Casey Anthony’s Break Down

Earlier in the week, I asked people if they thought Casey’s emotions were genuine or fake in this video.

They were absolutely genuine.

When the video first begins, we see Casey Anthony pressing her lips and then she shakes her head.  She is clearly frustrated.  I would call it a low-grade anger at this point.  She continues to give us indications to support that as she “blows off steam” so-to-speak and looks off into nowhere.  Casey also cocks her jaw off to the side which also is indicative of frustration (it can also be boredom and other things, too…it depends on the circumstances).

At time marker 0:22, Casey’s eyelids get heavy and we have our  first indication of sadness (perhaps self-pity).  She then clenches her jaw.  She is working very hard not to break down.  She doesn’t want to break down, but at 0:49 she can’t help herself.  She gives us a true and genuine expression of sadness.  If you look, you will see oblique eyebrows. Within seconds, however, Casey has composed herself again.

She steeples her hands in front of her face almost in a gesture of prayer to keep herself from reacting.  It’s as if you can hear her say to herself silently, “Don’t cry. Don’t cry”.  She again purses her lips, trying to hold back her raw emotions of frustration. Her eyes, I suspect, do well up and she is unable to control it.  I don’t see any tears, but she wipes her eyes probably because they feel wet.

Casey listens intently as the man says we are in a time period where we have 24 hour news.   Casey continues to show frustration more than any other emotion.  The wiping of her face could be a self-pacifying gesture as well (though I also believe she is making sure that she doesn’t have any mascara under her eyes also).  I notice she is running her tongue along her teeth, too.  That is another indication of self-soothing behavior.

If you want my opinion, in this video, it is taking every ounce of energy that Casey has not to react.  She is frustrated and angry, and she knows it will only hurt her case if she has an outburst, so she is working very hard at keeping her emotions in, and it shows.