line engages the show’s characters in trying to figure out what
this trauma was for Tara, following “little clues” that the alters “offer up” (“ United States of Tara: Season,”
2010, para. 2). In “Transition” (Season 1, Episode 6), Max takes up the challenge and in “Possibility” (Season
1, Episode 7), he begins detective work in earnest, tracking down Tara’s college roommate to find out what
happened to Tara in college. The roommate tells him to find fellow college student Tripp Johansen who, she
claims, may have raped Tara. In the final episode in season one (“Miracle”), a meeting between Tara and
Tripp has been arranged, and the viewer tunes in, ready to discover the reason for Tara’s DID, but the show’s
creators opt out of easy answers and extend the mystery into season two. Tripp may, indeed, have raped
Tara, but the incident was not, as Tara suspected, the origin of her DID. In fact, at the time she was raped,
she was “T,” not Tara. In other words, her alters were already manifesting.
This who-done-it plot line is
compelling. One reviewer writes: “There’s always been a mystery element to the series, with viewers being
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drawn closer and closer to the root cause of Tara’s condition. It’s the most compelling reason to watch”
(Swanson, 2011, para. 5).
In addition to the show’s clever use of a mystery sub plot and its fairly accurate portrayal of DID, it
offers a definition of American family that is likely to appeal to viewers. Statistics indicate that divorce rates in
America are around 50 percent for first marriages and higher for second and third marriages (Gormly, 2011,
para. 5) with divorce more likely to occur in families stressed by difficulties, economic and personal (“Divorcing,”
2007, p. 33). Though these are the facts of marriage in America, Americans tend to continue to think of
marriage and family in very positive ways. In other words, they wear happy blinders. In a survey of 1000
American couples, 85 percent claimed that their marriages were “excellent” or “good.”
Only 1 percent called
their marriages “poor” (Gormly, 2011, para. 5). These figures don’t match the divorce statistics in our country
and seem to indicate that American viewers like to think of marriage and family in positive terms, even if these
positive terms don’t match reality. United States of Tara, which depicts a family struggling through difficulties
with humor and love and a marriage tested by DID but holding strong, must satisfy American viewers who,
though their own families may be falling apart, long to think of family and marriage as something that can
endure, despite difficulties.
United States of Tara may be a far-from-perfect TV show, but that does not mean it’s without value. It
offers viewers numerous small treasures from a fairly accurate portrayal of DID to a compelling mystery sub
plot to a pleasing statement about American family. The show’s theme songs contains the lyrics, “I know we’ll
be just fine if we learn to love the ride.” This lyric offers advice not only to the Gregson family, learing to cope
with Tara’s DID, but to viewers. They will find that United States of Tara is crazy good if they, as critic Brian
Lowry (2009) suggests, stop “nitpicking its inconsistencies” and “embrace its pleasures” (para. 8).
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References
Derakhshani, T. (2009, February 15). Disorder on the tube: Showtime’s United states of Tara focuses on a woman
with multiple personalities. Philadelphia Inquirer.
The divorcing kind. (2007). Atlantic Monthly, 299(2): 33.
Flatow, I. (2009, November 13). Therapists split on multiple personalities. Talk of the nation/science Friday (NPR)
Gormly, K. (2011, July 18). Most couples agree institution of marriage is holding strong. Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Lowry, B. (2009, January 6). United states of Tara. Variety. Retrieved from
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939291?refCatId=31
Murray, M. (2010, March 4). United states of Tara: Season two. Slant. Retrieved from
http://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review/united-states-of-tara-season-two/162
Sepinwall, A. (2011, March 28). Review: Showtime’s United states of Tara & Nurse Jackie take different paths in
Season 3. Retrieved from http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-showtimesunited -states-of-tara
Spielberg, S. (Producer). (2009-2011). United States of Tara [Television series]. Hollywood: Showtime Networks.
Stickley, T., & Nickeas, R. (2006). Becoming one person: Living with dissociative identity disorder. Journal of
Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 13, 180-187.
Swanson, P (2011, April 8). United states of Tara: Season three. Slant. Retrieved from
http://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review/united-states-of-tara-seasons-three/245
United states of Tara cancelled. (2011, May 23). TheWrap TV. Retrieved from http://thewrap.com/tv/print/27639.
United states of Tara: Season one (2010, January 6). Retrieved from http://upcoming
discs.com/2010/01/06/united-states-of-tara-season-one/