Jinx and the Portrayal of Psychosis in Arcane
Content warnings for: mental illness, psychosis, death mention, and unreality. Major spoilers for Arcane episodes 1-9.
[ID: A screenshot of Jinx from episode 9 of Arcane, sitting in her chair and looking sadly into the camera. The title of the analysis, “Jinx and the Portrayal of Psychosis in Arcane,” is superimposed on the image.]
Arcane has quickly become one of my all-time favorite shows. Much of my love for it stems from the breathtaking animation and stellar writing, but one of the biggest reasons why I love Arcane is the superb portrayal of Jinx’s struggle with mental illness, specifically borderline personality disorder and psychosis, though this essay will only focus on psychosis. As a psychotic person, finding good representation of psychosis in media is extremely difficult. However, Arcane portrayed Jinx’s psychosis in a respectful, sympathetic, non-romanticized, and honest way that I could personally relate to. I wanted to analyze this in hopes that it may bring more awareness to psychosis itself, as well as to explain this part of Jinx’s characterization to fans.
What is psychosis? First of all, psychosis is not a disorder. Psychosis is a psychiatric symptom with its own range of symptoms. Common symptoms of psychosis include disorganized behavior and/or thinking, catatonia, or changes in mood, personality, or daily activities, but the defining characteristic of psychosis is the presence of hallucinations and/or delusions (2). Hallucinations are sensory experiences that aren’t grounded in reality, such as smelling freshly baked cookies when there are none around. Hallucinations can be of any of the five senses, and they’re experienced as external (like hearing something through headphones), not internal (like hearing something in your head when you think). Delusions are vehemently strong beliefs that aren’t grounded in reality and are outside of the person’s cultural and religious beliefs, such as believing there’s a microchip in your hand when x-rays prove that there isn’t one. The main types of delusions are bizarre (literally incomprehensible to others) and non-bizarre. Non-bizarre delusions have several subtypes, but for this analysis, I will be focusing primarily on the most common type of delusion, paranoid delusions. Paranoid (also called “persecutory”) delusions typically involve the feeling that someone has or is trying to inflict harm on you or a loved one, such as thinking a coworker is trying to get you fired from your job. For more information about delusions, check out this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion.
Anyone can experience psychosis, with about 3% of people having at least one psychotic episode during their lifetime, most commonly between the ages of 13 and 30 (2). Psychosis is also genetic, and it can appear as a symptom alongside a variety of physical, psychiatric, and drug-induced conditions (2, 1). It should also be noted that psychosis is typically not a permanent state. It occurs in three stages: prodromal, acute, and recovery. People who experience psychosis usually have temporary episodes that can last from days to months, and even during these episodes, people are typically not constantly experiencing delusions or hallucinations. Psychosis is also not a one-size-fits-all experience. Every psychotic person experiences psychosis differently. For a better understanding of psychosis, please check out https://www.earlypsychosis.ca/ or https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/step/psychosis/.
Now, what is psychosis not? Psychosis IS NOT schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder (DID, or “multiple personality disorder” or “split personality disorder”). Like I stated above, psychosis is a symptom. People with bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and other mental health conditions can all experience psychosis as part of their disorder’s symptomatology. The presence of psychosis alone does not automatically indicate a diagnosis of schizophrenia or DID. Additionally, despite the colloquial usage of the word “psychotic” to mean “antisocial”, antisocial behavior (actions that harm others, such as violence) is not a symptom of psychosis. In fact, psychotic people are more likely to be a victim of antisocial behavior instead of a perpetrator (9).
From what we’ve seen in Act 1, I don’t believe that Jinx/Powder had psychotic episodes as a child. However, it’s obvious that the events of episode 3 were traumatic for Jinx, as they would have been for anyone in that situation, especially a child. Multiple studies have shown that psychosis can “emerge as a reaction to trauma” (4), and hallucinations themselves can be associated with childhood trauma (5). Psychotic people can have hallucinations of things associated with their trauma that are different from the “flashbacks” or “reliving” of PTSD (6, 8). Additionally, similar to PTSD, hallucinations can sometimes result from a trigger (7). Triggers can contribute to stress, stress exacerbates symptoms of psychosis, and psychosis can reintroduce triggers through hallucinations. Arcane shows this cycle multiple times throughout Acts 2 and 3, but it begins with Jinx’s encounter with the pink-haired Firelight in episode 4. From that moment on, Jinx begins a downward spiral into a worsening psychotic episode.
Arcane portrays Jinx’s auditory and visual hallucinations as resulting from both triggers (for example, seeing Vi’s face on the pink haired Firelight’s) and the stresses of those triggers and resulting actions (continuing with the previous example, hearing negative remarks from Mylo after her conversation with Silco about the pink haired Firelight). Most of Jinx’s auditory hallucinations are a negative, critical voice, typically Mylo’s (as he was often critical of her from what we saw in Act 1), consistent with a common type of auditory hallucination in those with borderline personality disorder (10). Through audio effects, Arcane shows that these voices are more muffled, like whispers or hearing voices through a wall. This is also common, as even among those who hear voices, the voices are not always clear like portrayed in media. Another type of hallucination Arcane portrayed was feeling of presence, specifically in the scene in episode 6 where Jinx sets off the signal to Vi and feels the presence of Mylo and Claggor at her back. This type of hallucination is more common in those with Parkinson’s, but it can occur in anyone, especially following bereavement (11, 12).
Jinx’s hallucinations aren’t random or utilized randomly as trite plot devices, they aren’t played for comedy or turned into a joke, and while the hallucinations are obviously distressing for Jinx, they aren’t used as a tool for horror. In fact, it is in showing how distressing the hallucinations are for Jinx (as they are for most psychotic people) that encourages the audience to be sympathetic towards her. Auditory hallucinations are scary, annoying, and frustrating, and Arcane did an excellent job of portraying Jinx’s reactions to her hallucinations in these ways, from dismissive hand-waving motions to anxious pacing. Additionally, Arcane manages to portray these visually as well, with “scratchy” and “sketchy” lines overlaid the animation and blurry, film-error like filters, all used to indicate to the audience that Jinx is experiencing an altered state of reality, a state where things aren’t exactly clear. While the sketchy lines are certainly reminiscent of Jinx’s handwriting and art style (perhaps as a nod to the fact that this is all specifically coming from *her* mind), the usage of these sketchy and scratchy lines visually shows the disorganized, anxious, and confused nature of her thought processes.
Jinx’s paranoid delusions don’t begin until episode 6, after Sevika plants the thought in Jinx’s head that Vi and Caitlyn are trying to get her arrested. While hallucinations and delusions can be separate, they can also work together to reinforce each other, as we begin to see in episode 6 with Jinx’s feelings towards Caitlyn. Jinx already distrusts Caitlyn: she’s a topsider, she’s an enforcer, and she has been directing Jinx’s long lost sister’s attention away from her. It’s easy for Jinx to antagonize her, and with the series of misunderstandings in episode 6, her paranoia only builds. This is a key factor of paranoid delusions: even things that may be considered misunderstandings or misinterpretations are “evidence” of the delusion to the person. Hallucinations, such as the one in episode 7 where Jinx sees Caitlyn mocking her, add to this and further corroborate Jinx’s delusion that Caitlyn is out to get her.
The most intense moment of this occurs in episode 8 during Singed’s operation. It’s clear from episode 5 that one of shimmer’s side effects is psychosis, as Vi hallucinates her mother and sister after drinking the potion. In psychotic people, certain drugs can induce and worsen psychosis, and this can be seen during and after the operation as Jinx’s hallucinations get more vivid and her delusions more intense. Jinx hallucinates Vi taking out a gun and shooting her younger self, before that form turns into Caitlyn, mocking Jinx as she holds her and her sister’s beloved bunny toy. Then, Jinx sees Caitlyn is the one performing the painful procedure, and Vi is by her side, encouraging Caitlyn to continue inflicting harm. This is all proof to Jinx that Caitlyn wants to harm her and “steal” Vi’s attention. Jinx’s actions at the end of episode 8 and in episode 9 are a direct result of this thought process.
It’s important to note that to an outside observer, such as the audience or Caitlyn and Vi during the “party” scene, Jinx’s belief that Caitlyn and Vi are trying to harm her is irrefutably false. It’s obvious by Vi’s characterization that she would never do such a thing, and Caitlyn, while untrusting of Jinx, doesn’t want to harm her. Even if someone was able to explain to Jinx that the hallucinations of Caitlyn doing such things never truly occurred, the damning part about psychosis and Jinx’s decreasing insight (being able to tell that you are experiencing symptoms) is that these things actually happened to her. This can be a confusing concept for non-psychotic people, so allow me to break this down.
While the delusions and hallucinations of psychosis are not real, the person experiences them as real events and as such, reacts to them with real emotions. For example, if you found out a loved one has passed away, you would experience a lot of grief and pain. A psychotic person with low insight experiencing a delusion of a loved one passing away is experiencing the exact same level of grief and pain. Then, during the recovery stage when the person is regaining insight, they have to struggle with the doubt of whether or not the person is still alive. The same thing happens in paranoid delusions, only the struggle is typically whether or not the person actually inflicted harm, and whether or not you can trust them again. Even though Vi and Caitlyn did not hurt her, to Jinx they did. Jinx’s pained reaction to this, while greatly intensified by her borderline personality disorder, is understandable considering this. Caitlyn tortured her. Vi betrayed her. This is what is reality to Jinx in the middle of her acute phase, and her actions are her reaction to that reality.
Arcane did an excellent job portraying psychosis. As someone who is very familiar with auditory and visual hallucinations and paranoid delusions, the show portrayed these in a way that was respectful, realistic, and personally relatable. Arcane did not romanticize Jinx’s struggles, nor did it use them for comedy or horror. I’m excited to see what the writers will do with next season, and I hope they are still able to portray Jinx as a complex individual struggling with mental illness, instead of a wacky manic pixie dream girl or a grimdark horror antagonist.
1 https://secure.medicalletter.org/w1301c
2 https://www.earlypsychosis.ca
3 https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/step/psychosis/
4 http://www.sygdoms.com/pdf/trauma/7.pdf
5 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/childhood-trauma-and-auditory-verbal-hallucinations/BDBF53626FA94620528359EEE87217DB
6 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01262/full
7 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0005791609001025
8 https://www.academia.edu/610273/Trauma_and_hallucinatory_experience_in_psychosis?auto=citations&from=cover_page
9 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(20)30002-5/fulltext
10 D’Agostino, Alessandra; Rossi Monti, Mario; Starcevic, Vladan (2018). Psychotic symptoms in borderline personality disorder. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, Vol. 32 (Number 1), 22-26. doi:10.1097/YCO.0000000000000462
11 https://www.nature.com/articles/srep38152
12 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382202/
