How to do the EFT Tapping Basics - The

Basic Recipe
The Basic Tapping Procedure - The Centerpiece of EFT
The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe is an easy to use healing tool that provides the very
foundation for expanding your emotional freedom. It is the tapping procedure that we use
in every round of EFT it is easy to learn and easy to apply, which is why EFT has
become well known as a tool that anyone can use. By itself, the EFT Tapping Basic
Recipe can be applied to any issue you want, and although it is still only the first step to
EFTs full potential, it continues to provide results that range from encouraging to
impressive. The rest of the benefits come when you learn how to aim the tapping
procedure at the best targets, but you will need to know the basics before learning the
rest, so lets get started!

A recipe, of course, has certain ingredients which must be added in a certain order. If you
are baking a cake, for example, you must use sugar instead of pepper and you must add
the sugar before you put it in the oven.
Otherwise....no cake.
The EFT Basic Recipe is no exception. Each ingredient must be introduced precisely as
described and they must be added in the proper order.
Although I am going to some length to describe it in detail, The EFT Tapping Basic
Recipe has only 5 brief steps (ingredients) and takes very little effort to learn. Once
memorized, each round of it can be performed in about 30 seconds. It will take some
practice, of course, but after a few tries the whole process becomes familiar and you can

do it in your sleep (millions have done this, including children). You will then have a
permanent tool that you can use for a lifetime.

Remember our Discovery Statement?

"The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the bodys energy system.

It follows, then, that energy disruptions are the reason we have any kind of emotional
issue like grief, anger, guilt, depression, trauma, and fear. Since both physical and
performance issues often have emotional roots, it also follows that clearing energy
disruptions can be useful for those as well.
Once we find those energy disruptions, we use the tapping process to correct them. The
EFT Tapping Basic Recipe blends focused wording with a 9 point Tapping sequence. The
focused wording tunes us in to the issue and this, in turn, points us to the energy
disruptions (zzzzzts) that we need to address.
This wording is an essential part of the process because it tells our system what we are
working on. Negative emotions come about because we are tuned into certain thoughts or
circumstances which, in turn, cause our energy systems to disrupt. Otherwise, we
function normally. One's fear of heights is not present, for example, while one is reading
the comic section of the Sunday newspaper (and therefore not tuned in to the problem).
Once tuned into the issue, the Tapping stimulates the energy pathways thereby balancing
the resulting energy disruptions (zzzzzts). Also, for clarification, the points we use are at

or near the end points of the energy pathways (meridians and vessels) OR at points
along these pathways that are close to the bodys surface.
You may be aware that acupuncturists study and use over 300 meridian points on the
body instead of the mere handful that are used by the EFT Tapping process. Further,
unlike EFT, acupuncturists associate each of the energy pathways with body organs
(kidney, stomach, spleen, etc.) and emotions (anger, fear, sadness, etc.). We are not
denying the validity of this approach but we are ignoring it. EFT Tapping represents a
different use of these pathways that allows someone with no formal training in Chinese
medicine to realign disruptions on their own with a simple process.
You may learn the intricacies of the Chinese meridian system if you wish, but this
knowledge is not necessary to generate first class results with EFT. In practice, the 12
meridians and 2 governing vessels are interconnected and thus sending balancing energy
down one pathway influences other pathways. That is why we usually need to address
only a few pathways to get the job done.
Before I demonstrate The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe on a video, let's (1) take a look at
the Tapping Points, (2) set the stage with some useful Tapping Tips and (3) review the 5
Steps in The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe.

The EFT Tapping Points

These illustrations, together with the written aids below them, are self-explanatory and
are explored in detail later (including videos). For now, just locate each of these points on
your own body and touch each of them with your fingertips.

Written aids to locating the EFT Basic recipe Tapping

Points
KC: The Karate Chop point (abbreviated KC) is located at the center of the fleshy part of
the outside of your hand (either hand) between the top of the wrist and the base of the
baby finger or....stated differently....the part of your hand you would use to deliver a
karate chop.
TOH: On the top of the head. If you were to draw a line from one ear, over the head, to
the other ear, and another line from your nose to the back of your neck, the TOH point is
where those two lines would intersect.
EB: At the beginning of the eyebrow, just above and to one side of the nose. This point is
abbreviated EB for beginning of the EyeBrow.

SE: On the bone bordering the outside corner of the eye. This point is abbreviated SE for
Side of the Eye.
UE: On the bone under an eye about 1 inch below your pupil. This point is abbreviated
UE for Under the Eye.
UN: On the small area between the bottom of your nose and the top of your upper lip.
This point is abbreviated UN for Under the Nose.
Ch: Midway between the point of your chin and the bottom of your lower lip. Even
though it is not directly on the point of the chin, we call it the chin point because it is
descriptive enough for people to understand easily. This point is abbreviated Ch for Chin.
CB: The junction where the sternum (breastbone), collarbone and the first rib meet. To
locate it, first place your forefinger on the U-shaped notch at the top of the breastbone
(about where a man would knot his tie). From the bottom of the U, move your forefinger
down toward the navel 1 inch and then go to the left (or right) 1 inch. This point is
abbreviated CB for CollarBone even though it is not on the collarbone (or clavicle) per
se. It is at the beginning of the collarbone and we call it the collarbone point because that
is a lot easier to say than "the junction where the sternum (breastbone), collarbone and
the first rib meet."
UA: On the side of the body, at a point even with the nipple (for men) or in the middle of
the bra strap (for women). It is about 4 inches below the armpit. This point is abbreviated
UA for Under the Arm.

Tapping Tips
These tips answer the most common questions.

Some of the Tapping points have twin points on each side of the body. For
example, the "eyebrow" point on the right side of the body has a twin point on the
left side of the body. Years of experience have taught us that you only need to tap
one of these twin points. However, if you have both hands free you can certainly
tap on both sides for good measure. You will see me do this often in our Art of
Delivery videos. as well as the numerous advanced videos in Gary's Courses:
Online Coaching Library.

You can also switch sides when you tap these points. For example, during the
same round of The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe, you can tap the "karate chop"
point on your left hand and the eyebrow point on the right side of your body. This
makes the Tapping process more convenient to perform.
The Tapping is done with two or more fingertips. This is so you can cover a larger
area and thereby insure that your Tapping covers the correct point.

While you can tap with the fingertips of either hand, most people use their
dominant hand. For example, right handed people tap with the fingertips of their
right hand while left handed people tap with the fingertips of their left hand.
You tap approximately 5 times on each point. No need to count the taps because
anywhere between 3 and 7 taps on each point is adequate. The only exception is
during the Setup step (explained later) where the Karate Chop Point is tapped
continuously while you repeat some standard wording.
The process is easily memorized. After you have tapped the Karate Chop Point,
the rest of the points go down the body (see the Sequence Points in the diagram
above). The Eyebrow point, for example, is below the Top of the Head point. The
Side of the Eye point is below the Eyebrow point. And so on down the body.

The 5 Steps of The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe

These simple steps are also given in the video below. For now, just familiarize yourself
with the concepts. The video will walk you through this Tapping process so you can
memorize it easily.

1. Identify the Issue:

All you do here is make a mental note of what ails you. This becomes the target at which
you "aim" the EFT Tapping Basic Recipe. Examples might be: Sore shoulder, my father
embarrassing me at my age 8 birthday party or hitting that high singing note. Be sure you
are only targeting one issue at a time. As you will learn later, trying to combine issues in
the process will compromise your results.

2. Test the Initial Intensity:

Here you establish a before level of the issue's intensity by assigning a number to it on a
0-10 scale where 10 is the worst the issue has ever been and 0 is no problem whatsoever.
This serves as a benchmark so we can compare our progress after each round of The EFT
Tapping Basic Recipe. If, for example, we start at an 8 and eventually reach a 4, then we
know we have achieved a 50% improvement. The number of possible issues we can
address with The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe is endless and they don't all fit into neat
testing boxes. That is why we have an entire segment later on dedicated to Testing Your
EFT Tapping Work. For this stage of your learning, however, here are some useful
methods to help you access your issue(s) and arrive at your 0-10 numbers. They apply to
most issues.

For emotional issues, you can recreate the memories in your mind and assess their
discomforts.
For physical ailments you can simply assess the existing pain or discomfort.
For performance issues you can attempt the desired performance level and
measure how close you come to it.

3. The Setup:
The Setup is a process we use to start each round of Tapping. By designing a simple
phrase and saying it while continuously Tapping the KC point, you let your system know
what youre trying to address.
When designing this phrase there are two goals to achieve:
1) acknowledge the problem
2) accept yourself in spite of it
We do this by saying:
Even though I have this _______________, I deeply and completely accept myself.
The blank above represents the problem you want to address, so you can just insert things
like:
This sore shoulder:
Even though I have this sore shoulder, I deeply and completely accept myself.
This fear of spiders:
Even though I have this fear of spiders, I deeply and completely accept
myself.
This humiliation at my eighth grade graduation:
Even though I have this humiliation at my eighth grade graduation, I deeply
and completely accept myself.
This difficulty making free throws:
Even though I have this difficulty making free throws, I deeply and completely
accept myself.

Not all of the issues will fit neatly into Even though I have this ____________, so you
can use some flexibility when designing your Setup phrase. For example, instead of this
sore shoulder you could say Even though my shoulder hurts, I deeply and completely
accept myself. Or instead of this humiliation at my eighth grade graduation you could
say Even though my dad humiliated me at my eighth grade graduation.
By using Even though I have this _______________, you will automatically choose
something that represents your experience, your reaction, or a problem that you recognize
as something that belongs to you, and that is an important feature.
We do not want to use EFT on someone elses problem. For example, rather than, Even

though my son is addicted to drugs, I deeply and completely accept myself, its better to
focus on your own reaction which might be, Even though Im frustrated by my son's
drug addiction. Or instead of Even though my husband works too much, better to
try something like, Even though I feel alone when my husband stays late at the office
We want to aim EFT at our part of the problem rather than trying to fix someone elses
problem.
By identifying the problem with this phrase, you set up the initial zzzzzt behind the
scenes so the Tapping has something to resolve.

Important, Important, Important:

The language that we use always aims at the negative. This is essential because it is the
negative that creates the energy disruptions (zzzzzts) that The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe
clears (and thus brings peace to the system). By contrast, conventional methods and
popular self-help books stress positive thinking and preach avoiding the negative. This
sounds good but, for our purposes, it does little more than cover over the negative with
pleasant sounding words. EFT, on the other hand, needs to aim at the negative so it can be
neutralized. This allows our natural positives to bubble up to the top.

4. The Sequence:
This is the workhorse part of The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe that stimulates/balances the
body's energy pathways. To perform it, you tap each of the points shown in the Sequence
Points diagram (see above) while saying a Reminder Phrase that keeps your system tuned
into the issue. I list the points below followed by a description of the Reminder Phrase:
Top of the Head (TOH)
Beginning of the Eyebrow (EB)
Side of the Eye (SE)
Under the Eye (UE)
Under the Nose (UN)
Chin Point (CH)
Beginning of the Collarbone (CB)
Under the Arm (UA)
The Reminder Phrase is quite simple as you need only identify the issue with some brief
wording. Depending on your issue, you might say the following at each tapping point....
"This sore shoulder",
"My father embarrassed me",
"This difficulty in singing that high note."

5. Test the Intensity Again:

Finally, you establish an "after" level of the issue's intensity by assigning a number to it
on a 0-10 scale. You compare this with the before level to see how much progress you
have made. If you are not down to zero then repeat the process until you either achieve
zero or plateau at some level. You can also include some additional Tapping points that
will be introduced in the next section of this article. Otherwise, you will likely need to
"get to the roots of the issue" (see Intro to Part II of The Gold Standard EFT Tutorial).
Now follow along with this video as I demonstrate The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe live. It
assumes you have familiarized yourself with the Tapping Points, Tapping Tips and the 5
Steps to the EFT Tapping Basic Recipe given above. Accordingly, you may want to
review them again before proceeding with the video.

Note to EFTers with training prior to this Tutorial: The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe
has been streamlined in the following ways: (1) What was formerly known as The EFT
Shortcut is now The EFT Basic Recipe. Other Tapping points and methods as well as the
9 Gamut procedure have been recategorized and put on the shelf for use when one may
be stuck on an issue (to be discussed later). (2) The term Psychological Reversal (PR) has
been eliminated because, after years of experience, I think it was mis-named. In practice,
PR is a form of secondary gain/loss or a new aspect of the original problem. While the
correction for PR remains in the EFT Basic Recipe, I have found that PR can be handled
effectively with the proper treatment of Aspects, Specific Events, and Detective Work
(see later articles). (3) The Sore Spot, The Collarbone Breathing Technique and Floor to
Ceiling Eyeroll have been eliminated because of their rare use. (4) The idea of
subsequent round adjustments wherein we formerly addressed the remaining
problem is no longer considered essential. You will see it, however, in the various
advanced videos in Gary's Coaching Library simply because it was considered useful
when they were filmed. It's use does not add or detract from the process.
Also, to allay any scientific concerns, this streamlining has not changed the previous
protocol from a research point of view. The basic Tapping points and language remain the
same. The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe protocol, for convenience and ease of use, has
merely been divided into smaller parts and thus one need only reassemble the individual
parts to arrive at the original used in previous research. Thus all past research is still valid
and remains unaffected by this Tutorial. New research can use this streamlined update.

Test Drive:
Now lets give The EFT Tapping Basic Recipe a test drive. Just pick an issue of your own
and tap along with me in the next video. With a few practice rounds you will embed the
process into your memory and will then be able to apply it to a wide variety of issues.
Please remember, though, that you are still a beginner at this so you may or may not
experience relief this first time. Thats OK. Our goal at this point is to acquaint you with
the process. Results follow as you expand your use of it. There is much more to learn if
you wish to pursue this Tutorial further (recommended).

Other Tapping Points and Routines

The standard EFT Tapping Basic Recipe points you learned above are the ones you will
use over 90% of the time. In addition, there are some other points you may find useful
under certain circumstances. If your initial rounds of the EFT Tapping Basic Recipe have
not brought the intensity to zero, you can include any of these into your next Tapping
round to see if they help. They are worth learning, even at this early stage, so I describe
them next as well as in a video a few paragraphs below.

The Finger Points:

These are useful when youd like to extend the EFT Tapping Basic Recipe and try a more
thorough round on stubborn aspects. They also come in handy when any of the regular
Tapping points are hard to reach or become irritating. They can be very effective on their
own and I sometimes use them on our advanced videos in Gary's Coaching Library
instead of the standard points. Also note that you tap the facial and torso points with your
fingertips and, in so doing, you also stimulate the finger points.
The Tapping point is in the same location for each finger and each thumb. On the index
finger (IF), tap on the side of the finger that is closest to the thumb, even with the base of
the nail. Once you have located that one, you can find the similar MF (middle finger), BF
(baby finger), and Th (thumb) points on each hand.
Just for simplicity, the Ring Finger has not been included in this sequence. For those who
may be curious, the meridian involved runs on the opposite side of that finger. I may
occasionally include a point on the ring finger while Im tapping because its easier than
explaining why I leave it out. However, the EFT process and all of its power were built
without this point and our results have not been affected by either including it or leaving
it out.

The Below Nipple Point (often called the Liver Point):

You won't see this one on our Art of Delivery videos or elsewhere in our materials. This
is because it is socially awkward for women to tap. For the male, it is located one inch
below the nipple. For the female it is where the underskin of the breast attaches to the
chest wall. For some women the breast must be lifted so that the point can be tapped. I
include it for completeness as you may find it useful under some circumstances. I use it
on rare occasion. The diagram to the right shows the BN Point on both sides of the body.
As mentioned earlier, you only need to tap one of them.

The Wrist Point:

This point is also rarely used but I acquaint you with it because you may see it in our
videos. It is located on the underside of the wrist at the mid-point of where a watch band
would normally reside. Please refer to the diagram for clarification.
In general, it is most effective to tap this point with several fingertips, or you can hold
your hand flat and gently slap the area on the inside of the wrist. There is a twin point on
each wrist and sometimes these points are "tapped" by gently banging the inside of the
wrists together.

The 9 Gamut Procedure:

Originally developed by Dr. Roger Callahan, the purpose of this nine step process is to
engage both sides of the brain. This is accomplished by continuously tapping a particular
point on the hand while performing specific eye movements, humming and counting. It
can seem like a strange process, but through connecting nerves, certain parts of the brain
are stimulated when the eyes are moved. Likewise the right side of the brain (the creative
side) is engaged when you hum a song and the left side (the digital side) is engaged when
you count.

The 9 Gamut Procedure was a standard feature in the Basic Recipe for many years, but is
now optional, and I rarely use it. I've found it helpful when there is a clear brain disorder
(e.g. Cerebral Palsy) and I will include it occasionally when progress seems to be halted.
It is very difficult to explain this procedure in words and pictures. It is easier to
understand when you can see a demonstration, and you will find a video link for that
purpose following the written explanation.
The 9 Gamut Procedure is a 10 second process wherein a gamut of 9 "brain stimulating"
actions are performed while continuously tapping on one of the body's energy points (the
Gamut Point). To do the 9 Gamut Procedure, you must first locate the Gamut point.

Gamut Point:

To locate the Gamut Point, which is on the back of either hand, put a finger between the
ring and little finger at the base. From this location, move your finger about a half inch
toward your wrist and this is where youll tap the Gamut Point. Please see the illustration
for clarity.

9 Actions:
While facing forward and keeping your head still, tap the Gamut point continuously
while performing the following nine actions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Eyes closed.
Eyes open.
Eyes hard down right while holding the head steady.
Eyes hard down left while holding the head steady.
Roll your eyes in a circle as though your nose was at the center of a clock and you
were trying to see all the numbers in order.
Same as the previous step, but roll your eyes the other direction.
Hum 2 seconds of a song (any song will do, but I often use Happy Birthday).*
Count rapidly from 1 to 5.
Hum 2 seconds of a song again.

* For some people, humming Happy Birthday causes resistance because it brings up
memories of unhappy birthdays. In this case, you can either use EFT on those unhappy

memories and resolve them or you can side step this issue for now by humming
some other song.
Now, in the interest of being thorough, here is a video where I demonstrate the Finger
Points, Below the Nipple or BN Point (often called the Liver Point), Wrist Point and the 9
Gamut Procedure. The video assumes you have thoroughly familiarized yourself with the
above descriptions.

Review:
In this article, you learned the EFT Tapping Basic Recipe with the following components:

9 primary tapping points (KC, TOH, EB, SE, UE, UN, Ch, CB, UA)
Setup Phrase on the KC point
Reminder Phrase at the rest of the points
Measuring intensity and the 5 step process
Additional tapping points (Fingers, BN, Wr, 9 Gamut)

MORE HELPFUL EFT TAPPING PRODUCTS

Note: These online products are available in our store and come with (1) a 60 day money
back guarantee, (2) up to 50% discounts for multiple purchases and (3) a 6 month payment
option.

Advanced Concepts: In this detail oriented video series, Tina and I get behind the EFT
scenes and expand on some of the essential EFT concepts. You will be immersed in the
inner workings of EFT and more EFT doors will be opened for you. Topics include: The
Basic Recipe Language, The Personal Peace Procedure, The EFT Tapping Success
Strategy and 13 others. More details.

Borrowing Benefits: These popular videos include a "tap-along" collection specially

designed to provide many of EFT's benefits without learning the process in detail. These
sessions demonstrate more advanced tools than you have learned in this article, but allow
you take a peek at masterful EFT while you try out the tapping points and get your own
EFT results. The videos include this session entitled, "Andy: "I could never do anything
right."" Full Borrowing Benefits instructions are included. 13 full tap along sessions in
all. Good for thousands of issues and can be re-used repeatedly. More details.

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Brain Basics: Know Your Brain

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Architecture of the Brain
The Geography of Thought
The Cerebral Cortex
The Inner Brain
Making Connections
Some Key Neurotransmitters at Work
Neurological Disorders
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Introduction
The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat
of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of
behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of
all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is the crown jewel of the human
body.
For centuries, scientists and philosophers have been fascinated by the brain, but until
recently they viewed the brain as nearly incomprehensible. Now, however, the brain is
beginning to relinquish its secrets. Scientists have learned more about the brain in the last
10 years than in all previous centuries because of the accelerating pace of research in
neurological and behavioral science and the development of new research techniques. As
a result, Congress named the 1990s the Decade of the Brain. At the forefront of research
on the brain and other elements of the nervous system is the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), which conducts and supports scientific
studies in the United States and around the world.
This fact sheet is a basic introduction to the human brain. It may help you understand
how the healthy brain works, how to keep it healthy, and what happens when the brain is
diseased or dysfunctional.
Image 1

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The Architecture of the Brain

The brain is like a committee of experts. All the parts of the brain work together, but each
part has its own special properties. The brain can be divided into three basic units: the
forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain.
The hindbrain includes the upper part of the spinal cord, the brain stem, and a wrinkled
ball of tissue called the cerebellum (1). The hindbrain controls the bodys vital functions
such as respiration and heart rate. The cerebellum coordinates movement and is involved
in learned rote movements. When you play the piano or hit a tennis ball you are
activating the cerebellum. The uppermost part of the brainstem is the midbrain, which
controls some reflex actions and is part of the circuit involved in the control of eye
movements and other voluntary movements. The forebrain is the largest and most highly
developed part of the human brain: it consists primarily of the cerebrum (2) and the
structures hidden beneath it (see "The Inner Brain").
When people see pictures of the brain it is usually the cerebrum that they notice. The
cerebrum sits at the topmost part of the brain and is the source of intellectual activities. It
holds your memories, allows you to plan, enables you to imagine and think. It allows you
to recognize friends, read books, and play games.
The cerebrum is split into two halves (hemispheres) by a deep fissure. Despite the split,
the two cerebral hemispheres communicate with each other through a thick tract of nerve
fibers that lies at the base of this fissure. Although the two hemispheres seem to be mirror
images of each other, they are different. For instance, the ability to form words seems to
lie primarily in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere seems to control many
abstract reasoning skills.
For some as-yet-unknown reason, nearly all of the signals from the brain to the body and
vice-versa cross over on their way to and from the brain. This means that the right
cerebral hemisphere primarily controls the left side of the body and the left hemisphere
primarily controls the right side. When one side of the brain is damaged, the opposite side
of the body is affected. For example, a stroke in the right hemisphere of the brain can
leave the left arm and leg paralyzed.
The Forebrain ------- The Midbrain -------- The Hindbrain

<top>

The Geography of Thought

Each cerebral hemisphere can be divided into sections, or lobes, each of which
specializes in different functions. To understand each lobe and its specialty we will take a
tour of the cerebral hemispheres, starting with the two frontal lobes (3), which lie
directly behind the forehead. When you plan a schedule, imagine the future, or use
reasoned arguments, these two lobes do much of the work. One of the ways the frontal
lobes seem to do these things is by acting as short-term storage sites, allowing one idea to
be kept in mind while other ideas are considered. In the rearmost portion of each frontal
lobe is a motor area (4), which helps control voluntary movement. A nearby place on the
left frontal lobe called Brocas area (5) allows thoughts to be transformed into words.
When you enjoy a good mealthe taste, aroma, and texture of the foodtwo sections
behind the frontal lobes called the parietal lobes (6) are at work. The forward parts of
these lobes, just behind the motor areas, are the primary sensory areas (7). These areas
receive information about temperature, taste, touch, and movement from the rest of the
body. Reading and arithmetic are also functions in the repertoire of each parietal lobe.
As you look at the words and pictures on this page, two areas at the back of the brain are
at work. These lobes, called the occipital lobes (8), process images from the eyes and
link that information with images stored in memory. Damage to the occipital lobes can
cause blindness.
The last lobes on our tour of the cerebral hemispheres are the temporal lobes (9), which
lie in front of the visual areas and nest under the parietal and frontal lobes. Whether you
appreciate symphonies or rock music, your brain responds through the activity of these
lobes. At the top of each temporal lobe is an area responsible for receiving information
from the ears. The underside of each temporal lobe plays a crucial role in forming and
retrieving memories, including those associated with music. Other parts of this lobe seem
to integrate memories and sensations of taste, sound, sight, and touch.

<top>

The Cerebral Cortex

Coating the surface of the cerebrum and the cerebellum is a vital layer of tissue the
thickness of a stack of two or three dimes. It is called the cortex, from the Latin word for
bark. Most of the actual information processing in the brain takes place in the cerebral
cortex. When people talk about "gray matter" in the brain they are talking about this thin
rind. The cortex is gray because nerves in this area lack the insulation that makes most
other parts of the brain appear to be white. The folds in the brain add to its surface area
and therefore increase the amount of gray matter and the quantity of information that can
be processed.
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The Inner Brain

Deep within the brain, hidden from view, lie structures that are the gatekeepers between
the spinal cord and the cerebral hemispheres. These structures not only determine our
emotional state, they also modify our perceptions and responses depending on that state,
and allow us to initiate movements that you make without thinking about them. Like the
lobes in the cerebral hemispheres, the structures described below come in pairs: each is
duplicated in the opposite half of the brain.
The hypothalamus (10), about the size of a pearl, directs a multitude of important
functions. It wakes you up in the morning, and gets the adrenaline flowing during a test
or job interview. The hypothalamus is also an important emotional center, controlling the
molecules that make you feel exhilarated, angry, or unhappy. Near the hypothalamus lies
the thalamus (11), a major clearinghouse for information going to and from the spinal
cord and the cerebrum.
An arching tract of nerve cells leads from the hypothalamus and the thalamus to the
hippocampus (12). This tiny nub acts as a memory indexersending memories out to
the appropriate part of the cerebral hemisphere for long-term storage and retrieving them
when necessary. The basal ganglia (not shown) are clusters of nerve cells surrounding
the thalamus. They are responsible for initiating and integrating movements. Parkinsons
disease, which results in tremors, rigidity, and a stiff, shuffling walk, is a disease of nerve
cells that lead into the basal ganglia.

Image 5

<top>

Making Connections
The brain and the rest of the nervous system are composed of many different types of
cells, but the primary functional unit is a cell called the neuron. All sensations,
movements, thoughts, memories, and feelings are the result of signals that pass through
neurons. Neurons consist of three parts. The cell body (13) contains the nucleus, where
most of the molecules that the neuron needs to survive and function are manufactured.
Dendrites (14) extend out from the cell body like the branches of a tree and receive
messages from other nerve cells. Signals then pass from the dendrites through the cell
body and may travel away from the cell body down an axon (15) to another neuron, a
muscle cell, or cells in some other organ. The neuron is usually surrounded by many
support cells. Some types of cells wrap around the axon to form an insulating sheath
(16). This sheath can include a fatty molecule called myelin, which provides insulation
for the axon and helps nerve signals travel faster and farther. Axons may be very short,
such as those that carry signals from one cell in the cortex to another cell less than a
hairs width away. Or axons may be very long, such as those that carry messages from the
brain all the way down the spinal cord.

Image 6

Scientists have learned a great deal about neurons by studying the synapsethe place
where a signal passes from the neuron to another cell. When the signal reaches the end of
the axon it stimulates the release of tiny sacs (17). These sacs release chemicals known as
neurotransmitters (18) into the synapse (19). The neurotransmitters cross the synapse
and attach to receptors (20) on the neighboring cell. These receptors can change the
properties of the receiving cell. If the receiving cell is also a neuron, the signal can
continue the transmission to the next cell.
Image 7

<top>

Some Key Neurotransmitters at Work

Acetylcholine is called an excitatory neurotransmitter because it generally makes cells
more excitable. It governs muscle contractions and causes glands to secrete hormones.
Alzheimers disease, which initially affects memory formation, is associated with a
shortage of acetylcholine.
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is called an inhibitory neurotransmitter because it
tends to make cells less excitable. It helps control muscle activity and is an important part
of the visual system. Drugs that increase GABA levels in the brain are used to treat
epileptic seizures and tremors in patients with Huntingtons disease.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that constricts blood vessels and brings on sleep. It is also
involved in temperature regulation. Dopamine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter involved
in mood and the control of complex movements. The loss of dopamine activity in some
portions of the brain leads to the muscular rigidity of Parkinsons disease. Many
medications used to treat behavioral disorders work by modifying the action of dopamine
in the brain.
<top>

Neurological Disorders
When the brain is healthy it functions quickly and automatically. But when problems
occur, the results can be devastating. Some 50 million people in this countryone in five
suffer from damage to the nervous system. The NINDS supports research on more than
600 neurological diseases. Some of the major types of disorders include: neurogenetic
diseases (such as Huntingtons disease and muscular dystrophy), developmental disorders
(such as cerebral palsy), degenerative diseases of adult life (such as Parkinsons disease
and Alzheimers disease), metabolic diseases (such as Gauchers disease),
cerebrovascular diseases (such as stroke and vascular dementia), trauma (such as spinal
cord and head injury), convulsive disorders (such as epilepsy), infectious diseases (such
as AIDS dementia), and brain tumors.
<top>

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Since its creation by Congress in 1950, the NINDS has grown to become the leading
supporter of neurological research in the United States. Most research funded by the
NINDS is conducted by scientists in public and private institutions such as universities,
medical schools, and hospitals. Government scientists also conduct a wide array of
neurological research in the more than 20 laboratories and branches of the NINDS itself.
This research ranges from studies on the structure and function of single brain cells to
tests of new diagnostic tools and treatments for those with neurological disorders.
For information on other neurological disorders or research programs funded by the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, contact the Institute's Brain
Resources and Information Network (BRAIN) at:

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to
Fraser Robinson III,[3] a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and
Marian (ne Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store.[4] Her mother was a full-time
homemaker until Michelle entered high school.[5] The Robinson and Shields families can
trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South.[3] On her
father's side she is descended from the Gullah people of South Carolina's Low Country
region.[6] Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave on Friendfield
Plantation in the state of South Carolina,[7][8] the state where some of her paternal family
still reside.[9][10] Her grandfather Fraser Robinson, Jr. had built his own house in South
Carolina, and he and his wife LaVaughn (ne Johnson) returned to the Low Country after
retirement.[7]
Among her maternal ancestors was her great-great-great-grandmother, Melvinia Shields,
a slave on Henry Walls Shields' 200-acre farm in Clayton County, Georgia; he and his
children would have worked along with the slaves. Her first son Dolphus T. Shields, was
biracial and born into slavery about 1860. Based on DNA and other evidence, in 2012
researchers said his father was likely 20-year-old Charles Marion Shields, son of her
master. (Charles later married a white woman and had white children).[11] Melvinia did
not talk to relatives about Dolphus' father.[12] Dolphus Shields moved to Birmingham,
Alabama after the Civil War, and some of his children migrated to Cleveland, Ohio and
Chicago.[11]
All four of Michelle's grandparents were multiracial, reflecting the complex history of the
US, but her extended family said that people didn't talk about the era of slavery when
they were growing up.[11] Michelle Obama's distant ancestry also includes Irish and other
European roots.[13] In addition, a paternal first cousin once-removed is the AfricanAmerican Jewish Rabbi Capers Funnye, son of her grandfather's sister.[14][15]
Michelle grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago's South Shore
community area. Her parents rented a small apartment on the house's second floor from
her great-aunt, who lived downstairs.[4][16][17][18] She was raised in what she describes as a
"conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner
around the table."[19] Her elementary school was down the street. The family enjoyed
playing games such as Monopoly and reading, and frequently saw extended family on
both sides.[20] They attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church.[16] The
Robinsons used to vacation in a rustic cabin in White Cloud, Michigan.[16] She and her
21-month older brother, Craig, skipped the second grade. Her brother is a former
basketball coach at Oregon State University and Brown University.[21] By sixth grade,
Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet
Academy).[22]

Education and early career

She attended Whitney Young High School,[23] Chicago's first magnet high school, where
she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita.[20] The round-trip commute from
the Robinsons' South Side home to the Near West Side, where the school was located,
took three hours.[24] Michelle Robinson was on the honor roll for four years, took
advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society, and served as
student council treasurer.[4] She graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.[24]
Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University,[5] where Craig
graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French
because she felt that it should be more conversational.[25] As part of her requirements for
graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black
Community.[26][27] "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove
BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs."[24] While at Princeton, she got
involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an
academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care
center, which also included after school tutoring.[28] Robinson majored in sociology and
minored in African American studies; she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in
1985.[4][29] She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.[30]
At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who
were members of minorities[31] and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting
low-income tenants with housing cases.[32] She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate
degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush.
[33]
In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the
100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate
chapter at Princeton when she attended.[34]

Family life

Barack and Michelle Obama, 2008

She met Barack Obama when they were among the few African Americans at their law
firm, Sidley Austin (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out
there were others in different departments),[35] and she was assigned to mentor him as a
summer associate.[36] Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a
community organization meeting where he first impressed her.[37] The couple's first date
was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.[38] They married in October 1992,[37] and
have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001).[39]
After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's

South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C. Throughout
her husband's 2008 campaign for US President, she made a "commitment to be away
overnight only once a week to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end
of the second day" for their two daughters.[40]
She once requested that her then-fianc meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when
considering her first career move.[19] Jarrett is now one of her husband's closest advisors.
[41][42]
The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows; the combination of an evolving
family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work
and family. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on
Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for
conversation, much less romance."[43] However, despite their family obligations and
careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights while they lived in Chicago.[44]
The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private
school.[45] As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the
school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to
reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand
the school.[5] Malia and Sasha now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after
also considering Georgetown Day School.[46][47] Michelle stated in an interview on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show that they do not intend to have any more children.[48] The Obamas
have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary
Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House.[47] Marian Robinson,
Michelle's mother, has moved into the White House to assist with child care.[49]

Religion
Michelle Obama is a Protestant Christian. She was raised Methodist and joined the
Trinity United Church of Christ, where she and Barack Obama married, performed by
Rev. Jeremiah Wright. On May 31, 2008, Barack and Michelle Obama announced that
they had withdrawn their membership in Trinity United Church of Christ stating that
"Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend
Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views."[50]
The Obama family has attended several different churches since moving to Washington
D.C. in 2009, including Shiloh Baptist Church and St. John's Episcopal Church. At the
49th African Methodist Episcopal Church's general conference, Michelle Obama
encouraged the attendees to advocate for political awareness, saying "To anyone who
says that church is no place to talk about these issues, you tell them there is no place
better no place better, because ultimately, these are not just political issues they are
moral issues, they're issues that have to do with human dignity and human potential, and
the future we want for our kids and our grandkids."[51]

Career

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley
Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and
intellectual property.[4] She continues to hold her law license, but as she no longer needs it
for her work, it has been on a voluntary inactive status since 1993.[52][53]
In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant
to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she
became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit
organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and
government agencies.[23] She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records
for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.[20]
In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of
Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center.[54] In 2002,
she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for
community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and
External Affairs.[55] She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position
during the primary campaign, but cut back to part-time in order to spend time with her
daughters as well as work for her husband's election;[56] she subsequently took a leave of
absence from her job.[57] According to the couple's 2006 income tax return, her salary was
$273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of
$157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income, however, was
$991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of
TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.[58]
She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),[59] a
major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made
comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14,
2007.[60] She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.[61]

Early campaigns
Although Obama has campaigned on her husband's behalf since early in his political
career by handshaking and fund-raising, she did not relish the activity at first. When she
campaigned during her husband's 2000 run for United States House of Representatives,
her boss at the University of Chicago asked if there was any single thing about
campaigning that she enjoyed; after some thought, she replied that visiting so many living
rooms had given her some new decorating ideas.[62]
The Obamas fist bump upon his winning the Democratic nomination.

The Obamas, with Joe and Dr. Jill Biden at the August 23, 2008 Vice Presidential
announcement in Springfield, Illinois
At first, Obama had reservations about her husband's presidential campaign, due to fears
about a possible negative effect on their daughters.[63] She says that she negotiated an
agreement in which her husband was to give up smoking in exchange for her support of
his decision to run.[64] About her role in her husband's presidential campaign she has said:
"My job is not a senior adviser."[41][65][66] During the campaign, she has discussed race and
education by using motherhood as a framework.[25]
In May 2007, three months after her husband declared his presidential candidacy, she
reduced her professional responsibilities by 80 percent to support his presidential
campaign.[19] Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she traveled to
political events only two days a week and rarely traveled overnight;[67] by early February
2008 her participation had increased significantly, attending thirty-three events in eight
days.[42] She made several campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey.[68][69] She wrote her
own stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign and generally spoke without
notes.[24]
Throughout the campaign, some media often labeled her as an "angry black woman,"[70]
[71][72]
and some web sites attempted to propagate this image,[73] prompting her to respond:
"Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a
thick skin along the way. When you're out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I
just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory." [74]
By the time of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August, media outlets
observed that her presence on the campaign trail had grown softer than at the start of the
race, focusing on soliciting concerns and empathizing with the audience rather than
throwing down challenges to them, and giving interviews to shows like The View and
publications like Ladies' Home Journal rather than appearing on news programs. The
change was even reflected in her fashion choices, wearing more informal clothes in place
of her previous designer pieces.[62] The View appearance was partly intended to help
soften her public image,[70] and it was widely covered in the press.[75]
The presidential campaign was her first exposure to the national political scene; even
before the field of Democratic candidates was narrowed to two, she was considered the
least famous of the candidates' spouses.[65] Early in the campaign, she told anecdotes
about the Obama family life; however, as the press began to emphasize her sarcasm, she
toned it down.[58][64] The New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote:

I wince a bit when Michelle Obama chides her husband as a mere mortal a comic
routine that rests on the presumption that we see him as a god ... But it may not be smart
politics to mock him in a way that turns him from the glam JFK into the mundane Gerald
Ford, toasting his own English muffin. If all Senator Obama is peddling is the Camelot
mystique, why debunk this mystique?[65][76]

Oprah Winfrey joins the Obamas on the campaign trail, December 10, 2007

Obama speaks at the 2008 Democratic convention

On the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Craig Robinson
introduced his younger sister.[77] She delivered her speech, during which she sought to
portray herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream.[78] Obama said
both she and her husband believed "that you work hard for what you want in life, that
your word is your bond, and you do what you say you're going to do, that you treat
people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree
with them."[79] She also emphasized loving her country, in response to criticism for her
previous statements about feeling proud of her country for the first time.[78][80][81] That
keynote address was largely well received and drew mostly positive reviews.[82] A
Rasmussen Reports poll found that her favorability among Americans reached 55%.[83]
On an October 6, 2008 broadcast, Larry King asked her if the American electorate was
past the Bradley effect. She stated that her husband's achievement of the nomination was
a fairly strong indicator that it was.[84] The same night she also was interviewed by Jon
Stewart on The Daily Show where she deflected criticism of her husband and his
campaign.[85] On Fox News' America's Pulse, E. D. Hill referred to the fist bump shared
by the Obamas on the night that he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination as a
"terrorist fist jab"; Hill was taken off air and the show itself was cancelled.[86][87][88]

First Lady of the United States

Obama is greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, United Kingdom April 1,

2009.

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni

Michelle Obama with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in January 2014
During her early months as First Lady, she visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens.[89]
She also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service.[89][90]
Obama advocated for her husband's policy priorities by promoting bills that support it.
Obama hosted a White House reception for women's rights advocates in celebration of
the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 Pay equity law. She supported
the economic stimulus bill in visits to the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development and United States Department of Education. Some observers looked
favorably upon her legislative activities, while others said that she should be less
involved in politics. According to her representatives, she intends to visit all United
States Cabinet-level agencies in order to get acquainted with Washington.[91]
On June 5, 2009, the White House announced that Michelle Obama was replacing her
current chief of staff, Jackie Norris, with Susan Sher, a longtime friend and adviser.
Norris became a senior adviser to the Corporation for National and Community Service.
[92]

Other initiatives of First Lady Michelle Obama include advocating on behalf of military
families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national
service, and promoting the arts and arts education.[93][94] Obama has made supporting
military families and spouses a personal mission and has been increasingly bonding with
military families. According to her aides, stories of the sacrifice these families make
move her to tears.[94]
In November 2013, a Politico article by Michelle Cottle accusing Obama of being a
"feminist nightmare" for not using her position and education to advocate for women's
issues was sharply criticized across the political spectrum.[95][96][97] Cottle quoted Linda
Hirshman saying of Obama's trendy styles, promotion of gardening and healthy eating,
and support of military families that "She essentially became the English lady of the
manor, Tory Party, circa 1830s."[95] A prominent critic of Cottle was MSNBC host
Melissa Harris-Perry, who rhetorically asked "Are you serious?"[97][98] Supporters of
Obama note that the First Lady has been one of the only people in the administration to
address obesity, through promoting good eating habits, which is one of the leading US
public health crises.[99]
In March 2014, Obama posted on a blog on the White House website that she and her two
daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother Marian Robinson, would visit China later that
month. She met with Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping and visited
historic and cultural sites, as well as a university and two high schools.[100] In May 2014,
Obama joined the campaign to bring back school girls who had been kidnapped in
Nigeria. The First Lady tweeted a picture of herself holding a poster with the
#bringbackourgirls campaign hashtag.[101]

Let's Move!
Main article: Let's Move!

Obama and Ellen DeGeneres dance on the second anniversary of Let's Move!.
Obama's predecessors Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush supported the organic movement
by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, and Obama extended their
efforts toward healthy eating by planting the White House Kitchen Garden, an organic
garden, the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt served as First
Lady, and installing bee hives, on the South Lawn of the White House. The garden
supplied organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other
official gatherings.[102][103][104][105]

In January 2010, Obama undertook her first lead role in an administration-wide initiative,
which she named "Let's Move!," to make progress in reversing the 21st century trend of
childhood obesity.[104][106] On February 9, 2010, the First Lady announced Let's Move! and
President Barack Obama created the Task Force on Childhood Obesity to review all
current programs and create a national plan towards change.[107] Michelle Obama stated
that her goal was to make this effort her legacy: "I want to leave something behind that
we can say, 'Because of this time that this person spent here, this thing has changed.' And
my hope is that that's going to be in the area of childhood obesity."[104] Her 2012 book
American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across
America is based on her experiences with the garden and promotes healthy eating.[108] Her
call for action on healthy eating has been echoed by the United States Department of
Defense, which has been facing an ever expanding problem of recruit obesity.[109]

LGBT rights

Obama's first term official portrait

In the 2008 US presidential election, Michelle boasted, to gay Democrat groups, of her
husband's record on LGBT rights: his support of the Illinois Human Rights Act, the
Illinois gender violence act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, repealing Don't
Ask Don't Tell, and full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, civil unions; along with
hate crimes protection for sexual orientation and gender identity and renewed effort to
fight HIV and AIDS. They have both been opponents of constitutional amendments
banning same-sex marriage in the federal, California, and Florida constitutions. She said
that the US Supreme Court delivered justice in the Lawrence v. Texas case and drew a
connection between the struggles for gay rights and civil rights by stating "We are all
only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in
the pursuit of a more perfect union."[110][111][112]

After the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell on September 20, 2011, Michelle Obama
included openly gay service members in her national military families initiative.[113] On
May 9, 2012, Barack and Michelle Obama came out publicly in favor of same-sex
marriage. Prior to this, Michelle Obama had never stated her position on same-sex
marriage publicly. Senior White House officials claim that Michelle Obama and Senior
Adviser Valerie Jarrett had been the two most consistent advocates for same-sex marriage
in Barack Obama's life.[114] Michelle went on to say that "This is an important issue for
millions of Americans, and for Barack and me, it really comes down to the values of
fairness and equality we want to pass down to our girls. These are basic values that kids
learn at a very young age and that we encourage them to apply in all areas of their lives.
And in a country where we teach our children that everyone is equal under the law,
discriminating against same-sex couples just isn't right. It's as simple as that."[115] At the
2012 DNC Michelle said "Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it ... and
he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are,
or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love."[116]

Public image and style

Michelle Obama wore Isabel Toledo clothes made of St. Gallen Embroidery to the 2009
presidential inauguration.

The Obamas dance at a presidential inaugural ball.

With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, Michelle Obama has
become a part of popular culture. In May 2006, Essence listed her among "25 of the
World's Most Inspiring Women."[117][118] In July 2007, Vanity Fair listed her among "10 of
the World's Best Dressed People." She was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's
Legends Ball as a "young'un" paying tribute to the 'Legends,' who helped pave the way
for African American women. In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of 'The
Harvard 100'; a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was

ranked fourth.[117][119] In July 2008, she made a repeat appearance on the Vanity Fair
international best dressed list.[120] She also appeared on the 2008 People list of bestdressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.[121]
[122]

At the time of her husband's election, some sources anticipated that as a high-profile
African-American woman in a stable marriage she would be a positive role model who
would influence the view the world has of African-Americans.[123][124] Her fashion choices
were part of the 2009 Fashion week,[125] but Obama's influence in the field did not have
the impact on the paucity of African-American models who participate, that some thought
it might.[126][127]
Her public support grew in her early months as First Lady,[89][128] as she was accepted as a
role model.[89] On her first trip abroad in April 2009, she toured a cancer ward with Sarah
Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.[129] Newsweek described her first
trip abroad as an exhibition of her so-called "star power"[128] and MSN described it as a
display of sartorial elegance.[118] Questions were raised by some in the American and
British media regarding protocol when the Obamas met Queen Elizabeth II[130] and
Michelle reciprocated a touch on her back by the Queen during a reception, purportedly
against traditional royal etiquette.[130][131] Palace sources denied that any breach in
etiquette had occurred.[132]
She has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy due to her sense of style,[120] and also to
Barbara Bush for her discipline and decorum.[133][134] Obama's style has been described as
"fashion populist."[33] In 2010, she wore clothes, many high end, from more than 50
design companies with less expensive pieces from J.Crew and Target, and the same year
a study found that her patronage was worth an average of $14 million to a company.[135]
She became a fashion trendsetter, in particular favoring sleeveless dresses, including her
first-term official portrait in a dress by Michael Kors, and her ball gowns designed by
Jason Wu for both inaugurals.[136]
She appeared on the cover and in a photo spread in the March 2009 issue of Vogue.[137][138]
Every First Lady since Lou Hoover (except Bess Truman) has been in Vogue,[137] but only
Hillary Clinton had previously appeared on the cover.[139] In August 2011, she appeared
on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, the first person to do so in 48
years, and the first woman.[140] During the 2013 Academy Awards, she became the first
First Lady to announce the winner of an Oscar (Best Picture which went to Argo).[141]
The media have been criticized for focusing more on the First Lady's fashion sense than
her serious contributions.[33][142] She has stated that she would like to focus attention as
First Lady on issues of concern to military and working families.[123][143][144] In 2008 U.S.
News & World Report blogger, PBS host and Scripps Howard columnist Bonnie Erb
argued that Obama's own publicists seemed to be feeding the emphasis on style over
substance.[145] Erb has stated on several occasions that Obama is miscasting herself by
overemphasizing style.[49][146]

References
A supercouple or super couple (also known as a power couple) is a popular or wealthy
pairing that intrigues and fascinates the public in an intense or even obsessive fashion.
The term originated in the United States, and was coined in the early 1980s when intense
public interest in fictional soap opera couple Luke Spencer and Laura Webber from
General Hospital made the pair a popular culture phenomenon.[1][2][3][4][5][6] A supercouple
includes fictional couples from television dramas and film, such as Gone with the Wind's
Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara.
With regard to real-life pairings, tabloids and the mainstream media have focused on
wealthy or popular celebrity couples, and have titled them supercouples. Examples are
the former pairing of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (which became known by the
portmanteau "Bennifer"),[7][8] and the relationship of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
("Brangelina").[8][9]

Contents

1 Definitions
2 Internet and media trends
3 Soap opera
o 3.1 Origins
o 3.2 Legends
o 3.3 Golden Age: 1980s
o 3.4 Decline and remolding: 1990s2000s
3.4.1 Popular, traditional, and altered setups
3.4.2 Gay and lesbian
4 Primetime television
5 Film
6 Celebrity
7 Video game
o 7.1 Emergence and expansion
o 7.2 Criticism
8 Literature, toys, comic book, and other
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links

Definitions
Supercouples are defined as popular or financially wealthy pairings that are widely
admired in an intense or obsessive fashion and influence society's expectations of what a
great love story or relationship should be; they may or may not be romantic or high-

profile,[1][10][11] but are often culturally significant.[1][2][12][13] Their existence takes form in
various incarnations, and interest in the pairings is usually due to a combination of
chemistry, physical attractiveness, and a seemingly "meant-to-be" union, the latter of
which provides the public with a love story to live vicariously through.[1]
The term first appeared in 1981, with the wedding of General Hospital's Luke and Laura.
[14]
30 million viewers tuned into the event,[5][6] and the widespread media attention it
received from prominent newspapers and magazines set the pairing up as the default
model for other soap opera supercouples.[2][4][15] The "model" Luke and Laura originally
followed consisted of action stories, romance, and obstacles for the couple to overcome.[2]
[3][15]
This paradigm subsequently became ideal of fictional soap opera supercouples in
America, and extended to other genres. In Queer TV: Framing Sexualities On US
Television, Nancy Martin says, "Actively desiring heterosexual pairs not bent on
reproduction became a required advertising device and a narratological mainstay on
daytime and primetime."[14] In Russian Television Today, David MacFadyen concludes,
"Even the busiest, most rambling soap operas are often neatly and conclusively distilled
in the public's mind by a 'supercouple' or tiny, central pair of protagonists."[16] Luke and
Laura's popularity resulted in fictional supercouples generally being regarded as
soulmates.[2] The pairings have typically overcome numerous obstacles or significant
strife in order to be together.[1][2]
Though a successful model, the term has been criticized for hindering the growth of
characters' relationships with other love interests; this has resulted in alternate definitions
for the concept. In her essay criticism of the term, The Siren Call of the Super Couple (ed.
Suzanne Frentz, 1992), Diana Reep describes the love of a supercouple as "so perfect that
they are incapable of having romantic feelings for anyone else under any circumstances.
In addition, the two have no personal flaws or idiosyncrasies that could interfere with
their perfect love. Only an evil, outside force could disturb their relationship".[2]
Celebrity couples may also be regarded as supercouples. Celebrity pairings who fascinate
and inspire intense interest are commonly termed "supercouples" or "power couples".[8][17]
[18][19]
Interest in the pairings ranges from media and public obsession to calculation of the
couples' combined finances.[17][19]
Not all supercouples inspire positive influence. The "dangerous love" of Depression-era
gangsters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (popularly known as Bonnie and Clyde) has
maintained an enduring international popularity in film, television, music and poetry. In
1967, a film based on their relationship was released and cemented the duo's impact on
popular culture. Their romance was tragic, with a graphic death. This and "their ceaseless
appeal" resulted in the couple's status as an American legend.[12][20] Writer Joseph
Geringer, in his article Bonnie and Clyde: Romeo and Juliet in a Getaway Car, explained
part of their appeal to the public then, and their enduring legend now. "Americans thrilled
to their 'Robin Hood' adventures," he said. "The presence of a female, Bonnie, escalated
the sincerity of their intentions to make them something unique and individualeven at
times heroic."[20]

Internet and media trends

Fans often use portmanteaux to refer to their favorite couples on online message boards, a
significant aspect of the "shipping fandom". The "shipping fandom" scene, whose name
is derived from the word "relationship", is a general term for fans' emotional or
intellectual involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction.
Though technically applicable to any such involvement, it refers chiefly to various related
social dynamics observable on the Internet, and is seldom used outside of that context.
"Shipping" can involve virtually any kind of relationshipfrom the well-known and
established, to the ambiguous or those undergoing development, and even to the highly
improbable and the blatantly impossible. People involved in shipping (or shippers) assert
that the relationship does exist, will exist, or simply that they would like it to exist.
"Portmanteaux first came about with Lewis Carroll" as a way to blend words, stated
Jonathan Gabay, author of the Copywriter's Compendiuma reference guide to the
English language.[7] Gabay added that people blend words in this fashion because
sometimes there are words an individual wants, but those words do not actually exist.
"There's a feeling you are trying to get out", he said.[7] For fictional pairings, examples
showcase themselves as Logan and Veronica (Veronica Mars) becomes "LoVe", Josh and
Reva (Guiding Light) becomes "Jeva", Jack and Kate (Lost) becomes "Jate", Michael and
Sara (Prison Break) becomes "MiSa", and so on. Some couples are given more complex
portmanteaux; on (How I Met Your Mother), the pairing of Barney and Robin is referred
to as "BROTP", incorporating their initials, their platonic status as "bros", and the
popular fandom term OTP ("One True Pairing"). Seth Cohen of the show The O.C.
parodied name-blending trends when he talked about real couples' overexposure to one
another; he wondered whether or not his pairing with Summer Roberts would be called
"Summereth" or "Sethummer".[21]
Gabay said portmanteaux "...giv[e] people an essence of who they are within the same
name. In double-barrelled names, the hyphen is almost pushing one name away from the
other. Meshing says 'I am you and you are me', which is rather romantic". [7] Occasionally,
even anti-fans come up with names for couples, such as General Hospital's Sonny
Corinthos and Emily Quartermaine. The unpopular pairing of the mob boss and his
enforcer's sweet younger sister became known as "Soily".[22] Similarly, name-blending
exists with celebrities' first names. Said to be a sign of commitment and togetherness,
meshing is also seen by some as an attempt to banish what might be considered a "sexist"
tradition of a woman taking her husband's name when she marries.[7]
In other Internet trends, fans often take part in making fan videos (also referred to as
fanvids, a compilation of favorite scenes stylishly intercut as music videos or other
various forms of entertainment) and writing fanfiction (alternative endings and stories to
the original story's outcome) for their favorite pairings. Sites such as YouTube and
Fanfiction.net help to facilitate this.[23][24]

Soap opera

Origins
See also: List of soap opera supercouples
According to American soap opera writer and romance novelist Leah Laiman, soap
operas are best known and most remembered for romance.[25] The romances in daytime
dramas are significantly characterized by bringing couples together, splitting them up,
and starting the cycle over again to ensure that viewers remain invested in the pairings if
popular. This is a strategy that often succeeds within the medium.[25] A supercouple
storyline is typically detailed by the couple facing seemingly insurmountable challenges,
such as a difference in social class, strong family interference, simple disagreements,
marriages to other people, children with other people, etc.[2][26]
Two characters comprising a supercouple will usually reunite and marry,[2][26] while the
most significant obstacle for the pairing is the soap opera genre itself; as soap operas
typically continue for decades, there is no closure for the pairing unless both characters
leave the show together or one of them dies. It is because of this, that after the usual
fairytale wedding, if the supercouple remains on the series, writers do not allow the item
to live happily ever after as a couple in a fairy tale would but rather subject them to a
continual cycle of being separated and reunited. This factor has contributed to two
characters of a supercouple normally divorcing and remarrying each other a few or
several times.[2][26] Author Diana Reep argues that the supercouple phenomenon creates
"serious storyline problems" for producers and writers due to characters being destined
for only one lover:
The problem supercouples create for storytellers is that, as characters, therefore, they are
unchanging in a narrative form that emphasizes evolving characters and relationships...
and as ideals, supercouples bring closure to a relationship in a world that is based in
continuing expectations of change.[2]
Creators within the medium generally focus more on the benefits of supercouples rather
than the potential problems the pairings can produce. Former One Life to Live co-head
writer Josh Griffith said that the key to a show's success is "passionate, romantic
storytelling and pairings, and that's what creates a supercouple".[13] He added that
supercouples embody love and passion.[13]

Legends
Although the term was not coined until the early 1980s, and early supercouples could be
noted as Jeff Baker and Penny Hughes[27] and Bob and Lisa Hughes on As the World
Turns, the first supercouple is primarily considered to be Doug Williams and Julie Olson
from Days of our Lives.[28] From 1970 until 1976, Doug and Julie's relationship wavers
between love and hate. The chemistry the portrayers exhibited became evident offscreen;
the real-life couple, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth, were married in 1974.[29] This set off
a commotion among thousands of fans, who wrote endless letters to the show asking that
the couple also be allowed to marry in the story. Since the actors were already married,

they felt this was a valid request.[29] NBC worked the tension and lengthened the
anticipation of the wedding but eventually caved into the audience's pressure. Doug and
Julie are married in October 1976 within the series.[29] They are the first soap opera
characters to appear on the cover of Time.[30][31]
Luke Spencer and Laura Webber, portrayed by Anthony Geary and Genie Francis from
General Hospital, are considered the most famous soap opera supercouple. Their
romance enthralled viewers; when they wed on November 16, 1981, American daytime
television recorded its highest-ever ratings, with 30 million people tuning in to watch
them say "I do".[5] Elizabeth Taylor made a cameo appearance during the wedding,[3][5][32]
[33]
and Princess Diana reportedly sent champagne.[5] The couple were featured on the
covers of People and Newsweek and credited with having brought "legitimacy to daytime
serials" and its fans by crossing boundaries and becoming celebrities in the mainstream
media.[3] As a result, Luke and Laura have become regarded as daytime television's
quintessential and most iconic couple.[1] While Guiding Light has the smallest number of
supercouples, the series still had prominent pairings, notably Quint and Nola,[34] as well
as Josh and Reva, one of the central supercouples from the 1980s onward.[13] In 1982, All
My Children's Jesse and Angie became the first African American supercouple.[35][36][37][38]
"Dirty" Den and Angie Watts, portrayed by Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson on the
British soap opera EastEnders, generated an audience response similar to Luke and
Laura's. Den and Angie are renowned as arguably Britain's most iconic soap opera
couple, having broken the record for episode ratings to 30.1 million viewers in 1986 on
the episode of their divorce, a record that remains unbeaten by any British soap opera
episode today.[39]

Golden Age: 1980s

The 1980s is known as the "Golden Age" of supercouples.[40] Shows such as All My
Children, As the World Turns and along with the aforementioned General Hospital and
Days of our Lives were well known for their supercouples. Days of our Lives in particular
had a significant number of supercouples Bo and Hope,[13] Shane and Kimberly,[41]
Steve and Kayla[13] and Jack and Jennifer all going on at roughly the same time. The show
soon featured John and Marlena.[42] All My Children was represented by Cliff and Nina,[43]
Greg and Jenny,[44] Jesse and Angie,[35][36][37][38] and later by Tad and Dixie.[45]
As the World Turns had the popular couples Holden and Lily,[10] Craig and Sierra, Tom
and Margo,[46] and Steve and Betsy with Betsy Stewart being portrayed by future star
Meg Ryan.[47] Along with Luke and Laura, General Hospital also boasted Alan and
Monica and Frisco and Felicia.[2] At the same time, Santa Barbara introduced another
supercouple, Eden and Cruz Castillo.[13]
The supercouple phenomenon spread to foreign shores, with Scott and Charlene,
portrayed by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue on the Australian soap opera
Neighbours.[48] The success of their romance prompted a fellow Australian daytime drama

Home and Away to shelve out their own supercouple, Shane and Angel,[48] and Den and
Angie from EastEnders emerged as Britain's most famous soap opera couple.[39]
Sheraton Kalouria, NBC's Vice President of Daytime Programming, said he believes in
the "it" factor regarding fictional couples. "It's hard to imagine Bo and Hope as a
supercouple and divorce that from the magnetic chemistry of Peter Reckell and Kristian
Alfonso," he stated.[13] "Or Cruz and Eden from Santa Barbara days and A Martinez and
Marcy Walker. Or McKenzie Westmore as Sheridan and Galen Gering as Luis, if I might
be so bold as to dub them a supercouple. Actors bring a huge excitement to [their
pairing]."[13]

Decline and remolding: 1990s2000s

Popular, traditional, and altered setups
Popular couplings on soap operas exist today, but there are few termed "supercouples" by
fans or the soap opera media.[13] Usually, the term is reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s.
As such, supercouples that are still on serials today are mostly from the 1980s, or at the
latest, the early 1990s. After the mid-1990s, the supercouple phenomenon slowly faded
and the nature of soap operas today allows few couples to define the nature of the show
anymore as original supercouples once did.[13]
Days of our Lives executive producer Ken Corday said that while he feels that "love in
the afternoon" is still important to the genre, he takes exception with the supercouple
title. "It disappeared from my vocabulary when Al Rabin left the show," he said.[13] Rabin,
Corday's former supervising producer, had continually credited the word as the secret to
the show's success.[13] "By definition, supercouple excludes others on the show," said
Corday. "Every time they walk into a room, every other character, no matter how
important, becomes window dressing, I've never believed in it. Either people are involved
in a good story or they're not. They're an interesting couple or they're not."[13] All My
Children and One Life to Live creator Agnes Nixon argued, "It is still a vital component
whenever possible."[13] She stressed the importance of creating "young love [stories], the
Romeo and Juliet" of tomorrow.[13]
Shows have attempted to revive the success of supercouples through modern couples.
There are instances where a character becomes a part of two popular pairings, where both
couples which include the character develop the same or close to the same amount of
positive fan reaction from viewers. This causes a certain rivalry between the two couples,
with both vying for the title of supercouple. An example of this was especially evident
with the mid-1990s storyline of General Hospital's Sonny Corinthos, Brenda Barrett, and
Jasper "Jax" Jacks, often referred to as "the hottest love triangle in soap opera history" by
the soap opera media.[49] The couple combinations within the love triangle were equally in
demand, and which of the two is the "actual supercouple" remains in dispute. Though
debated, both couples are referenced and listed as supercouples by the soap opera
medium.[50][51][52] Yahoo! TV stated that "...Vanessa Marcils coupling with Benard, gave
'GH' its first legitimate heir to the 'Luke and Laura' throne of soap coupledom". The

article commented that Marcils Brenda Barrett character, "a spoiled, troubled beauty
drawn to danger and dangerous men" created "... explosive sparks" with Corinthos, who
was rumored to be involved in crime. The Yahoo article argued that this type of
supercouple "... has not been seen on daytime television in some time if ever", and
that, "along with the return of Luke and Laura after a decade-long absence", it created a
"second golden age" for soaps as "the daytime appointment television".[53] The Sonny
character eventually acquired second supercouple status in the pairing of Sonny and
Carly, becoming a part of two successful on-screen romances.[54]
In other instances, a character is part of two equally popular couplings, but the storyline
does not lend itself to the scenario being referred to as a love triangle. Samantha "Sami"
Brady of the soap opera Days of our Lives is romantically desired by the two men, Lucas
Roberts and EJ Wells. However, she was not considered to be actively involved in a love
triangle, and both couples (Lucas and Sami and EJ and Sami) resonate with fans and
appear to be at least equal in comparison and popularity.[55]
In today's soap opera medium, there are couples which come close to gaining supercouple
status in terms of popularity. Although these pairings have perceived chemistry and
potential, the couple's story is cut short, often due to the actors leaving to pursue jobs
outside of soap operas or due to the writers changing direction in a storyline. These
couples do not last long enough onscreen to garner the long history of what is often
considered a genuine supercouple. Such couples include Leo and Greenlee (All My
Children), Ryan and Gillian (All My Children),[56] Dusty and Lucy (As the World Turns),
Simon and Katie (As the World Turns),[13] Robin and Stone (General Hospital), Jonathan
and Tammy (Guiding Light), and Todd and Ta (One Life to Live).[57][58]
Soap opera columnist Carolyn Aspenson stated that the "supercouple formula" should be
redefined. She argued that tragic couples such as Leo and Greenlee are a better love story
than if they had stayed together with a "boring" everyday life.[59] "A super couple
shouldnt be designed to be a couple that beats the odds and sticks it out no matter what,"
she said.[59] "Were left with nothing on those terms. Instead, try redefining a super couple
by the intensity of their love, their loss and their ability to move on without their other
half. It leaves us frustrated, heartbroken and yearning for more. To me, that is the
definition of a super couple."[59]
Gay and lesbian
Soap operas traditionally featured only heterosexual romance and true love. For
American soap opera, this began to change with characters Bianca Montgomery, Lena
Kundera, and Maggie Stone from All My Children.[60][61] Bianca's unveiling as a lesbian
marked uncharted territory for daytime television. By being a core character and the
daughter of legendary diva Erica Kane, "the show initiated an innovative discourse about
the possibility, location, and representation of lesbian and gay characters in a television
genre historically predicated on the celebration of heterosexual courtship, romance, and
family life".[62]

In 2003, Bianca's relationship with Lena resulted in American daytime's first lesbian kiss.
[60][63][64]
The two became American daytime's first lesbian couple, and received significant
press.[60][63] Though Lena and Bianca's romance was well-received, popular, and the
couple became responsible for several historic moments within daytime television,[60] it
was Bianca's relationship with close confidante Maggie that thoroughly captivated
viewers.[61] The romance was considered unique and especially significant due to the
show's insistence that Maggie was not gay; the show's insistence did not deter viewers
from wanting the two romantically paired, and they often wrote in to the network (ABC)
pleading and demanding that Bianca and Maggie become an official item.[65][66]
Eventually, hints that Maggie might not be heterosexual started to appear throughout the
series, complicated by Maggie insisting that she is not gay but is rather "into guys" and
only guys. The audience saw this as a case of a woman in denial of her sexual orientation.
Fan mail for the Bianca and Maggie pairing was prominent.[61] The show continued to
tease the audience with subtext that implied that the two romantically desired each other,
which included friendly and intimate kisses between the two characters. Bianca and
Maggie's scenes were often written so that the pair would be on the verge of becoming a
couple, even with declarations of clear romantic love from one to the other, but never
quite making it there. This coy approach by the writers infuriated viewers, but they
remained entranced by the pairing. The couple's popularity grew beyond soap opera
press, as newspapers and television magazines became fascinated by the love story as
well. TV Guide, The Advocate, and Daily News were among the media taking interest.[61]
[67][68]
The pairing eventually became the most popular gay couple in soap opera history,
which surprised industry insiders who had not believed that a gay pairing could be as
significantly in demand as heterosexual pairings.[61] Though Bianca and Maggie's
romance was not made official until both were offscreen, it made clear to writers and
executives who had been conflicted about including gay and lesbian love stories that the
daytime audience was interested. Bianca and Maggie subsequently became American
soap opera's first same-sex supercouple.[69]
"While the past decade has witnessed a growing number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered characters in primetime dramas and situation comedies," stated soap opera
analyst C. Lee Harrington, "daytime soap operas offer unique challenges (and
possibilities) regarding the inclusion and 'normalization' of varied sexualities in
entertainment television."[62] Daytime television has been ahead of primetime for some
time in exploring diverse or controversial storylines and characters, with the one glaring
exception being homosexuality.[62] Gay and lesbian issues or characters were invisible in
1950s and early 1960s TV. When it came to the mainstream shows, audiences were built
up as "replications of the idealized, middleclass nuclear family, defined as monogamous
heterosexual couples with children" (Buxton, 1997, p. 1477). Because of this perception
of what was ideal, networks geared programming toward it, feeling that viewers were
exactly like these images on their television screens.[62]
In contrast to primetime, daytime dramas have different obstacles to developing
innovative programming, with their advertising sponsors being more conservative, their
audience smaller and "genre restrictions that emphasize continuity and respect for history
over innovation".[62] Soap opera tried its first chance at including a gay character back in

1983 on All My Children. Actress Donna Pescow portrayed Dr. Lynn Carson, who
"comes out" as a lesbian to patient and confidante Devon Shepherd McFadden (Tricia
Pursley). The two women admit to having romantic feelings for each other, and that is as
far as the relationship goes.[70]
A prominent obstacle for gay and lesbian characters on daytime television is interference
from television network executives who fear a decline in their ratings.[70] The characters
are often denied fulfilling and lasting romances with others of the same sex. "Before
Bianca's gay character was written into All My Children, the purpose of gay characters
was to make a point or explain homosexuality for the audience a task handled within
the course of a few episodes," said Zach Hudson of Washington Blade. "The distraught
parents or angry bullies who caused the early gay characters so much turmoil would
suddenly see the light. Then the story and the character would simply vanish." It
was not until Bianca that prominent gay characters and couples seemed possible within
American daytime.[62][70] Since then, American soap operas have tried to replicate the
success of the Bianca character with the introduction of their own gay and lesbian
characters.[70] One soap opera in particular, As the World Turns, has been successful in
launching the first popular romance between two men on an American daytime drama,
Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer. In late 2007, the two make television history by carrying
out the first kiss between two male lovers on an American soap opera.[71] The popularity
of the pairing borders on the same fascination level that centered around Bianca and
Maggie's lesbian romance. Not even months into the romantic aspect of their relationship,
TV Guide named the male duo a top power couple.[72]
Noah Mayer became one of the latest soap opera characters to come out as gay, and
joined Bianca and others as visible gay characters in daytime. One year before Luke and
Noah, the British soap opera Hollyoaks had already embarked on issuing their own gay
male supercouple, between characters John Paul McQueen and Craig Dean;[73][74] the
storyline became one of the show's most successful, gaining "legions" of fans.[75] The
budding same-sex romance on Guiding Light between Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera
Aitoro became popular with fans in 2009.[76] That same year, One Life To Live introduced
its own male gay supercouple with Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis.[77] On international
television, the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe gained international popularity, with
the storylines involving Carla and Stella, and later with the couple of Christian and
Oliver.
Beginning in 2011, Days of our Lives broke new ground when it decided to have the
character Will Horton come out as gay. The soap chronicled Will's struggle to accept his
sexuality.[78] The show also highlighted many obstacles the LGBT community face, such
as bullying,[79] hate crimes[79] and gay slurs.[80] The show cast actor, Freddie Smith in the
role of Jackson "Sonny" Kiriakis, the second openly gay contracted character in a
daytime soap opera.[81] Sonny would eventually become Will's ongoing love interest. To
the surprise of the actors and writers, Will and Sonny (or now commonly referred to by
the portmanteau "WilSon"), were greeted with fan support, and were eventually titled a
supercouple and "power couple".[82] The show pushed the envelope even further when it
decided to air Will's first same-sex sexual encounter on-screen (which would become the

first of many).[83] Massey went on receive the 2012 Daytime Emmy Award for
Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first actor ever to receive a
Daytime Emmy Award for playing a gay character.[84] He won his second consecutive
Emmy for the role in the same category in 2013.[85] Smith received his first Daytime
Emmy nomination for his role in 2013 pitting him against Massey for the same award.[86]
In his acceptance speech, Massey thanked Smith.[87] The show won the GLAAD Media
Award for Outstanding Daily Drama in 2013.[88] In August 2013, it was announced that
Massey had filmed his final episode as Will Horton, and that a recast had already been
made.[89][90] Days had initially planned not to recast the role, but changed its mind due to
fear of advertiser and fan backlash.[89]
In either aspect, fictional gay and lesbian romances have been argued as making an
impact. "These stories have the ability to reach the many different generations of viewers
who watch daytime and share with them stories of our lives," stated Damon Romine,
media entertainment director for the GLAAD organization. "What viewers are seeing is
that more and more of their own neighbors and friends are dealing with these issues, and
the soaps are merely reflecting the reality of the world we live in."[70]

Primetime television
See also: List of primetime supercouples
Primetime television incorporates supercouple formulas similar to those of soap operas,
though to a lesser degree. One featured paradigm is the love-hate relationship plot line.[1]
In the television series Dynasty, characters Krystle and Blake (Linda Evans and John
Forsythe) are seen fighting for years, through ex-lovers and a host of other interferences.
Krystle winds up in a coma and Blake spends years in jail, but their love eventually wins
out over their problems. This resulted in the couple subsequently becoming one of
television's classic supercouples.[91] Other early primetime power couplings include Ricky
and Lucy (Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball) from I Love Lucy,[92][93][94] Pam and Bobby
(Victoria Principal and Patrick Duffy) from Dallas,[95] and Cliff and Clair Huxtable (Bill
Cosby and Phylicia Rashd) from The Cosby Show, among others.[1]
Television shows also produce tragic love stories, such as Buffy and Angel from the
series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The pairing's persistent fight to be together is considered
to have cemented their place in supercouple history.[96] Voted #2 on IGN's list of Top 10
Favorite TV Couples, and #5 on AOL's list of Greatest TV Couples of All Time, the sites
categorized the pairing as "the ultimate" star-crossed couple.[93][97] The pairing's main
predicament unable to experience sexual intimacy without Angel losing his humanity
has been summarized by IGN:

After all, when you're a Vampire Slayer, it hardly seems like the appropriate
person to fall for would be a Vampire. But fall for Angel Buffy did, setting
up one of the most involving and tragic love stories we can remember on TV.
After all, it's pretty rare for one half of a great couple to go from gentle and

caring to sadistic and murderous in the course of a single night...and spurred

on by having sex with the girl he loves no less.[97]

Great tragedy comes about when Buffy has to kill her true love Angel in order to save the
world, episode Becoming, Part Two.
Creator of the series, Joss Whedon, said, "'Becoming', Parts 1 and 2...really sort of
charted the main points of the Buffy/Angel relationship in all its difficulty and
romance."[98] Buffy's portrayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, said, "I think deep down Buffy
will always love Angel and she will never love anyone the way in which she loves him. I
think they found a wonderful supercouple in Buffy and Angel."[99]
Certain shows may not be adequately suited for a tragic-love storyline. For comedies, the
approach of pairing mismatched couples is also often applied,[100] and for dramas, there
tends to be a "will-they-won't-they" setup. Website Cinemablend states that there are two
general formulas for a "will-they-wont-they" setup. "The first one is when one person
pursues the other, then finally gives up and dates someone else," the site stated, "and the
other scenario is when the two characters are so different and often do not get along with
one another, they fight and argue constantly, but then one thing or a series of 'things'
happen and they are forced to put up with each other."[101] Examples of popular couples
cited for having displayed this formula are Buffy and Spike (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer),
Ross and Rachel (of the show Friends), Logan and Veronica (of the show Veronica
Mars), among others.[101] One of the well-known "will-they-won't-they" setups is the
sexual-tension filled relationship of supercouple Agent Fox Mulder and Agent Dana
Scully from the science fiction/thriller series The X-Files.[1][102] Mulder and Scully, two
FBI agents investigating cases that involve the paranormal, are showcased as having a
relationship which borders on subtle hints of romance throughout the series without the
two being heavily romantically involved. Though anticipation for Mulder and Scully to
romantically commit to each other had existed for years among the show's fanbase, the
pairing's romantic intimacy was not written as soon as fans would have hoped for; when
the two are finally shown sharing a kiss in 1999 after seven seasons of buildup, some
viewers felt the show waited too long to script the event.[103] Critics state that in such
cases, if a series extends sexual tension for "too long" before finally acting on romantic
intimacy between the characters, it can result in viewers feeling that the best part of the
pairing's buildup was their "will-they-won't-they" status.[103]

With some fictional supercouples from soap opera or primetime, the couple may have
started out as an unexpected pairing and with or without a paradigm. Due to viewers
becoming excited over the prospect of chemistry between the two, the show's producers
and writers later decide to pair them.[1]

Film
See also: List of film supercouples
Given that films inherently have a shorter amount of time to develop characters and carry
out storylines, the task of convincing the audience that the film's couple are adequately
suited for each other can be daunting. This is especially evident in cases where there is
not enough plot focusing on the buildup of the characters' interaction, which can make
the love story seem contrived.[12] A memorable line or catchphrase spoken between the
characters has been suggested as a remedy to this, since it can elevate a pairing's
popularity.[12]
Films may resort to the notion that romance is a solution to life's problems or is
unchangeable, tapping into a "love conquers all" appeal;[104] for example, in "doomed"
romances where the underlying message is that the love the couple shared endured even
though their time together was cut short.
A film supercouple can be a couple appearing with the same actors over the course of few
or several films, making the actors the supercouples rather than the characters.[1] Couples
such as Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, or
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are examples of this.[94]

Celebrity

Former supercouple Sonny & Cher at The Sonny & Cher Show.

The media often focuses on celebrity pairings. Celebrity couples who are viewed as
fascinating or create a power coupling due to finances are singled out as supercouples.[17]
Sofeminine.co.uk defines a celebrity supercouple by the level of media and public
obsession combined with profit, saying, "Media and public interest in the super-rich,
famous and beautiful, and their equally beautiful offspring, is at an all-time high, and
mono-monikers are just one sign that the supercouple is becoming a virtual phenomenon
of the society we live in." The site opined that magazines "are prepared to pay millions of
dollars just for the first baby pics" of certain celebrity couples and that this combined
with the paparazzi's intent to obtain such pictures may be a sign that the pairing has
reached A-list supercouple status.[18]
Since the term was coined, classic Hollywood couples have been regarded as
supercouples.[94] Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford married in 1920, and were the
"King and Queen of Hollywood" lasting well into the 1930s. Their home, Pickfair, an
estate on 56 acres in Beverly Hills, which hosted famous and powerful guests, including
President Franklin D. and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, the Duke and
Duchess of Windsor, and Charles Lindbergh, was considered as "a gathering place only
slightly less important than the White House, and much more fun".[105] Fairbanks died in
1939, and was deposed as the "King of Hollywood" by Clark Gable, who was by that
time, along with Carole Lombard, the "it" couple. Gable and Lombard were titled "The
King of Hollywood and the Queen of Screwball Comedy", respectively,[94] and eloped
during a break in production on Gable's Gone with the Wind in 1939. Lombard died three
years later in a plane crash on her way home from a war bond rally.[94] Spencer Tracy and
Katharine Hepburn appeared in nine films together, and are regarded as a supercouple.[94]
Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball were the stars and producers of I Love Lucy, and have since
been credited as an onscreen and offscreen supercouple.[92][93][94] They divorced in 1960
after 20 years of marriage.[94] Other classic supercouples have been Humphrey Bogart and
Lauren Bacall, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe,
Gracie Allen and George Burns, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Richard Burton and
Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, June Carter and Johnny Cash, and
Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman.[8][94]

Former supercouple Heche (left) and DeGeneres (right) at the 1997 Emmy Awards.

The supercouple title has been similarly prolific with modern celebrity pairings. In 1997,
rapper/actor Will Smith married actress Jada Pinkett. The couple were titled a
supercouple due to their combined film star allure and physical attractiveness.[8][19][106] In
2003 and 2008, People magazine categorized them as a supercouple due to the pairing's
long marriage and widespread celebrity status.[106][107] Smith spoke of the power of love as
a connective force to Essence magazine. "The truth about life is that we're all alone," he
said. "But when somebody loves you, that experience is shared. Love is the only real
connective tissue that allows you to not live and die by yourself."[107]
Additionally, in 1997, Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche began dating[108] and were
described as "the world's first gay supercouple".[109] Their relationship lasted three years.
[109]
In 1998, Brad Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston, and married her in a private
wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000.[110] They were titled a supercouple,[8][19][106]
regarded as one of the film industrys most powerful,[111] and their marriage was
considered a rare Hollywood success.[112] In January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced
they decided to formally separate after seven years together.[110][113][114] Two months later,
Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.[115] In 2000, Michael Douglas
married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones on November 18, 2000, and the pairing has
since been considered a supercouple;[19][106] they were born on September 25, though 25
years apart. Zeta-Jones says that when they met in Deauville, Douglas used the line "I
want to father your children".[116]
Former pairing Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez incited unprecedented media attention for
an American modern-day supercouple during their 2002-2004 courtship. The two were
referred to as the first superstar couple of the Internet age,[117] and the pairing's popularity
resulted in their being known by the portmanteau "Bennifer" (for Ben and Jennifer) to
the media, as well as to fans using the name combination.[7] The term Bennifer itself
became popular, and was eventually entered into urban dictionaries or neologism
dictionaries as notable,[118] and the name blend started the trend of other celebrity couples
being referred to by the combination of each other's first names. The pairing eventually
succumbed to overexposure, however, which caused public interest in their romance to
result in less admiration and negatively affected their careers.[8][117][119][120][121] In 2007,
Affleck stated:
[The romance] was probably bad for my career. What happens is this sort of bleed-over
from the tabloids across your movie work. You go to a movie, you only go once. But the
tabloids and Internet are everywhere. You can really subsume the public image of
somebody. I ended up in an unfortunate crosshair position where I was in a relationship
and [the media] mostly lied and inflated a bunch of salacious stuff for the sake of selling
magazines. And I paid a certain price for that. Then, in concert with some movies that
didnt work...[121]

Former supercouple Cruise and Holmes.

"Bennifer's" decline in popularity did not deter public interest in American celebrity
pairings; a prominent celebrity supercouple to emerge after "Bennifer" was "TomKat"
(the coupling of celebrity stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes),[8][18] and other countries
had already adopted the supercouple term. The United Kingdom had Hugh Grant and
Elizabeth Hurley (Grant 'n' Hurley) and Posh and Becks (Victoria and David Beckham),
who still dominate today.[17][18][122] Japan had Jinnai Tomonori and Fujiwara Norika; Jinnai
established himself as a television regular and a "pin-geinin" or solo comedian while
Fujiwara, a former Miss Japan, became known as a successful actress and "one of the
business's biggest earners with a string of commercial contracts, regular TV and stage
roles, and also active in charitable causes".[123] They were titled "one of the 'super couples'
of Japanese showbiz" and "held their elaborate traditional wedding on February 17, 2007
at the Ikutajinja shrine in Fujiwara's hometown of Kobe, with hundreds of reporters and
thousands of fans craning for a glimpse outside" and "invited 600 guests to the Hotel
Okura the following April for a wedding reception that cost over 500 million. The event
was broadcast live on TV and had a high audience rating of 40% in the Kansai region".
[123]

Another American couple regularly titled a supercouple are rapper Jay-Z and R&B singer
Beyonc Knowles. Their marriage in New York City in early 2008, was reported by
People.[124] Knowles and Jay-Z were listed as the most powerful couple for Time
magazine's 100 most influential people of 2006.[125] In January 2009, Forbes ranked them
as Hollywood's top-earning couple, with a combined total of $162 million.[126] They also
made it to the top of the list the following year, with a combined total of $122 million
between June 2008 and June 2009.[126]
The spotlight and attention given to American celebrity supercouples seemed to have
been at its height in 2006, when the celebrity phenomenon dubbed "Brangelina" triggered

media obsession surrounding screen stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.[9] The two
emerged as a prominent supercouple,[8][127][128] and the mania that followed was described
as having "reached the point of insanity, far overshadowing the hoopla that attended such
couples as 'Bennifer' and 'TomKat'".[9] The obsessive media attention surrounding Pitt and
Jolie's union was initially the result of rumors regarding Pitt's involvement with Jolie
during the shooting of their 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Speculation that Pitt had been
romantically involved with Jolie while still married to Jennifer Aniston was daily gossip
and thought to be the reason for Pitt and Aniston's divorce.[110][129] Jolie, however, stated
that there was no romance between her and Pitt during filming and that she would never
be intimate with a married man.[129] An official item soon following Pitt's divorce from
Aniston, Pitt and Jolie became even more of a media fascination for their social activism
and ever-growing family, with the couple adopting from foreign countries. The
anticipated birth of Pitt and Jolie's first biological child together, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt,
was cited as the most influential celebrity baby,[130] as the public pondered what the
combined physical features of two people cited as the world's most beautiful would
produce in a child.[131][132] The first baby pictures for Shiloh set a world record. People
paid more than $4.1 million for the North American rights, while British magazine Hello!
obtained the international rights for roughly $3.5 million; the total rights sale earned up to
$10 million worldwide, and was the most expensive celebrity image of all time.[133][134] All
profits were donated to an undisclosed charity by Jolie and Pitt. On July 26, 2006,
Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it was
the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds.[135] In 2008, the Shiloh Hello!
image was eventually "topped" by images of her siblings, twins Knox Lon Jolie-Pitt (a
boy) and Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt (a girl). The rights for the first images of Knox
and Vivienne were jointly sold to People and Hello! for $14 million, making the images
the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken. The money went to the Jolie/Pitt
Foundation.[136]
Robert Thompson, director of the Centre for the Study of Popular Television, said the
coupling of A-list stars like Pitt and Jolie, or in years gone by Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton, was "a paparazzi's dream come true". He further relayed that "as silly as
it sounds, this new tendency to make up single names for two people, like 'Bennifer' (Ben
Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) and 'TomKat' (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes), is an
insightful idea'. 'Brangelina' has more cultural equity than their two star parts."[9]
Polly Vernon of British newspaper The Guardian summed up her analysis of what makes
a celebrity supercouple in her May 25, 2000 article:

The basic appeal of the accomplished supercouple can be reduced to this: by

hooking up with another, carefully selected celeb, you can eliminate your
bad points, compensate for your own shortcomings, and hint at a softer, more
vulnerable side. Attach yourself to someone smarter, prettier, more
fashionable, hipper, funnier than you are, and you will automatically acquire
these missing qualities by osmosis. They, equally, will benefit from your
particular brand of star quality. Your public perception will become more

complete, more exciting. Together, you are quite literally, the ultimate
individual.[17]

Video game
Emergence and expansion
See also: List of supercouples in other media
Video game creators have realized the asset of incorporating supercouple romances
within their products by stringing together epic stories of love and intrigue.[137][138][139]
While writing epic romances into video games is not a new phenomenon, the idea of
capturing a video game player through emotionally charged moments via the death of a
hero's lover in order to produce feelings of attachment to the fictional environment has
expanded,[137][139][140] especially within action-adventure/role-playing games (RPGs).[137]
The goal is to make the gamer actually become emotionally invested in the characters and
their actions, ultimately resulting in heightened gaming experience. Video game designer
Peter Molyneux, when speaking of the main component he wanted in his game Fable 2,
spoke of more than just the romantic aspect, stating, "We want you to feel loved. You can
have sex and you can have a baby. That baby will grow up and will kind of look like
you."[141]
In the early days of gaming, the idea of love and romance was used as little more than a
plot point to urge the hero to complete the set of tasks put before him.[137] Mario, hero of
the Super Mario series of games, has Princess Peach to rescue from the main villain. Link
and Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda series made gamers wonder why the two
were not romantically together while rooting for the couple.[142] Double Dragon features
the protagonist Billy Lee, as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend (Maria) from his evil
twin brother (Jimmy), leader of a sinister street gang. This era of game-playing was not
well known for equal opportunity in gender roles.[139]
Eventually, video games grew to become a respectable and rich source of storytelling.[138]
"Larger disk space, greater production staffs, and more impressive budgets allowed more
fleshed out characters, more elaborate plot points, and greater instances of interaction
between characters."[139] The genre that benefited from this the most is the role-playing
medium. The medium made romantic themes a prominent element of its story-telling,
which became one of its staples.[139] This subplot is featured through the exploits of
supercouples, the primary pair of lovers.[137]
"Usually, the 'supercouple' turns out to be the main hero and heroine of the game, though
this is not always the case."[138][139] The Lunar series, for example, has become famous for
creating several romantic pairings from the hero's party in addition to the hero and
heroine. In a role-playing plot, often the romantic feelings the characters feel for one
another somehow becomes entwined with the main plot itself. In Grandia, Justin, the
main character, is compelled to fight against seemingly insurmountable odds in order to

rescue the girl that he is in love with. In Tales of Legendia, the romantic feelings Shirley
has for main character and brother in law Senel is a focus of the game, even though the
latter seems oblivious of the former's true feelings even after they are accidentally
engaged in the ending of the primary story mode. "When the love between the
supercouple somehow becomes threatened by the machinations of the antagonist, the
heroes fight back with everything they have and usually prove, once and for all, that 'love
conquers all.'"[139]
The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII has several notable couples, such as Cloud Strife
and his relationships with childhood friend Tifa Lockhart and flower girl Aerith
Gainsborough. The love triangle is rendered moot by Aerith's untimely demise before it
can properly begin. Despite this, the ambiguity of Cloud and Aerith's relationship and the
tragic circumstances which end it have resulted in the pairing being considered one of the
most important couples in video game history.[142][143] In 2005, Electronic Gaming
Monthly stated that without the game, "Aeris wouldnt have died, and gamers wouldnt
have learned how to cry".[143]
Other popular couples from the Final Fantasy games include Squall Leonhart and Rinoa
Heartilly (from Final Fantasy VIII),[144] Zidane Tribal and Princess Garnet til Alexandros
(from Final Fantasy IX), Tidus and Yuna (from Final Fantasy X),[142] Vincent Valentine
and his lost love Lucrecia Crescent, and Zack Fair and Aerith Gainsborough in the
prequel Final Fantasy VII game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
Love stories such as Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh (from Metal Gear Solid),[144]
which takes on more of a subtle approach, and couples defined more by the their conflicts
than their happiness, have also impacted the gaming industry. Video game insiders state
that the need for these love stories within the gaming realm is valid and is a great addition
to the gaming experience in most cases.[138][139][140]

Criticism
Role-playing games have been criticized for their use of supercouples; the application of
such couples within the genre is considered to have become clich, and as creating
significant problems for video games.[139] In Tales of Legendia though the game gives a
heavy focus to the feelings Shirley has for main character Senel, it has the added
complication of every female character, especially those on the player's team, somehow
interested in being sexually intimate with Senel.[139]
In soap opera, a love triangle causes the audience to wonder what the "hero" will do to
solve its problems.[139] The viewer is left wondering if the "hero" will remain true to his
love for the heroine, whether or not he will succumb to "the heated and lustful" stares
from "the insidious femme fatale", and what will happen between him and the female
who has the schoolgirl crush on him.[139] Unresolved conflict helps soap operas remain on
the air for decades.[139] In contrast, video games are an interactive media. Various roleplaying love triangles are not as rational.[139] Final Fantasy VIII centers heavily on
Rinoas feelings for Squall and his eventual realization that he feels the same in return,

but the audience learns early on that Squall has another admirer: his former instructor,
Quistis. What flaws this love triangle is that the character dynamic between Squall and
Quistis is never developed during the course of the game, and leaves the player to wonder
why it was even mentioned. The player has no control over whether to pursue Quistiss
feelings as opposed to Rinoa's.[139] Games of this nature make gamers feel as though the
more choices that are denied to them, the less they are actually in control of the action.[139]
Numerous video games have attempted to give players some sort of control in this regard.
In Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom, the player is given the freedom to select the
romantic pairing for three generations of heroes. "The choice results in the siring of a
different set of protagonists for the following generation, thus allowing the player to
actually breed his or her own choice of hero."[139] The Star Ocean series has implemented
love story choices as well. In Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, the player is often asked
questions that almost always affect how particular characters grow to like the protagonist
more or less. "In the end, the player is treated to a finale where the hero is paired with the
individual which garnered the most affection."[139]
It is suggested that, to make video game love stories less redundant, in addition to giving
more freedom to the player to choose his or her love interests, the women in these
romances should be less stereotypical; they should not simply pine for the heros
attention while waiting to be rescued.[139]

Literature, toys, comic book, and other

Romantic and tragic themes found in modern supercouple stories have often been
borrowed from classic literary couples. Romeo and Juliet, due to their enduring legacy
and popularity, are considered an ideal supercouple outline[13] for aspects of forbidden or
tragic love, and the relationship between Anthony and Cleopatra has been described as
fitting the power-couple trope.[145]
In the genres of toys and comic books, toys were given their first prominent supercouple
with the creation of Ken and Barbie by Mattel in 1961[146][147] and comic book
supercouples such as Clark Kent and Lois Lane (created in 1938)[148][149] and Peter Parker
and Mary Jane Watson (created in 1966) are still popular today.[150] The kinds of
characters being described as supercouples is also broadening. For example, Marvel
Comics listed two non-household name superheroes (Rictor and Shatterstar) in a recent
gay relationship as one of their superhero supercouples of 2010 alongside several of their
more traditional pairings.[151]

A Beginners Guide to Sigil Craft

By Nick Margerrison on December 4, 2012 in News

Magick has many aspects, but primarily it acts as a dramatized

system of psychology
- Pope Bob, Robert Anton Wilson
Part 4, Essays for the Discordian Occultist: the sigil.
Heres one way of making a sigil. Its partly cribbed from a talk given by Grant Morrison
at the Disinformation conference[1] with slight personal additional details provided by
my own experiences. Sigils are a low-magick technique which will not fail to get you
exactly what you need. It can become a high-magick technique but for the moment well
just stick to the basics[2].
One important thing to note is that sigils always appear to work. The distinction being; if
I kicked in a window, Id feel I knew whod done it. If I cast a sigil which asked for that
window to be broken and then discovered a few days later it was now broken, no one can
prove a causal relationship between the sigil and the broken window. However I might
get the impression that my sigil was involved in the process somewhere.
Secondly, the following is a (in my opinion better) version of other ideas that have been
kicking round recently such as, The Secret, Cosmic Ordering, and, to a lesser extent,
positive thinking[3]. Its also similar to preying, if you think your God lives within
you[4].
All these above techniques have common elements. All of them are pretty much in
agreement regarding the first part of the process, set your intent. The most effective
Discordian occultists spend more time on step one than they ever do on step four.
Step one: Decide upon your will.
All your workings should be done with pieces of paper and a pen.
This is the hardest part. You need to imagine what it is you want as clearly as possible.
Then refine it until youve got a vision of what it is you really want. Then refine it again
after youve imagined the earth shifting upon its axis in order to grant this wish over the
next few years. Check youre good with the consequences and then, refine it again. I
cant emphasise this enough. See the further reading section for more details.
Once youre happy write it out as a single sentence:

EG: I AM A HEALTHY FOURTEEN AND A HALF STONE, ENERGETIC PERSON.

Notice a few things about the above. When I cast this I wanted to be 14 and a half stone.
There are many ways this could have happened, some of them include ill health. Hence
the words healthy and energetic.
Think of those old fairy stories where someone makes a wish and there are tragic
consequences. King Midas wanted everything he touched to turn to gold. He ends up
regretting his wish. The difference between your sigil becoming a blessing or a curse is in
its detail. Give it lots of thought. Write and re-write the sentence. Check the further
reading section for more information.
Also notice, its not I WANT TO BE or I AM THIS AND NOT THAT. Negatives in
sigils are just negative! If you write I WANT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE look forward
to a life of wanting to be a millionaire. Remember what we learned in part one where you
began lucid dreaming. What would happen to you if you dived into the dream world with
negatives in your mind?
If you truly have followed this series from part one, as opposed to most who will have
just casually landed on it and curiously read to this point, why not try to lucid dream your
intended future first and try it out a bit? If, for example, having lots of sexual partners
gets messy in that world ditch it and come up with a better wish. It needs to feel like a
world you are comfortable in. Once thats the case, state it as if you are already there, in
that positive future.
As an exercise imagine youre in that future calling back into the past when you wrote
out this sigil. Try describing and declaring what its like in as much detail as possible.
Now listen out for your imaginary future self shouting Im the owner of a brand new
convertible and I love it or whatever. Now, write it down!
Finally a note of caution here. Remember we spoke about true will in the last piece?
Well, if your dreams and visions involve others do not enchant realities which
compromise their true will.
So, for example, dont put I am married to Dave who works in accounts. Ask for a less
uncompromising: Im married to a bloke like Dave who works in accounts. This
doesnt rule Dave out of the equation, after all who is more like Dave than Dave?
However if he thinks youre a repulsive creature who hed rather vomit over than have
sex with, youve given the poor guy a get out and you can still get what you need. Far
better to enchant someone, like him who likes you of their own free will.
Its not unlikely youll encounter minor problems with all this but remember what you
learned in part three and fear not: you will live and learn!
Theres nothing to stop you doing another sigil in the future.


Step Two: Remove the vowels and repeated letters.
The first step was by far the most important part. These next bits are 1% of sigil craft and
the bit youve just done was the remaining 99%. However, this 1% which Im about to
explain is the more magick bit. Itll make you feel more like an occultist and theres
enormous value in that.
This means you should check youre comfortable with what youve just done as part of
this second step. You need to feel good on both a subconscious and intuitive level about
the sentence youre turning into a weird looking symbol. If youre not itll come out in
the process later on once the sigil is cast. For now, Ill assume you are and crack on.
Firstly, sigils are crafted and re-drafted by a process of elimination. Like a sculpture
youre going to chip and chisel that sentence down until it looks like a sort of magical
wingding. Begin this by removing the vowels and repeated letters, leaving yourself with a
string of consonants, like so:
MHLTYFRNDSGCP

An example of my weight loss sigil in its early stages

Step three: Combine the letters into one big pattern and begin reducing it into a
simpler image.
This bit is where most people get in a tizz. Remember the most difficult part of the
process was over once youd finished step one. There are no rules as to how you go about
combining the letters but I find it best to jumble them all into one big squiggle. The main
picture is an example of the one were looking at. Ultimately it was successful and I used
a revised version to hit my target weight of 13.5 a year later. This is down from my initial
18.5 stone.
Keep re-drawing it and omitting details as you go along. The point of this process is to
lose sight of what it is the sigil means. Keep drawing until the exact point of your work is

irrelevant to you. Get really bored of the process and lose sight of why it is youre
bothering with such superstitious nonsense. Make it look more and more magickal to
you. Hit a point where it starts to become a labour of love which is totally detached from
your initial intent.
The finished product must look perfect and beautiful. It represents the total of your
efforts. This is now a sigil, yet to be cast. It represents a thought which you are about to
plant into the collective dreamworld so it can start to descend into the world of objective
reality and your future.

Not quite but almost the finished product

Treasure it a bit. Dont cast it straight away. Be pleased with it.
Step Four: Cast it.
People are divided upon how exactly you should do this. Youre looking for an intense
transcendental experience where you can focus on this image and force it through your
mind into the magical dream world while you are fully conscious. Pain, meditation,
orgasm, psychedelic-transcendental drugs or all of the above combined are popular
methods. Whichever youre best at. Combine the intense experience with a good solid
look at the sigil. Then close your eyes and think of it. Project it into your minds eye and
out into the cosmos. Then destroy the paper it is drawn on and forget all about it.
One simple way, which I use, is with a candle. Have the sigil drawn on a piece of paper.
Burn it and then let the flame burn (but not harm) your fingertips. At that precise moment
close your eyes and picture it in your mind. There we are, its cast. The pain should have
done enough to distract you and send it neatly into the world of ideas
There are numerous other methods[5] but the most important part is, as I said, step 1.
Once youve cast your sigil you must then aid its descent into the real world. If you asked
for a new job, get applying for them. If you wanted to lose weight like I did, stop eating
those chocolate cakes.
23

Nick Margerrison.

FURTHER READING:
Any fairy tale where a wish is granted. Any story featuring a Djinn in a bottle who grants
wishes. The story of King Midas.

FOOTNOTES:

50 Powerful Tony Robbins Quotes That

Have Changed My Life

Quotes

by Joel Brown -

1.4k
869

82
292

For most of my life I was brought up off the teachings from the legendary life coach
Tony Robbins. I had the opportunity to see Tony live on stage in Sydney a few years
ago and I believe his words of advice helped to elevate me to the next level of success
during tough times. I was pen to paper the entire conference noting every Tony Robbins
quote that I could, saving them to my smart phone and desktop to motivate me each and
everyday towards success.
So this collection of Tony Robbins quotes are a homage and respect to the legendary
Robbins who is doing amazing things in this world by impacting the lives of those who
are passionate about self development.

The Top Tony Robbins Quotes

The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and
pleasure use you. If you do that, youre in control of your life. If you dont, life controls
you. Tony Robbins
Ive come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the
foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.
- Tony Robbins
Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions. - Tony Robbins
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give
something back by becoming more. - Tony Robbins
A real decision is measured by the fact that youve taken a new action. If theres no
action, you havent truly decided. Tony Robbins
New Year = A New Life! Decide today who you will become, what you will give how
you will live. - Tony Robbins
Leaders spend 5% of their time on the problem & 95% of their time on the solution. Get
over it & crush it! - Tony Robbins

One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus;
we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never
deciding to master anything in particular. - Tony Robbins
The only problem we really have is we think were not supposed to have problems!
Problems call us to higher level- face & solve them now! - Tony Robbins
Your past does not equal your future. - Tony Robbins
For changes to be of any true value, theyve got to be lasting and consistent. - Tony
Robbins
I discovered a long time ago that if I helped enough people get what they wanted, I
would always get what I wanted and I would never have to worry. - Tony Robbins
Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed
decision. - Tony Robbins
If you do what youve always done, youll get what youve always gotten. - Tony
Robbins
It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. - Tony Robbins
In life you need either inspiration or desperation. - Tony Robbins
Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. - Tony
Robbins
Things do not have meaning. We assign meaning to everything. - Tony Robbins
Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. - Tony Robbins
Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience
lifes deepest joy: true fulfillment. - Tony Robbins
If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and
copy what they do and youll achieve the same results. - Tony Robbins
I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of
those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk. - Tony Robbins
It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute that gives meaning to
our lives. - Tony Robbins
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals that is, goals that do not inspire
them. - Tony Robbins

Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the
awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that
disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives. - Tony Robbins

We can change our lives. We can do, have, and be exactly what we wish. - Tony
Robbins
We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is
accurate or not. - Tony Robbins
Everybodys life is either rewarding or an example. - Tony Robbins
Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any
and every part of your life in an instant. - Tony Robbins
To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we
perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with
others. - Tony Robbins
Its your unlimited power to care and to love that can make the biggest difference in the
quality of your life. - Tony Robbins

Lack of emotion causes lack of progress and lack of motivation. - Tony Robbins
If you believe you are right, or you believe you are wrong, youre right. Whenever you
are certain about it, you will support it. Remember that. - Tony Robbins
If you cant, you must. If you must, you can. - Tony Robbins
If you dont set a baseline standard for what youll accept in life, youll find its easy to
slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life thats far below what you
deserve. - Tony Robbins
Most people fail in life because they major in minor things. - Tony Robbins
Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we
focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives. - Tony Robbins
Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, where you want, with whom you
want, as much as you want. - Tony Robbins
The only people without problems are those in cemeteries. - Tony Robbins
Nothing has any power over me other than that which I give it through my conscious
thoughts. - Tony Robbins
Its not knowing what to do; its doing what you know. - Tony Robbins
Create a vision and never let the environment, other peoples beliefs, or the limits of
what has been done in the past shape your decisions. - Tony Robbins
The path to success is to take massive, determined action. - Tony Robbins
Its what you practice in private that you will be rewarded for in public. - Tony
Robbins
When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears. - Tony Robbins
The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships. - Tony Robbins
Your income right now is a result of your standards, it is not the industry, it is not the
economy. - Tony Robbins
There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether its the aspiration of an
athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson. - Tony Robbins

Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people
overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can
achieve in a decade. - Tony Robbins
Commit to CANI! Constant And Never-ending Improvement. - Tony Robbins
Where focus goes, energy flows. - Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins is a life changing rockstar and as you can see he is a man full of so much
wisdom for all. If you loved this collection of the top Tony Robbins quotes please make
sure you share this article with your loved ones and followers.
If we left any quotes out that you feel has been a game changer for you please share your
favorite Tony Robbins quotes in the comments section below

Feature Image originally appeared on Haute Time