Agnew's General Strain Theory and the Movie Monster

General Strain Theory states that certain strains, such as failing to achieve positively valued goals, the loss of positive stimuli and the presentation of negative stimuli in ones life can increase the likelihood of negative emotions such as anger and frustration, and that these emotions can lead to deviant behavior and criminal activity. Throughout the movie, Monster, Aileen Wuornos experiences copious amounts of strain throughout her childhood and adult life and the negative emotions that are experienced from these types of strains inevitably lead her down the path to deviant behavior and criminal activity.

Of the three types of strain in Agnew’s General Strain Theory, the first represented is a result of failing to achieve positively valued goals in ones life. There are three types of goals that individuals strive for, which are, money, autonomy, and status and respect; when an individual is faced with certain disjunctions in their life these goals will result in strain. (Agnew, 1992) The three types of disjunctions are, the disjunction between aspirations and expectations, between expectations and actual achievements and between just and fair outcomes and actual outcomes. (Agnew, 1992)  Throughout the movie, Aileen’s aspirations and her expectations as a child differ immensely from her actual achievements gained in her adolescent and adult life. The struggle to meet all of the goals she has set out for herself; her goals to live the all American dream, to become rich, to be beautiful, to have a great job, to become famous like Marilyn Monroe, and to have a wonderful man see her for who she truly is and inevitably sweep her off of her feet and take her to a life of luxury are not met. Aileen’s failure to reach her ideal goals and the failure to achieve her expectations result in emotions such as anger, resentment, and anxiety. The strain then felt from those emotions is amplified when the actual accomplishments are less than what was anticipated, this then causes stress on an individual and leads them to deviant behavior or committing crime in attempt to achieve the original goals set out. Aileen’s attempt to achieve these goals results in her becoming a prostitute by the age of thirteen and selling sex for financial gains.

The second important aspect in Agnew’s General Strain Theory is the loss of positive stimuli in ones life. The removal of things such as the loss of a job or in Aileen’s case the death of both her parents before the age of thirteen, the loss of her family home after her parents death, thus leaving her homeless and the loss of her two siblings to homelessness. This type of strain in ones life could lead to delinquency and criminal behavior as the individual attempts to prevent its loss, retrieve what was lost, or seek revenge on those who removed the positive stimuli. (Agnew, 1992) Aileen tries to prevent the loss of the relationship that has been built with her adult partner Selby. In attempts to do this Aileen says goodbye to her life of prostitution and tries to become a valued member of society by getting a “real” job. When Aileen is unsuccessful in her attempts to obtain legitimate employment the negative emotions that are felt from the possibility of Selby leaving Aileen, which would result in the loss of a positive stimuli, causes immense strain and in turn Aileen resorts back to prostitution where she starts killing her Jon’s and stealing their money and vehicles in order to prevent the overall loss.

Finally, we look at the last of the three types of strain within the General Strain Theory, the presentation of negative stimuli in an individual’s life. This type of strain refers to negative events experienced in ones life such as abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and homelessness. In the case of Aileen the negative stimuli that are experienced in her life start from the age of eight years old and continue throughout and into her adult life. “Child neglect and abuse represent extreme forms of parental rejection and harsh parental discipline, and abuse/neglect should be related to crime for all the reasons listed in this form of strain.” (Smith and Thornberry, 1995) In the movie, Aileen refers back to a point in her life when she was eight years old and reveals that her father’s good friend would rape her over and over. When Aileen confronted her father about the sexual abuse his response of disbelief is to beat Aileen senseless. Aileen ties the negative stimuli from her horrific experiences with abuse, neglect and sexual assault that was presented as a child in her life and then uses the anger that was produced from the large amounts of strain to commit and justify the murders of several men. Another aspect of negative stimuli within Aileen’s life is homelessness.  “Homelessness dramatically increases the likelihood that many other types of strain will be experienced, particularly conflicts with and victimization by others.” (Baron and Hartnagel. 1997) Aileen’s experiences strain when she is forced to perform sexual acts on an officer of the law. This type of negative stimuli produces anger within Aileen’s life and results in a lack of trust for anyone but herself. The anger that is produced from this strain is a big factor in Aileen’s path of deviance and criminal activities.