#pygmalion complex

Eleven & Mike's "monster vs superhero" | Will & Jonathan's "freak vs normal" scenes

Mike has a Pygmalion complex with El, the term derived from the Greek myth of Pygmalion who sculpted an ideal woman and fell in love with her. He tries to mold and shape Eleven into his ideal partner due to his frustrations and sexual repression. His superhero, later "superman", comments are indicative of this. However, his efforts do not work out as Eleven no longer wants to be his hero. "Not anymore," she says, after he ignores her experiences of when he treated her like a "monster," using words like "ridiculous" and "crazy" to describe her behavior.

You see how similar this scene is to the one where Will and Jonathan discuss being "freaks." Both moments tackle themes of conformity versus individuality. Yet, Jonathan exhibits the type of empathetic listening and understanding that Mike does not (who literally says "I don't really understand"). Ultimately this leads to the tragic outcome of season 4 when Mike's coerced love confession goes awry and he repeats the inconsiderate "superhero" line. In this first clip, it is the same fight that Mike later says that they "can't come back from," outlining an informal breakup.

This is the story of how I came to love a man who couldn't love me back.

You hear about these sorts of things sometimes, people who fall in love with their muses. Usually in the form of fairytale or myth. There's a famous Greek one, in fact, where a sculptor fell in love with the statue he'd carved. Eventually, Aphrodite took pity on him and brought the statue to life.

I had no reason to believe a goddess of love would take pity on me.

She wasn't sure what drew her into this place other than the pouring rain. As soon as she opened the door, Rapunzel smelled tobacco smoke, hard liquor and fried food. Her stomach growled in complaint and she muttered a soft, "Hush," as though that might shut it up.

She'd never had any desire to enter the burlesque house known as La Tour - or any other burlesque house, for that matter - before. This one in particular held an aura of foreboding, since the tarot card of the same name foretold suffering, destruction, death. Also, she didn't have the kind of money it took to visit a place like this, even if she was only going for the food and entertainment.

Maybe, she hoped, they'd let her stay in the lobby, out of the way, at least until she was warm or it stopped raining, whichever came first. She slunk around the finely dressed patrons who were milling about like an urchin, her artist's satchel clutched tightly to her. It was her livelihood. To lose her art supplies would be folly.