I know I'm popping in here way late and most people don't care about this conversation anymore. So I'm going to try to limit my responses to one post so at least anyone curious won't have to read it in scattered places.
Also, the calendar seemed to indicate that this would last for a month and then they move on to the next "attraction".
To me, the calendar wasn't necessarily an indication that her punishment would end, so much as an indication that her punishment has already lasted at least 18 days, probably longer. The park is named after her case. I doubt they're going to use it for someone else. I mean, maybe, but I doubt it. At least not before their attendance drops.
This episode did cheat somewhat, considering Victoria was so evil but all of a sudden became so innocent just because her memory was erased. Not very likely.
I was uneasy about her lack of recognition, but again, this episode cheated. Anyone who participated in child abduction, torture, and murder, would not become a gentle person simply because they don't remember what they did. She would be ruthless, vicious, manipulative, not weepy and weak.
#1. Based on what we know of Stockholm Syndrome and other mental illnesses and disorders, I don't know that we can assume she was "evil" based on her crime. Did she do something horrifying? Yes. But it's not that much different from a building of bystanders who see a girl being raped in a courtyard and do nothing to stop it. Sure, they all believe that "someone" will do something, and she didn't have that convenient excuse. But without knowing more regarding Victoria's relationship, I don't think we can rule out the possibility that her defense was truth. He may have manipulated her and groomed her to get her to a point where she felt she had little choice.
#2. The thing to keep in mind is that she did not torture the little girl. She did not abduct the little girl. She was an accomplice in that she videotaped it all, but she did not actively do anything. And I think that plays out in her personality even with her memory wiped. She lacks volition. She never does anything to save herself until the very end with the shotgun. But she has to be pretty desperate to get to that point. Early on, when she has an opportunity to save someone else, she barely manages to run away. She's caught up in watching what's happening. This happens both inside the convenience store and out back, when the other girl practically has to drag her away to get her to stop watching. Multiple times, she has flashes of memory and feels like something terrible is going to happen, but she never acts on that. When she's in the woods, there are several points where it seems like she could easily escape, or at least fight back. But she doesn't. She screams at those watching to help. At the end, she repeatedly says that White Bear isn't safe and they shouldn't go there. But when told to get in the van, she gets in. When told to get out, she gets out. Even when she knows that what she's being told to do is wrong, she lacks the personal volition to say no. So it sounds to me like her personality, even with her memory wiped, is pretty consistent with what I would expect from someone who would videotape a child being tortured and murdered.
Another thing I would add is that they have done studies that show that when watching things through a video camera, people do not experience the same emotional impact as when seeing things firsthand. So, while it might take a certain level of detachment to watch a child being tortured, watching it through a phone or camera while filming, would decrease the amount of detachment required.
But it's our memories that makes us who we are. Without her memories of being Victoria she's basically not Victoria anymore. So they're not punishing the same person that tortured that little girl.
That doesn't matter to them. The point is that VIctoria is being punished. They don't care if it is excessive or makes no sense or any other argument against it. The punishment isn't for her. It's for them. It makes them feel good to see her tortured.
Have you ever perused the comments sections of articles about people accused of crimes? Regardless of their actual guilt, as soon as someone is suspected of a crime, people are more than willing to publicly daydream about all sorts of morbid punishments. What they did to Victoria in White Bear is actually fairly tame, considering some of the things I've seen others wish on people (particularly people accused of harming children). We all want to believe that we aren't capable of doing what these people are accused of, but yet we don't see the correlation between their alleged crime and our dreaming up barbaric punishments. We punish others as harshly as we do because we're also exorcising our own demons in the process. Her punishment isn't so much about her, as it is about a society adamantly saying, over and over everyday, "We would never do that to someone." All while they do that to someone.
I couldn't find it to quote it, but someone else commented on the hatred of those running the show for Victoria. I would argue that they were doing a job. They were probably either law enforcement with acting experience, or actors with law enforcement experience. They weren't doing it because they hated her. They were doing it because they were paid to.
I think I covered everything.
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