The Audacity to Be Normal

One probably craves normalcy to the extent that one lacks it. Never quite happy enough with what one has, the desire for what is missing can easily come to dominate our lives, even to the extent of losing all that should keep us content. In his own realm, Wayne Weinsider would be normal but he develops a need to have that which is beyond his power to obtain. The futility of his need is never enough to make him realise he dooms himself and others to a life of misery.
‘Terms of Endearment’ is told largely from Wayne’s perspective, yet we are never sure why he craves what he does. Why did a demon leave Hell in order to seek ‘happiness’ in the shape of a ‘normal’ family? And why does Betsy, another demon, leave Hell in order to have a baby with a demon? Wouldn’t this have been easier to achieve in Hell?
As usual with the X Files, however fantastic the episode, and ‘Terms of Endearment’ is a great episode, there are logical inconsistencies or questions ignored. Much like normal life, don’t you think?
‘Normal’ is one of those terms which lack a definite meaning. “What is considered “normal” changes with changing societal standards.” (cf. Boundless Psychology) That aside, it is a signifier that goes out of its way to prove Derrida’s concept of ‘differance’. There is no way for any two people to discuss ‘normal’ as a single concept upon which both agree. To insist upon a certain definition of ‘normal’ is to exclude all those who fail to meet the criteria which you seek to signify. Not meeting the definition, all those who fall short must, by definition, be ‘abnormal’.
I frequent a bar filled with people drinking, chatting, playing and sometimes fighting. Amidst all this activity, I sit with my laptop writing. Thinking about episodes of the X Files and how each episode I watch has much to tell me, and those willing to listen, about life. Occasionally, I join in and play a game of pool or chat with someone I know. Most often, I sit apart from the crowd, doing my own thing. I demonstrate no extreme bahaviour and yet I could be deemed abnormal. For doing nothing other than what I choose to do, it would be easy for others to point a finger and condemn my behavior as unusual, anti-social even. This is the position in which we place others just because they choose to do things differently to the way everyone else does them.
Wayne doesn’t just abort the babies he doesn’t want because they don’t meet his criteria for ‘normal’, he makes Laura feel responsible. Those who demand ‘normal’ are quick to blame those who fail to meet the criteria. Laura does nothing outside of what comes naturally – even her falling in love with a bad man has a certain credibility. Wayne doesn’t see himself as the one at fault because he is the arbiter of what is normal. It is his standards that apply, so any falling short must be the fault of another.
It is a tactic employed by management. Theirs is the standard of ‘normal’ that we are compelled to meet. Even on the implementation of strategies and processes that make no logical or practical sense, we are compelled to make them work. When, inevitably, they are shown to be as foolhardy as we would willingly make apparent, if only we weren’t afraid of the consequences, it is not management that must take the blame. We who failed to implement that which had no hope of success must bear the consequences.
Being in the position to impose signifiers is the greatest of powers.