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202 Movies and Mental Illness Personality Disorder. Almost every character exhibits some degree of psychopathology. The film is a compelling examination of what Freud called the psychopathology of everyday life. American History X (1998) Drama/ Suspense ΨΨΨ Edward Norton plays an antisocial, white supremacist who decides to change his life when he sees his younger brother is following his example. American Psycho (1999) Drama/Suspense ΨΨΨ Christian Bale is Patrick Bateman, a narcissistic Wall Street executive, who emphasizes excess and style over substance in everything from business cards and facial cleansers to restaurant selection and conversation. He is depicted as a serial killer who saves the victim’s heads in his refrigerator. However, there is enough cinematic evidence to suggest that there were no murders at all, and everything in the film simply reflects the fantasies of an antisocial mind. Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Drama ΨΨΨΨ Jimmy Stewart as an attorney defending a man accused of murder. His case rests on the contention that the defendant could not help behaving as he did because the man he murdered had allegedly raped his wife. The film raises interesting questions about the irresistible impulse defense. Anything Else (2003) Comedy ΨΨ Woody Allen film about a young man with dependent personality who falls for an erratic young woman (Christina Ricci). “See where I’m standing? That’s where I’m from.” Robert Duvall as Sonny in The Apostle Apostle, The (1997) Drama ΨΨΨΨ Robert Duvall directs, writes, and stars as a philandering but dedicated minister who flees his hometown after committing a violent act. His redemptive journey takes him to a small town where he builds a ministry until his past catches up with him. Apt Pupil (1998) Drama/Suspense ΨΨΨ A high school student becomes fascinated with his discovery of a man (Ian McKellan) who was formerly a Nazi henchman for Hitler. McKellan is living (and hiding out) in a local town. The student manipulates the man to tell him detailed stories of the man’s previous work. “To the whole world I am a monster.” Ian McKellan as an escaped Nazi in Apt Pupil Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Comedy ΨΨ Frank Capra film about Cary Grant’s two aunts who practice mercy killing by giving their gentlemen guests poisoned elderberry wine. Grant worries about the fact that mental illness not only runs in his family, it gallops! Bad Santa (2003) Comedy Ψ This Terry Zwigoff film stars Billy Bob Thornton as a rule breaking, crass alcoholic who works as Santa Claus at a department store. The female co-star has a “Santa fetish.” Bad Seed, The (1956) Drama Ψ Interesting examination of whether or not evil is congenital. Bartleby (2001) Comedy ΨΨΨΨ This dark comedy brilliantly casts Crispin Glover as the aloof, quirky clerk, Bartleby, who repeats the same phrase “I would prefer not to” when asked to work. Ironically colorful set design and a hodgepodge of quirky personalities as supporting cast. This is clearly a “love it or hate it” film, based on a short story by Herman Melville. Bartleby’s character is a classic depiction of a person with a schizoid personality. Bartleby (1970) Comedy ΨΨΨ Original, black and white, version of the Herman Melville short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. More slow, dark, and dreary than its recent counterpart, yet still an excellent depiction of schizoid personality. Believer, The (2001) Drama ΨΨΨ Fascinating character study of Danny Burrows who is living his life in an impossible contradiction as a Jewish Nazi. As he faces his true self, his ruthless antisocial characteristics begin to crumble. From: Wedding, D., Boyd, M.A., & Niemiec, R.M. Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology © 2005 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers (www.hogrefe.com)
Appendix G: Films Illustrating Psychopathology 203 Based on a true story of events that occurred in Burrows’ life in the Fall of 1965. Box of Moonlight (1996) Drama ΨΨΨ A rigid, orderly, rule-obsessed man, played by John Turturro, takes extra time off from his blue-collar, managerial position and from his family to re-discover his lost adolescence. The title becomes a beautiful, transformational metaphor in the film. Bruce Almighty (2002) Comedy Ψ Whimsical comedy about a man (Jim Carrey) given the opportunity to “be God” for a day. Butley (1974) Drama ΨΨΨΨ Alan Bates in a Harold Pinter film adaptation of a London play about the life of a British university professor. Bates’ wife and lover are both leaving him, and his colleagues are estranged. Bates seems to fail in every interpersonal encounter. Caine Mutiny, The (1954) Drama ΨΨΨ Humphrey Bogart is the ship’s paranoid captain, who decompensates under the pressure of testimony when he is called to the witness stand. Humphrey Bogart plays the role of Captain Queeg. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Drama ΨΨΨ Steven Spielberg directs Leonardo Dicaprio who plays the role of a manipulative con man with an antisocial personality. He repeatedly changes his identity while defrauding banks and keeping FBI agent (Tom Hanks) one step behind him. Based on the true story of Frank Abagnal, Jr. “That boy, I’ll strangle him for nine tenths and the last tenth will make him strong.” Dreverhaven describing his son in Character Character (1998) Drama ΨΨΨ Best Foreign Film winner (Dutch) about a young man’s personal and financial struggle to be free of his antisocial father. His mother appears to have a schizoid personality disorder. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) Drama ΨΨ A Robert Altman film in which Sandy Dennis plays a local woman in a small Texas town who is convinced she bore a son by James Dean when he was in town filming Giant. Conspiracy Theory (1997) Drama ΨΨ Mel Gibson plays a cab driver with virtually no personal life, who is obsessed with a woman, and who writes a newsletter on conspiracies. His paranoia takes him to every possible place and situation, including one conspiracy that turns out true. Conversation, The (1974) Drama ΨΨΨ A Francis Ford Coppola film in which Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert with a paranoid personality. The Crush (1993) Drama/Suspense Ψ Alicia Silverstone plays a 14-year-old temptress who is obsessed with a 28-year-old man who is simply not interested in her. This is an interesting portrayal of a character who is likely to qualify for a diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (as soon as she turns 18). Dementia 13 (1963) Horror Ψ Third rate film about an ax murderer; interesting primarily because it is Francis Ford Coppola’s first “serious” film. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) Drama/Comedy ΨΨ A group of friends teach a young woman (Sandra Bullock) about her troubled mother. Ellen Burstyn and Ashley Judd play the erratic, labile, and abusive mother. Dogville (2003) Drama ΨΨΨ Nicole Kidman stars as a woman on the run who finds refuge in a small, isolated town. If a town could be diagnosed, this one would clearly be “antisocial” as group contagion results in manipulation, deceit, and abuse. Unique set design of a town without any houses or doors and is set as if on a theater stage. Dream Lover (1994) Drama Ψ A sociopathic woman plots to marry a man and then have him committed to an insane asylum. End of Violence, The (1997) Drama ΨΨΨ Wim Wenders film about a paranoid personality played by Bill Pullman. Evita (1997) Drama/Musical ΨΨ Madonna portrays Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron, and depicts her rise from poverty and scandal to From: Wedding, D., Boyd, M.A., & Niemiec, R.M. Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology © 2005 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers (www.hogrefe.com)
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Films Illustrating Psychopathology Danny Wedding Mary Ann Boyd ...

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