Abstract In the Movie, American Psycho, Patrick Bateman demonstrate challenges to identify his unique type of personality theories. The purpose of this essay is to review a selected film as a Psychology student, and discuss it from a psychological perspective. Also in this paper providing a diagnosis for a character in the movie and discuss the behaviors that support the selected diagnosis, and to explain and discuss the mental illness depicted in the film. Movie: American Psycho Have you ever had a discussion with someone person and the first thing you hear, that person is a psycho? What the individual is really describing is a person who is believed to be insane or crazy based off of the way the person interacts with others or along. The movie that I chose to watch is American Psycho. This movie is about a materialistic, wealthy Wall Street investment banker who has a double life in which one of the lives he lives is as a serial killer.( Harron, M Director ,2000, April 14). He is addicted to drugs, sex, and conspicuous consumption. He is obsessed with designer clothes, business cards, alcohol, and music such as Whitney Houston, Robert Palmer, Huey Lewis, and many other artists. Most people think they know the answer after watching this movie but director Mary Harron's answer might surprise you there is a long list of evidence supporting the claim that Patrick Bateman has to be imagining everything. To begin with he starts a killing spree after an ATM machine
America seems to be trapped in the illusion of believing that it is the most powerful country and “ continue to embrace the illusion of inevitable progress, personal success and rising prosperity( American Psychosis).” However, in reality American continues to engage in war, augment its debt and millions of Americans rely on food stamps to survive. While a good percent of America is struggling from day to day, the rest of the general public are trapped in a psychosis and concerned with the next voted-off contestant of “America’s next top Model”, or “Survivor” rather than the adverse current events transpiring today. In Chris Hedges article “American Psychosis” all these points are emphasized through use of strong language and pathos.
“Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?” (Easton Ellis). Are we considered evil by our action or thoughts? If we are constantly contemplating evil and horrific thoughts but do not act upon them, the initial thoughts may still influence our unconscious minds, which can then, in turn, affect our conscious thoughts and actions indirectly. Compare that to those who act upon their evil thoughts and therefore are more authentic to their natural and uninfluenced personality. Humans are strongly related to our savage animal brothers; however we do everything in our means to appear separate and civilized. Regardless of our attempt at separation, we still remain savage beasts by nature and suppressing our natural state only makes our
Many individuals have the power to alter their perception, but many people have disorders to comfort and confront their psychological perspectives. In the film, Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David O. Russell explains how psychological disorders are maintained within Pat and Tiffany, and explaining their theoretical personalities to three sub categories: psychodynamic, biological and trait, and sociocultural. The psychodynamic perspective looks at the topographical and structural model created by Freud. In continuation, the biological perspective is based on the genetic traits, and the Big 5 personality traits. Finally, I'll discuss the sociocultural perspective which a based on the environment factors in one's life. All of these perspectives
This paper analyzes and assesses the personality of the character Felix Unger (played by Jack Lemmon) in the movie, The Odd Couple. The paper starts by offering a synopsis of the movie, which is followed by a description of Mr. Unger, his presenting problem, a mental status examination of him, and a history of Mr. Unger’s background. Next the paper offers a five-axis diagnostic impression of Mr. Unger and rationalization for such diagnoses. The paper develops a case formulation which includes the pathology behind Mr. Unger’s diagnosis and recommendations for treatment. Both the case formulation and recommendations for treatment
American Psycho is an incredible film with an even more brilliant cast; Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, and Reese Witherspoon, to name a few. When the scene opens, you see Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) going about a normal healthy life as a wealthy investment banker. But then you start to see the secret life he is leading as a serial killer. When he and his friends flaunt their business cards to each other, he gets jealous of coworker Paul Allen’s (Jarod Leto) card, he murders a homeless man and his dog out of rage. Bateman went to a Christmas party and was mistaken by Allen for another
In conclusion, Shutter Island shows a relatively accurate portrayal of a person struggling with Delusional Disorder, Persecutory Type. Throughout
In the film, “Proof”, the main character Catherine goes through hardships after her father passes away. She can not be diagnosed with abnormal behavior because all 4 characteristics have to meet her actions. Only the maladaptive characteristic fit her actions. In order for one to be diagnosed with depression, five of the symptoms have to be present during the same two-week period and at least symptom one or two have to be involved. Also, all five letters A through E have to be present. Catherine can be diagnosed with major depression due to the criteria evident. Letter A through E were all present throughout the film for Catherine. The five symptoms involved were numbers one, two, three, six, and seven.
Our comprehension of human experience can be expanded through the viewing of a world outside our own. In A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, a differing world engulfed with mental illness has been depicted through the life of mathematician John Nash and the subsequent human experience of the relationships built around it and the struggles associated. It is the responders’ observation of a differing world that leads to a greater understanding of the mental illness and the impact of relationships while allowing me to gain a greater compassion for those who suffer from mental illness.
Murder and schizophrenia were vividly interpreted in the movie "Psycho" through the use of characters. The character of Norman Bates was the central character in the film and had a complex and differing personality. One moment he was shy, kind, lonely Norman Bates, a mother's boy, and the next he was a deadly jealous Mrs. Bates, his deceased mother. This change of personalities was because he was affected by schizophrenia, and at times his mother's side took over his persona. We can see this
Alfred Hitchcock was a renowned film director known for his elements of suspense and psychological thrillers. His most popular work Psycho is adapted from a novel of the same name written by Robert Bloch. The story of a phoenix secretary (Marion Crane) who embezzled money from a client is used to unveil the psycho in the male character (Norman Bates). The success of the film is greatly relied on Hitchcock’s unique techniques in creating tension and suspense. Elements that contributed to the success of the film include motifs, and narrative perspective used.
character. In a way, I believe that American Psycho can almost be seen as a more modern
We feel that One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest is filled with many psychological connotations. This movie is set in a mental hospital where McMurphy was admitted to be psychologically evaluated because of violent behavior. Upon his arrival McMurphy noticed that the patients were very robot-like in their actions. The hospital is extremely structured where the patient’s daily life was monotonous. We will discuss the various connotations by answering the following questions that have been asked.
The film I chose to watch is the original Psycho, filmed in 1960 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The stars of the cast included Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Martin Balsam. (IMDB.com, 2006) The story begins about a young woman named Marion Crane from Arizona who is fed up with her life and longs to marry her boyfriend, Sam. Unfortunately, the couple has little money and cannot marry. One Friday afternoon, she is asked to deposit forty-thousand dollars for her boss. Seeing the money as an opportunity to start a new life with her lover, she takes off for California with the money. She ends up becoming tired from the drive and pulls into the Bates Motel. Unfortunately for Marion, the owner of the motel, Norman
In this character analysis paper the character of Jenny Curran from the award winning movie Forrest Gump will be the subject of discussion. This paper will present an analysis of the Jenny’s personality as it is applicable to Psychodynamic theory. The paper will present my rationale for the choice to use the Psychodynamic theory to describe Jenny Curran’s personality. In addition, this paper will present a description of the psychodynamic theory utilizing the work of Sigmund Freud regarding personality development. The paper will contain a description of Jenny Curran, as well as, an analysis of her personality utilizing Psychodynamic theory
The movie A Beautiful Mind is one that offers psychologists with a lot of fodder to think about and its storyline brings out various aspects of psychology that can be analyzed to bring a more conclusive close to this debate. The thesis statement of this essay is that psychological disorders need to be understood independently of various factors such as biological and environmental factors. This is because the world of psychology has always tried to attach the above factors to various psychological disorders but I strongly feel that psychological disorders need to be understood and analyzed independently so as a true and deeper understanding of these disorders comes to the fore. The movie A Beautiful Mind is about a genius mathematician Nash who has a psychological disorder, which is later diagnosed to be paranoid schizophrenia. The effects of this disorder are evident in the movie and the essay tries to see how the need to study psychological disorders independently could be helpful in helping various examples of cases such as that of John Forbes Nash.