The Apothecary Diaries: The Empress Dowager Anshi and Breaking Generational Cursesfeatured

cw: alcoholism, pedophilia, incest, rape, and sexual assault mentions

Spoilers for Apothecary Diaries Season 2

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Intro

This article discusses side characters in the Apothecary Diaries and the show’s representation of women during an era in history when marginalization was prevelant along with “generational curses.”

Despite not winning any show awards at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the Apothecary Diaries is a favorite among fans for its depiction of Maomao, a young woman making her way through life’s many challenges during a fictional version of the Ming Dynasty in China. While Maomao is the protagonist, there are many notable  side characters that play important roles in the story, especially considering that time period in history.

Explanation of Generational Curses and the Late Emperor

Generational curses are typically a belief of negative supernatural power that has been cast upon a family due to a wrong committed and passed down to subsequent generations. It is often referred to in religious texts and associated more in those settings. A prime example being in the Bible when Adam and Eve broke the first commandment and fell from grace, therefore “cursing” all mankind to death.

In reality generational curses are also negative traits and behaviors,  often described as “sins” transmitted to descendants that have been exposed through environmental factors and possibly passed through genetics.  A representation of this is laid out in a family’s genogram. These manifest in many forms, with a few examples of these negative traits being alcoholism, pedophilia, and incest, but there are many more.  This article explores the latter.

In the story, the former Emperor (now deceased approximately six years) has a traumatic backstory where his siblings died from a plague and he was forced to take on the role of a ruler at a young age. His mother, Empress Regnant, used cruel and abusive methods raising him, making the former Emperor a victim himself. The abuse led to his overall waning mental health and caused him to be afraid of adult women. Due to this fear he took inappropriately young concubines, eliciting disapproval of those around him. Even for that era in history, when a number of practices occurred that are unethical and illegal by today’s standards and laws, the late Emperor was known to be exceptionally repugnant.

The Empress Regnant’s backstory is unknown, though based on the era is quite possible her story is also tragic. Maomao seems to think she was initially well-meaning, but unintentionally caused strife in her attempt to hold power, not only did she abuse her son, but then later enabled his behavior.

The intergenerational transmission of negative traits and behaviors is complicated, as some offspring don’t carry on their ancestors iniquities while others do. There is much discussion about how continuous exposure will reinforce certain behaviors whether the recipient approves the activities or not (this does not excuse their responsibility in acknowledging and handling the matter). An example might be alcoholism that often has a link of family history. Take a home of substance abuse with two or more children. One child may grow up to become an alcoholic after seeing a parent relying on drinking to cope with struggles in life, because that is the only thing they grew up knowing. While another child in the household will seek to “break” that behavior because of the negative impact it has had on them.

The Current Emperor

The depiction of the current Emperor is that he is a generally well-liked person and ruler, who wants to be nothing like his father.  While he is a ruler living under obligations and expectations, his noble and caring behavior is demonstrated several times throughout the show. He expresses much care and concern for his concubines as humans, and not vessels to produce heirs. One of the most demonstrative of his principles is the fact that Concubine Lishu, a girl of approximately fifteen years old that was originally to be the late Emperor’s concubine (if you’re doing the math she was approximately nine years old or younger at that time), still lives in the palace and is protected by the current Emperor; yet she remains innocent and it is stated that he has never “touched her.”

Empress Dowager Anshi and Breaking the Curse

One of the many wonderful aspects of the Apothecary Diaries is characters that are human. They make mistakes, they do the wrong thing for the right reason, they are flawed people just trying their best at life, and the Empress Anshi is the embodiment of that. She was born an illegitimate child, just ten years old when she was brought into the palace as an attendant to a concubine that was her half-sister. Her ambition caused her to make a decision she may not have understood the consequences to, as she capitalized on the late Emperor’s depravity. All through the pregnancy the young Empress was in danger and she suffered from dystocia, requiring a cesarean section because she could not give birth to her son naturally. Whether she realized it or not, the Empress herself was a victim of her circumstances, but she refused to have a victim mentality.

Later in her adult life, she became furious at the Emperor who no longer looked at her the same as he did when she was a girl, even after all she went through. She sees him continuing to eye young girls over and over, and in her anger she assaults the Emperor and becomes pregnant once more with his child. There’s a few details that won’t be discussed for the sake of spoilers and details in this article, but essentially she raises Jinshi, known as the Moon Prince.

Empress Anshi went through much trauma, so much that it might have broken a less resilient person, but in the end she used what power she had to make changes for those around her. Her revenge on the Former Emperor caused him to have a final mental-break and he lived the rest of his life in solitude with his mother. While unfortunate for him, it saved other young girls from becoming his victims. Empress Anshi used her authority to ban slavery and eunuchs, and started a women’s clinic at the palace. One other thing she imparted that’s less obvious is possibly the curse she broke. Empress Regnant imposed pain and suffering on her child, who then victimized others while she acted as an enabler; but Empress Anshi, a victim herself, shielded her sons from their father’s iniquities and raised them accordingly. While it’s not openly addressed, the relationship between Empress Anshi and her sons demonstrates she broke what statistically could have been a diabolical pattern spanning generation after generation.

This concept of breaking the trauma cycle resonates with audiences today because current generations are acknowledging and pursuing ways to disrupt these harmful generational patterns. Statistics show more adults are now seeking mental health than ever before and 90% of those have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives.

Definitions-

Genogram: a diagram outlining the history of the behavior patterns (as of divorce, abortion, or suicide) of a family over several generations

Dystocia: Difficult birth

References-

What are generational curses and how to break them.  Howstuffworks.com

Reinforcement Schedules. Psychology Today.

Understanding the Generational Aspect of Addiction. Psychology Today.

Cycle of child sexual abuse: links between being a victim and becoming a perpetrator. PubMed.

What is generational trauma? And how to break the cycle. Dr. John G. Kuna.

Quickstats: Mental Health Treatment Trends. CDC.gov.

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