{"id":1699,"date":"2023-11-14T13:50:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T13:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2024-01-08T11:46:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T11:46:02","slug":"nick-drnasos-sabrina-and-the-parasite-of-conspiracy%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/2023\/11\/14\/nick-drnasos-sabrina-and-the-parasite-of-conspiracy%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Drnaso\u2019s &#8216;Sabrina&#8217; and the Parasite of Conspiracy\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The US government ignored prior warnings of the 9\/11 attacks, to justify their subsequent Middle East invasions. \u2018Climate change\u2019 is a political (particularly Democrat) invention used to garner financial or ideological support. Medical vaccines are poisonous, causing fatal adverse effects, and are thus used to depopulate the earth. US mass shootings are staged performances to enforce gun control laws in governmental attempts to acquire deeper societal control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are but a few of the dangerous conspiracy theories that remain popular within twenty-first century discussions, believed by disconcertingly large quantities of individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"760\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.09.18-1024x760.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1703\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.09.18-1024x760.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.09.18-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.09.18-768x570.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.09.18.png 1294w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Illustration of Conspiracy Theories by Zohar Lazar (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2019\/04\/22\/whats-new-about-conspiracy-theories\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2019\/04\/22\/whats-new-about-conspiracy-theories\">The New Yorker<\/a>) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many such conspiracies are upheld in America, by groups believing their government to be \u201c\u2026hijacked by external\/foreign powers \u2026 looking to promote a \u2018New World Order\u2019,\u201d whilst holding: \u201cIn order to facilitate this [Order] \u2026 the government is interested in undermining the power of those who oppose it, by eroding constitutional rights,\u201d (Sweeney &amp; Perliger 54). Throughout his graphic novel&nbsp;<em>Sabrina<\/em>, Nick Drnaso alludes to real contemporary events that bred conspiracies, also creating his own conspiracy around a fictional murder. In doing so, he profoundly demonstrates the psychological instability of those who promote harmful theories surrounding traumatic events, and the damage they cause to their irrational accepters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xQ6mg67VcG0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>Matt Real: &#8216;The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories&#8217; <br>(<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xQ6mg67VcG0?si=E0sIzftc-pT7nZcS\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xQ6mg67VcG0?si=E0sIzftc-pT7nZcS\">YouTube<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Within&nbsp;<em>Sabrina<\/em>, we witness the lives of Calvin and Sandra become harmed by conspiratorial speculations, receiving threats like: \u201cSomeone should kill you,\u201d (120) and: \u201cYour address is online[,] \u2026 I\u2019m armed and protected. See what happens if they \u2026 test me,\u201d (155) as Sabrina\u2019s existence becomes questioned. While each suffer greatly, Teddy (Sabrina\u2019s partner) falls most susceptible to the effects of conspiracy throughout, becoming both a target of the paranoid mob and a succumbing absorber of its deluded mentality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Someone is at fault. Someone is scheming and capitalizing big time. To &#8230; expose the conspirators for the thieving murderers they are; that is my vocation. <\/p><cite>Douglas&#8217; Conspiratorial Voice (p.89)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Many conspiracy theories seem \u201c\u2026product[s] of mental illness,\u201d with \u201c\u2026some people who accept [them being] mentally ill and subject to delusions,\u201d (Sunstein &amp; Vermeule 211) which relates to Teddy. Following his introduction, I sympathise with Teddy\u2019s grief-induced sombreness and unwell, dishevelled constitution. His digressions from silence (13), vomiting (37), and nightmares (46) into nervous exhaustion (52) factor into his susceptibility to the neurotic conspiracies of Albert Douglas, voiced on the radio. Douglas characterises an unhealthy conspiracist, discussing \u201c\u2026doomsday predictions,\u201d and \u201c\u2026a global dictatorship,\u201d whilst claiming: \u201cOur masters will flee to their compounds, leaving us to endure unimaginable plagues\u2026\u201d (88). Not coincidentally, such provocative language resembles that of contemporary right-wing conspiracists like Alex Jones and the QAnon movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"579\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.17.15-1024x579.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.17.15-1024x579.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.17.15-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.17.15-768x434.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.17.15-1536x868.png 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-14-at-13.17.15.png 1613w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Alex Jones on his podcast &#8216;Infowars&#8217;, where he claimed victims of the Sandy Hook shooting to be crisis actors (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-45083684\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-45083684\">BBC News<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout\u00a0<em>Sabrina<\/em>, Douglas\u2019 voice acts supernaturally, being both \u201c\u2026disembodied,\u201d and \u201c\u2026omnipresent,\u201d (Jacobs 72). Ironically, this demeanour transforms Douglas into his worst fear \u2013 a malevolent composer that \u201c\u2026stir[s] the pot, to keep [people] separate, suspicious, and hostile,\u201d (88). Relatedly, Oliver and Wood highlight how many Americans \u201c\u2026consistently endorse some kind of conspiratorial narrative about a current political event \u2026 [with their] attitudes [being] predicted by supernatural \u2026 sentiments,\u201d (953). Such sentiments often revolve around a battle of free humanity against a corrupt, enslaving force, presumably having \u201c\u2026seeds in the fall of the Twin Towers,\u201d (Park \u00a77) highlighted through Drnaso&#8217;s allusion to the event. Douglas incites this paranoia, arguing society will have \u201c\u2026defenceless groups of people being shepherded together, and \u2026 completely dependent on those in control,\u201d (138) psychologically hauling Teddy into his state of mind. In this sense, Douglas becomes the \u201c\u2026spokesman of the paranoid style,\u201d who \u201c\u2026finds [the conspiratorial world] directed against a nation, a culture, a way of life whose fate affects not himself alone but millions of others,\u201d kindling Teddy\u2019s devolution into a \u201c\u2026clinical paranoic,\u201d that \u201c\u2026sees the hostile and conspiratorial world \u2026 as directed specifically\u00a0<em>against him<\/em>,\u201d (Hofstadter 4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"902\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/11\/IMG_7719-1024x902.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1705\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7719-1024x902.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7719-300x264.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7719-768x676.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7719-1536x1353.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7719.jpeg 1994w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Douglas&#8217; conspiracies dominate Teddy&#8217;s mind (p.101)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Douglas claims Sabrina\u2019s murder to \u201c\u2026ha[ve] all the hallmarks of the [routine] staged tragedies,\u201d (108) Teddy remains susceptible to his suspicions. However, notably: \u201c\u2026most people will only express conspiracist beliefs&nbsp;<em>after<\/em>&nbsp;they encounter a conspiratorial narrative that gives \u2018voice\u2019 to their underlying predispositions, assuming the particular incident was unusual \u2026 enough to invoke these feelings,\u201d (Oliver &amp; Wood 955) which applies to Teddy. Douglas discusses how he \u201c\u2026[doesn\u2019t] believe \u2026 that Sabrina &#8230; was murdered by Timmy Yancey,\u201d while posing: \u201cFor all we know, she\u2019s alive in bondage somewhere \u2026 [or] [m]aybe forces too evil to comprehend did in fact murder [her],\u201d (117) thereby provoking Teddy\u2019s irrationality on two levels. Firstly, Teddy holds onto the possibility that Sabrina is alive, being kept in an area like the referenced \u201c\u2026black site,\u201d (132). On the other hand, Teddy believes that Sabrina\u2019s murder may have been performed by such veiled, heinous figures as described. This highlights the complex nature of conspiracism with trauma, with Teddy\u2019s denial and longing for explanation contributing to his gullible vulnerability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, his mistrust peaks, as Douglas\u2019 \u2018warnings\u2019 of \u201c\u2026troops \u2026 announc[ing] a state of emergency \u2026 [and] shut[ting] down the power grid \u2026 [thus] keep[ing] the population under control,\u201d (138) take thorough effect, leading Teddy to steal a kitchen knife for protection (135). Thus, through Teddy, Drnaso shows the parasitic nature of conspiracy, particularly within fixated, traumatised, and isolated individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"619\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/11\/IMG_7720-1024x619.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1706\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7720-1024x619.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7720-300x181.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7720-768x465.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7720-1536x929.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/11\/IMG_7720-2048x1239.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Teddy holds Calvin&#8217;s knife, hypnotised by Douglas (p.138)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully, Teddy eventually switches off the radio, and begins reading an academic book designed for children (145). In this humorous implication, Drnaso suggests that there is more educational value in a children\u2019s book than in such ramblings as Douglas\u2019. Despite Teddy\u2019s somewhat contented ending, however, we are left sympathising with those affected by the conspiracy, as Sandra and Calvin remain threatened and isolated, personifying melancholy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/01\/IMG_9087-2-1024x699.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1957\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/01\/IMG_9087-2-1024x699.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/01\/IMG_9087-2-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/01\/IMG_9087-2-768x524.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/01\/IMG_9087-2.jpg 1088w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Teddy silences Douglas (p.145)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, <em>Sabrina<\/em> warns us to reject catastrophic conspiratorial perspectives, and to instead focus on empathy, rationality, and community. Can empathy be felt for Douglas himself, however? We see remnants of his humanity remain, unashamedly stating: \u201cThanks for giving me strength, mom. I love you,\u201d (89). Furthermore, he \u201c\u2026served in the army during the Gulf War,\u201d (121) perhaps being similarly traumatised, yet unable to escape the conspiracy cesspit before it consumed him. While this doesn\u2019t justify Douglas\u2019 scaremongering, it certainly sends Drnaso\u2019s ambiguous text into deeper levels of interpretability. Maybe, to avoid being similarly seduced by conspiracies in our volatile contemporary period, we should heed Sabrina\u2019s advice to \u201c\u2026get away from the internet,\u201d (8) and preoccupy our minds with rewarding, satisfactory activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">BIBLIOGRAPHY<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PRIMARY SOURCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drnaso, Nick. <em>Sabrina<\/em>. Granta Publications, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SECONDARY SOURCES<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hofstadter, Richard. \u201cThe Paranoid Style in American Politics.\u201d <em>The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays<\/em>, Vintage Books, New York, United States of America, 1967, pp. 3\u201340.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacobs, Rita D. \u201cReview: Sabrina by Nick Drnaso.\u201d <em>World Literature Today<\/em>, vol. 96, no. 6, 2018, pp. 72\u201373.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oliver, J. Eric, and Thomas J. Wood. \u201cConspiracy Theories and the Paranoid Style(s) of Mass Opinion.\u201d <em>American Journal of Political Science<\/em>, vol. 58, no. 4, Oct. 2014, pp. 952\u2013966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Park, Ed. \u201cCan You Illustrate Emotional Absence? These Graphic Novels Do.\u201d <em>The New York Times<\/em>, 31 May 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/05\/31\/books\/review\/nick-drnaso-sabrina.html\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/05\/31\/books\/review\/nick-drnaso-sabrina.html<\/a>. Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sunstein, Cass R., and Adrian Vermeule. \u201cConspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures.\u201d <em>The Journal of Political Philosophy<\/em>, vol. 17, no. 2, 2009, pp. 202\u2013227.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sweeney, Matthew M., and Arie Perliger. \u201cExplaining the Spontaneous Nature of Far-Right Violence in the United States.\u201d <em>Perspectives on Terrorism<\/em>, vol. 12, no. 6, Dec. 2018, pp. 52\u201371.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US government ignored prior warnings of the 9\/11 attacks, to justify their subsequent Middle East invasions. \u2018Climate change\u2019 is a political (particularly Democrat) invention used to garner financial or ideological support. Medical vaccines are poisonous, causing fatal adverse effects, and are thus used to depopulate the earth. US mass shootings are staged performances to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/2023\/11\/14\/nick-drnasos-sabrina-and-the-parasite-of-conspiracy%ef%bf%bc\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nick Drnaso\u2019s &#8216;Sabrina&#8217; and the Parasite of Conspiracy\ufffc<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1443,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p58scM-rp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1443"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1960,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions\/1960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}