FPSb-12-1332

The purpose of this paper is to look at the life and death of super model [|Gia Carangi] from an analytical perspective. The collective resources on the [|HBO film Gia], the documentary //[|An American Girl The Self-Destruction of Gia]//, by JJ Martin, the book //[|Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia]// written by Stephen Fried and an in depth article from //Cosmopolitan//, just to name a few, will provide enough information to apply developmental theories of [|Freud’s Psychosexual Stages] [|and Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages]. Through the evidence of her choices depicted in the biographies we will evaluate her social development and personality development. Finally, we will look at her death at the age of 26 in Erikson’s middle adult stage where she was faced with the crisis stage of intimacy versus isolation.

Cosmopolitan a well-known high fashion magazine, Gia had graced the cover of many times writes in the November, 1989 issue article entitled: //Is That All There Is? A Model's Glamorous Life And Tragic Death// By Stephen Fried, “Gia was a quiet, bright child whose mannerisms were so adorable that she was encouraged to speak in baby talk long after it was appropriate. She was precocious and quietly rebellious, and if she had a truly close bond with anyone in the family, it was with her mother, with whom she could share "girl things." [ ...] Gia's childhood was strongly influenced by an event that took place when she was five: She was sexually abused by an older man. The abuse occurred once, but she was traumatized by the incident and lived in fear that it would happen again. By the time Gia was nine or ten, the tension in the Carangi household had escalated from verbal abuse to violence. While none of the children were ever hit, the parents began to tangle on a fairly regular basis. Finally, Kathleen (Gia's mother) decided to take the unusual step of leaving her husband, her home, AND her children for another man. Later, both parents remarried and shared custody, but in many ways, Gia never got over the temporary loss of her mother. "Gia did a lot of things just to get her mother's attention," says one friend. "She and Kathleen had this ongoing battle, and the one person Gia always wanted something from was her mother -- and in her own way, she just never felt like she got it." In this article the foundation of Gia’s childhood is established. Fried, also quoted in his book //Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia//, “Gia was also a girl in pain, desperate for her mother's approval…” from a Freudian psychoanalytical perspective Gia was not provided the environment to satisfy the unique needs required for optimum development, an inadequate environment will result in fixation. The series of five psychosexual stages through which a child moves in a fixed sequence determines maturation. It is obvious that, because of the molestation that occurred when she was five by an older man fixated Gia at the phallic stage, three to six years of age, where the focus of the libido in on the genitals. She was unable to overcome the abuse and failing this stage means she was not able to resolve her Electra complex and in turn will develop vanity issues, be very reckless, acquire a sexual dysfunctional or become sexually deviant. A neo-Freudian theorist interprets Gia’s issues evolved on a platform of psychosocial stages. Gia did not overcome her crisis of trust verses mistrust in her caregiver from birth to a year old, hence desperately seeking comfort from her mother. The next crisis is autonomy verses shame and doubt and by the time she reached the third stage, from three to six years of age, as related in the text of //Lifespan Development// Chapter 2 pg 30. Gia had been sexually abused at the age of five and lived in fear it would happen again reinforcing mistrust, shame and doubt. Gia moves into the fourth stage industry versus inferiority, around six to 12 years of age, at age 10 her mother abandons her to remarry another man. Gia’s next stage in her life referred to as the genital stage, 12+ years of age, by a Freudian and a neo-Freudian refers to 12 to 18 as young adult, 18 to 30 as middle adult. In the HBO movie, //Gia//, gives us a glance beginning around 17 where she is working at her father’s luncheonette shop. In the scene she has a strong street savvy persona when a young local boy shows interest in her. She is aggressive and very direct where as he is intimidated, but shows genuine feelings for her. More insight is provided by interviews from peers that are in the article, //Is That All There Is? A Model's Glamorous Life And Tragic Death// by Stephen Fried, “At that time, there was perhaps only one facet of Gia Carangi's life with which she seemed comfortable: her homosexuality. "She was the purest lesbian I ever met," recalls another friend. "It was the clearest thing about her. And she was very aggressive about it. She was sending other girls flowers and poems when she was fourteen years old." Her mother says that Gia was not gay, but "lived the gay life-style." "Gia just loved women, and she fell for them whether they were straight or gay," says one high school friend. "And the problem was that everyone fell in love with her, whether they were straight or not, male or female. She went after people and she always got them." Many of her friends believe that the biggest reason Gia gravitated toward modeling was that she thought it would satisfy her mother on a number of levels: It was a professional "direction", it was the kind of "girl thing" the two had always shared, and it was a vicarious fantasy for her mother. "She knew her mother wanted her to be a model," says one friend. "And she knew it was her destiny. I think she knew that she could go to New York anytime and make it big." Just after her 18th birthday, in January of 1978, Gia was signed by Wilhelmina Models, in New York.” Based on the information gathered from these two resources Gia was in the Freudian psychosexual stages, from 10 to 17 are latency and genital. The latency stage, between six to 12 years of age, deals with the development of defense mechanisms and identifying with the same-sex peers. Gia developed a defense towards the opposite sex and intimately identified with the same sex out of a sense of unresolved issues that stem from the Oedipus and Electra complex, as related in Chapter 2 pg 28 of the text book. The last psychosexual stage, genital stage, where Gia never achieved mature sexual intimacy; this is reflected by her sexual advances towards any girl she roomed with while working on a photo shoot, as mentioned above during an interview. The neo-Freudian applies the terms young adult in which this is the time of development where Gia as referenced in the text book, //Lifespan Development//, “[… ]builds on the identity established in adolescence to confront the crisis of intimacy verses isolation.” (Boyd 30) Erikson further defines this stage as, “[…]the ability to fuse your identity with someone else’s without fear that you’re going to lose something yourself.” (Boyd 30) Gia believed that she would find her identity by modeling and she would receive the attention from her mother that she was desperately seeking. When Gia did not receive the validation from her mother she had hoped for she turned to relationships from either sex, but preferably choosing females over males. Unformed or weak identities will result in a pattern of shallow relationships, thus Gia experienced feelings of isolation and loneliness which in turn led to her addiction of cocaine and then heroin. In the Cosmo article, //[|Is That All There Is? A Model’s Glamorous Life and Tragic Death]// written by Stephen Fried, the end of Gia’s life is sadly depicted as follows, “By December [1984] Gia had reached --- rock bottom. After pressure -- from her family, Gia finally entered a rehab program. She had herself declared indigent so that welfare would pay for the treatment. Gia left rehab in the summer of 1985. She -- increased her use of heroin. [In 1986 she ended up in a hospital] with symptoms of pneumonia. Her blood tests also showed she had ARC, a precursor to AIDS. Gia Carangi would live only six months more [... ] In October, Gia was hospitalized with multiple symptoms stemming from AIDS. Rob Fay [Gia's close friend during her forays into Rehab programs] remembers those last weeks vividly. Even the counseling Gia had sent him to for friends and relatives of people with AIDS didn't prepare him for the horror and the quickness of her demise. "She had wanted to make a couple of videos addressing children," he says. "And I never went and got a video camera. We just put it off and put it off and then she was in the hospital. What she wanted was for kids to see what drugs can do. She wanted to tell kids, ya know, that you don't have to do this." By dissecting Gia’s life and death through an analytical and psychosocial perspective it reveals a plausible predictable pattern that led to her tragic demise even if we did not know the true ending.

Works Cited Boyd, Denise and Helen Bee. “//Lifespan Development//.” Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009. 28-30.Print.

Fried, Steven. "Is That All There Is? A Model's Glamorous Life And Tragic Death." Gia Carangi Articles. From Cosmo Magazine November 1989. Web.

8 August 2012. []

//“Gia.”// //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 May 1012. Web. 8 August 2012