Was J.R. Addicted to Money or the Game?

[kenneth]

I've been thinking about something that Dallas never really seemed to explore in depth: what does J.R. actually want from his wealth?

Obviously, he enjoys the lifestyle that comes with being rich. But he always seems far more interested when there's a deal to make, a rival to outmaneuver, a company to acquire, or someone to manipulate. Simply having money doesn't seem to excite him nearly as much as using it to gain an advantage.

Which makes me wonder: if J.R. suddenly had unlimited wealth, no business rivals and nothing left to prove, would he actually be happy? Or would he become bored and find another battle to fight?

In other words, was getting rich really J.R.'s ultimate goal, or was money mainly the tool that allowed him to play the game he loved?

I don't think the show ever really answered that question. What do you think?

 

[Bobby Southworth]

I've been thinking about something that Dallas never really seemed to explore in depth: what does J.R. actually want from his wealth?

Obviously, he enjoys the lifestyle that comes with being rich. But he always seems far more interested when there's a deal to make, a rival to outmaneuver, a company to acquire, or someone to manipulate. Simply having money doesn't seem to excite him nearly as much as using it to gain an advantage.

Which makes me wonder: if J.R. suddenly had unlimited wealth, no business rivals and nothing left to prove, would he actually be happy? Or would he become bored and find another battle to fight?

In other words, was getting rich really J.R.'s ultimate goal, or was money mainly the tool that allowed him to play the game he loved?

I don't think the show ever really answered that question. What do you think?

I would go with it was the tool that allowed him to play the game he loved. I'm no expert, but J.R. seemed to have a personality disorder. He liked a challenge, and obviously to win that challenge-whether it was a business deal, or a lover.

As far as the personality disorder, it could have stemmed from feeling like he had to earn his love from Ellie, and especially Jock, and he still wasn't either's favorite. I know others have brought this fact up, and I'm not looking to steal anyone's earlier observations.

In the beginning, JR was the victim(hard to believe), but people ultimately have a choice on how to handle trauma, at least externally.

He could have seen the error of the ways of his parents, and never wanted to be like them, or ..he could act out in the ways that he continuously did. In a way, it seemed like he did kinda try not to be like them, at least as far as showing John Ross how much he was loved, but John Ross never had any competition until...James, and look how J.R. was towards John Ross in the last few episodes.. In fairness, this behavior could have just been because he was still adjusting to finding out he had another son, and at this point, a grandchild, but..I kinda just see him as repeating history, only on steroids, pertaining to how he tried to be like Jock. I also want to clarify that I'm not saying Jock and Ellie didn't show him love, but it appears they showed more to his siblings.

Yes, he loved the money and lifestyle, but it was about power. Playing the game and manipulation.

 

[James from London]

I've been thinking about something that Dallas never really seemed to explore in depth: what does J.R. actually want from his wealth?

I always thought it was pretty clear. JR wanted Jock's approval, "even in death" as Angela Channing might have out it. Sexually, we know that he was addicted to the chase and obviously that applied to other areas of his life as well. But, ultimately, "everything he does he does for his daddy."

 

[Crimson]

I always thought it was pretty clear.

Right. Didn't Ellie even directly point out that Jock never taught JR when to quit? JR was motivated by the pursuit not the accomplishment. To his credit, it's also probably why he wasn't discouraged by defeats either.

 

[James from London]

Jock: "I trained JR, taught him everything he knows, gave him the fever for big business. But I never taught him when to stop."

 

[CryptCreeper72]

JR was obsessed with pleasing Jock. He was also addicted to power. Money gave him power, so that's why he chased it. Sex gave him power, so that's why he chased it. In JR's mind, more power meant more approval from Daddy.

 

[Crimson]

Jock: "I trained JR, taught him everything he knows, gave him the fever for big business. But I never taught him when to stop."

Well there you go, I misremembered it as a quote from Ellie. Good ol' Jock was more self-aware about his influence on JR than I recalled.

 

[Jock-O-Lantern]

Power was JR ultimate excitement. Even his adulterous behavior towards Sue Ellen had something to do with power. How many times did JR hear Jock's "POWER" speech?

But to answer the main question directly, JR was way more addicted to the game. But to play the game on his level, you need money, which gives you power.

 

[Sea - Boo! - Er]

I'd say the game. But money is how you keep score.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

It's kind of all of the above. There are any number of people who have JR's experiences and family dynamic who don't become like he was. Some of it is in-born, probably.

What creates narcissism in some when others escape it?

But being born into wealth, and being denied a certain affection or approval, often creates -- as has been said before -- the phenomenon of those adult children winding up running down the street naked with their hair on fire.

 

[Trick-or-Treat Stevens]

The Game! As the Motörhead song lyric says,
It's all about the game and how you play it
All about control and if you can take it
All about your debt and if you can pay it
It's all about pain and who's gonna make it

Unlike Jock (and Digger and Cliff), JR always had money and quite frankly, he lived with is parents so money in and of it self wasn't his prime motivator.

 

[The Eyes of Laurie Marr]

JR was a sadist, but not in the comic book sense. In a more psychologically persuasive formulation we could say that Sadism is the conversion of another person's vulnerability into an experience of one's own power, gratification or psychological regulation. Fromm regarded sadism as an attempt to overcome one's own experience of impotence through absolute control over another living being.

Similarly, the reason that 'Daddy' looms so large in this dynamic is that JR. humiliates people, manipulates them and enjoys watching them lose because domination demonstrates that he possesses the qualities he associates with Jock: toughness, cunning, refusal to be beaten, protection of the family business. The pleasure of victory is therefore doubled. He defeats the immediate opponent while imaginatively securing paternal recognition: Daddy would know that I was the one strong enough to do what had to be done.

'Bobby is weak, Daddy. Just plain weak.'

He is a victim of arrested development insofar as JR has (unlike Bobby who admires Jock but can repudiate him when needed) internalised the paternal object so that the terror of impotence (as with all sadists) lurks not far beneath JR's self satisfied grin.

In short: JR was by far the most neurotic character on Dallas.

 

[Mustard]

Both. As the saying goes, chase the money, chase the power, chase the sex. J.R. did that, but for Ewing Oil, not money or power per se just for the sake of it, or he'd have joined Jeremy Wendell in West Star Oil.

 

[Guzzler’s Frightening Hair]

I’ve always felt that JR’s womanizing and outright cruelty to business rivals and others made sense as an outgrowth of his physical weakness and cowardice in comparison to Jock — a way of being “macho” while being far from a traditional “man’s man”.

The far more physically formidable and courageous Bobby had no such insecurities, hence no need to compensate in that manner.

 

[Jock-O-Lantern]

I’ve always felt that JR’s womanizing and outright cruelty to business rivals and others made sense as an outgrowth of his physical weakness and cowardice in comparison to Jock — a way of being “macho” while being far from a traditional “man’s man”.

The far more physically formidable and courageous Bobby had no such insecurities, hence no need to compensate in that manner.

Sue Ellen even sorta said the same thing when Jock was missing. I believe she said, and I'm paraphrasing "even the way he treated me was a way of gaining Jock's approval." Or something like that.

 

[CryptCreeper72]

I’ve always felt that JR’s womanizing and outright cruelty to business rivals and others made sense as an outgrowth of his physical weakness and cowardice in comparison to Jock — a way of being “macho” while being far from a traditional “man’s man”.

The far more physically formidable and courageous Bobby had no such insecurities, hence no need to compensate in that manner.

That's actually a very interesting thought that never occurred to me. Thinking back on how many times we saw JR shrink from a physical fight or get his hind end whipped, it makes perfect sense.