John Nash Mental Illness

Movies are made for entertainment. People go to movies to feel emotions, whether those are humor, sadness, joy, fear, or a combination of all. These films can be fiction, non-fiction, animated, etc., and, although many of them are made well, they often miss a lot of facts. Mental illnesses have been illustrated in films in a number of styles, but their depiction is often inaccurate or altered.
People often feel sympathy for characters with cancer, but not for people with mental illnesses (Sass). This all changed with the release of A Beautiful Mind. The movie depicted mental illness in a way that had never been done before, and it intrigued many audiences. The main character in the film was John Nash (played by Russell Crowe), who was

John Nash is critical of the film for depicting visual hallucinations that he had never seen (Khan). This portrayal in the film was inaccurate, but it did capture audiences’ attentions, and spread awareness while extracting empathy for schizophrenia like no other film had done before. One additional flaw to the film is the misconception that schizophrenia or other similar disorders enhance brain functionality. This is false, and, in fact, A Beautiful Mind helps establish and expand the stereotype that geniuses emerge from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (Sass). In reality, John Nash had a very bright future with his mind, and he studied at Carnegie for chemical engineering before switching to math (Khan). He developed the disease later in his life, and rather than help him focus or concentrate on his studies, it only hindered him. One study on schizophrenia reveals, “There is often a creative aspect to many people who develop schizophrenia, even though the disease usually devastates the ability to express their potential,” (Sass) John Nash reviews the film’s depiction of himself, saying, “I don’t regard it as giving