Personality Analysis of Ron Burgundy
The personality and behavior of Ron Burgundy, the main character of the movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", can be analyzed through the qualities exhibited in both the Freudian and Humanistic perspective of psychology. The analysis will begin with a Freudian perspective followed by a humanistic perspective. But first it is necessary to provide a brief summary of the movie.
The film takes place in San Diego during the 1970's, "a time before cable…where the news anchorman reigned supreme". At the forefront of successful anchormen is Ron Burgundy, the top rated anchorman in San Diego. Loved by his San Diego viewers for twelve years, Ron has evolved into a self-centered, egotistical, sexist, buffoon. His uninhibited sexism is encouraged by his fraternal-like crew and left uncriticized due to his power as the top anchorman. The plot twist takes place when Veronica Corningstone, an ambitious newswoman begins working at the station. Ron Burgundy fears that his job is threatened and feels the need to prove his male superiority through childish antics. His childish competition proves to be quite comical.
Sigmund Freud believed in the idea of psychoanalytic theory – that most of what we think and act is guided by unconscious doings. Analyzing Ron Burgundy from a Freudian point of view, we see that he exhibits qualities of the id, ego, and superego. The id seeks immediate gratification of the pleasure impulses. Ron Burgundy tends to sway more towards this system of human behavior than the rest. An example of this is in Burgundy's love for scotch. During the opening scenes he is waiting for the news show to start. He begins drinking scotch, one of his pleasures, and begins singing "I love scotch. Scotchy, scotchy, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly..." Ron also has a strong drive for sexual pleasure. He is immediately attracted to Veronica at first glance and instantly feels the need to satisfy his urge. In his first interaction with her he says, "You have an absolutely breathtaking hiny. I mean that thing is good. I'd like to be friends with it". After realizing that she is not impressed, he tries to start over but once again he is overpowered by the id and his sexual drive – "I want to be on you. Wait, wait. I want to be on you!" Of course, Ron also exhibits qualities of the ego and superego. Realizing that Veronica has rejected him is part of the ego. This deals with delaying impulses until they are appropriate, understanding that impulses will not always be gratified immediately. The superego involves judging whether actions are right or wrong. In one scene the other boys in Ron's news team are going on about Veronica's behind, but Ron burst out into protest "She has feelings too!" This shows some moral values in his conscious.
Another important concept that Freud believed in was that humans have a constant amount of psychic energy called the libido. Some of these hidden impulses are expressed in another form, a disguised form. For example, behind Ron's uninhibited attitude as "a god walking among mere mortals", he actually lowers himself to the level of his dog, Baxter, and sleeps with him at night.
Burgundy uses many defense mechanisms to reduce his anxiety. One such example is in the case described above where Ron bursts into his slight moral values. After revealing that he feels Veronica "has feelings too". His news team instantly criticizes him calling him "a school boy bitch" and "a gay". Ron's reply is through the defense mechanism of reaction formation. "C'mon guys, its me Papa Burgundy! As far as I'm concerned, Veronica Corningstone is fair game. Let the games begin. Hayo! Hayo!" Ron is concealing his feeling that Veronica is different than the other woman he has met by making it seem the opposite. In doing so, he dehumanizes her as a competitive prize to be won between friends, as he does with most women. Ron also uses the defense mechanism of projection to project his own lack of intellect on Veronica. In one scene he says, "You're just a woman with a small brain; one third the size of us males." The Freudian approach is only one of several ways to examine Ron's behavior.
Ron Burgundy can also be examined from a humanistic approach. First we must explain how one can do this. In order to study Ron at a humanistic level, we must describe Ron in terms of his own subjective view of the world. We must not look at him as an object of study, but rather view his world from Ron's perspective. We can easily do this because we see Ron in both social situations interacting with others, as well as alone.
First we will discuss Ron Burgundy in light of Carl Roger's self concept. In one scene Ron gives a description of himself. When he is told that he is acting like a baby he replies, "I am not a baby! I am a man! I am a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel tower out of metal and brawn." Ron Burgundy sees himself as an accomplished and very well respected, intellectual macho man. This image of himself influences his perception of the world as well as behavior. This Macho attitude enforces his sexist behavior. This is why he becomes angry towards Veronica when she reads his news broadcast one day. In parallel with his view of himself as a very intellectual man, he makes false intellectual remarks such as "of course San Diego is German for a whale's vagina" and "I believe diversity is an old old wooden ship that was used during the civil war era".
Ron also realizes that he is very popular, but at the same time, very lonely. This is revealed in a conversation with his dog: as the dog barks at him he replies, "I'm lonely? I'm not lonely! I'm loved by everyone in San Diego…(finally submitting to the dog's argument) you know how to cut to the core of me Baxter." (Notice, this conversation also shows Freud's concept of denial; another defense mechanism).
Ron's personality may be explained by the concept of unconditional positive regard. He is always offered conditional positive regard no matter what his actions. As the narrator explains "He is like a god walking amongst mere mortals". His behavior is valued outside the social rules of our society due to his admiration as a god. This is why his self concept is distorted as a "man who built the wheel and built the Eiffel tower".
As Carl Rogers suggests, Ron is working towards fulfillment. This is the actualizing tendency. Ron realizes that he is lonely and this is why he is so attracted to Veronica. At the same time he is trying to fulfill his ideal self of a Macho, Intellectual man. This is where his sexist attitude and false intellectual remarks stem from. In the end, Ron does reach this self fulfillment as he says, "It took my impending death to realize that I need you". He is referring to Veronica, in that he needs her to fill the gaps of loneliness, intellect, and manhood. He needs her for self fulfillment. This moment is what Abraham Maslow calls a peak experience. It is a transient moment of self-actualization. It provides a happy ending for the movie.
"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" provides a great outlook on the personality and behavior of its main character, Ron Burgundy. These aspects can be well defined through Humanistic as well as Freudian portrayals of personality evaluation. Although these are two different methods of studying behavior, they are built upon each other and provide a good portrait of human nature.