Hey Guys,
I have to do a module b essay question on A Beautiful Mind. I have completed an introduction and a paragraph. If someone can provide with some direction/ideas for my next paragraph that would be great.
“A schizophrenic may feel that when he looks at you, he may believe that it’s not himself who’s looking out his own eyes. Someone, somehow is actually having his experience.” In light of the above reference, how does Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind choose to convey mental illness can impact a person’s relationship with people and places?
A mental illness can often cloud an individual’s mind, manipulating their sense of self and place into believing a falsified perception. Ron Howard’s biopic ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001) creatively explores the idea of how mental illness, in particular, schizophrenia, can affect an individual’s interactions with both people and places. Howard delves into an unconventional subject matter of mental illness that is represented in a form that is accessible and understandable. Howard’s narrative structure of the film is intentionally highly fictionalised and far from a literal telling in order to capture the significant impact mental illness can have upon an individual’s relationship with their surroundings. Ultimately, Howard’s ‘A Beautiful Mind’ successfully provides audiences with the ability to comprehend the experiences often related to schizophrenia.
It is within an ‘out-of-body’ – like experience that an individual’s association with people around them are affected upon. Howard’s ‘A Beautiful Mind’ sheds light on the momentous effects of mental illness, in particular, paranoid schizophrenia can have on an individual’s affiliation with those around them. This concept is starkly clear within the scene where John Nash, a mathematician, meets Parcher for the first time in a dull and dark setting, who is indeed his own mind’s manifested illusion. Through Howard’s application of low-key lighting, it fabricates a chiaroscuro effect and ultimately further accentuates the fact Parcher is, in fact, a figment of his imagination. Moreover, the scene where Parcher introduces himself to Nash, where he is seen wearing a coal-black suit with a black fedora, depicts superiority and apprehension related with Parcher and also introduces the idea of film-noir style. Howard’s employment of a mid-shot of Nash’s reaction provides us with an insight into Nash’s perspective and ultimately demonstrates the realness that Nash’s perceives and strengthens the idea that Parcher is real. Nonetheless, this juxtaposed with the non-diegetic sound (no-footsteps) when Parcher entered the scene, giving understanding to recognising Nash’s falsified perception. Nash’s sense of concern and confusion reality is further questioned when he says, “I thought this place was abandoned.” Hence, Nash’s progressive hallucination of Parcher greatly influences his relation with his surroundings as Nash is hypnotised by the peculiarity of Parcher’s imaginative world.
Thanks in advance!
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