The Artistry of Psychopath Tropes and Film Presentations Basic Instinct, a 1992 film stars Nick Curran, a homicide detective, and his partner and closest friend Gus Moran who investigate the murder of retired rock star Johnny Boz. In the film’s opening, a haunting overhead shot captures the aftermath of Johnny Boz’s brutal murder as he lies shrouded in bloodied sheets, blue hands tied to the bedpost, and a ceiling mirror positioned above him, ominously reflecting the grisly scene. Boz was stabbed to death with an ice pick while having sex with a mysterious blonde woman. Catherine Tramell, a blonde woman played by the enchanting Sharon Stone, becomes the prime suspect of the homicide case as she has regularly indulged in masochistic rolling …show more content…
Given that Catherine is the fluid amoral killer who ends up still rich, still beautiful, and free in a fulfilling relationship with Nick, the film faced widespread criticism for perpetuating the gay psychopath trope, alongside misogynistic themes that reinforced negative stereotypes about women. The president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organisation for Women at the time joined protests against the film for being “so blatant in its misogyny, it is like a lynching” (cited in Simkin 82). However, I find that the common trope of portraying women as virginal and disinterested in sex, particularly prevalent in the 1970s, sharply contrasts with the character of Catherine and her unabashedly high libido, enjoying sex with whomever she chooses without shame or reservation. To me, Catherine’s character was a departure from the traditional portrayals of women, but to too many critics Basic Instinct was a message that “women are dangerous and smart; women can’t be trusted”(cited in Simkin
" Hollywood producers influenced by the backlash trend in the media, created a series of movies that pitted the angry career woman against the domestic maternal "Good woman"."
Have you ever seen Psycho? I have, and in my opinion this movie is one of the best horror flicks ever. Part of the reason I think this because of the motifs Hitchcock added to the movie. Some of these motifs are the motion down, eyes, and circles.
Robert Hare is the author of “Without Conscious: The disturbing World of the Psychopaths among us.”This book is about knowing what a psychopath is and understanding what it is about so that people will not be caught off guard when they ran into someone with the disorder. This book focuses on confronting psychopaths, the behavior that these people exhibit and how these behaviors ultimately affect other people. These people have no remorse for the things that they do and how it ends up affecting other people because all they care about is themselves and getting what they want to get without hesitation and remorse for the other people that will be hurt in the process.
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
American commercial cinema currently fuels many aspects of society. In the twenty-first century it has become available, active force in the perception of gender relations in the United States. In the earlier part of this century filmmakers, as well as the public, did not necessarily view the female“media image” as an infrastructure of sex inequality. Today, contemporary audiences and critics have become preoccupied with the role the cinema plays in shaping social values, institutions, and attitudes. American cinema has become narrowly focused on images of violent women, female sexuality, the portrayal of the “weaker sex” and subversively portraying women negatively in film. “Double Indemnity can be read in two ways. It is either a misogynist film about a terrifying, destroying woman, or it is a film that liberates the female character from the restrictive and oppressed melodramatic situation that render her helpless” (Kolker 124). There are arguably two extreme portrayals of the character of Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity; neither one is an accurate or fare portrayal.
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” The time is 1775, and Patrick Henry is tasked with delivering a speech to the Virginia Convention to convince them to form a militia. He was a respected lawyer and was heavily opposed to Britain’s policies. Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” uses pathos to tell the colonists that they have no time to compromise with the British and that the British will show them no mercy. Henry’s usage of pathos helps instill fear into the colonists. “There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!” (Henry 4). Henry says that if the colonists back down, they will become slaves
By dissecting the film, the director, Jennie Livingston's methodology and the audience's perceived response I believe we can easily ignore a different and more positive way of understanding the film despite the many flaws easy for feminist minds to criticize. This is in no way saying that these critiques are not valid, or that it is not beneficial to look at works of any form through the many and various feminist lenses.
Studies show that traits of a serial killer can be seen in a person at a very young age. Most warning signs go unnoticed which is why the growth of the killer continues. A thing such as animal cruelty is one of many clues inside the growth of a serial killers mind “They often start out their careers by maiming, harming, and torturing small animals.” “In extreme cases, they have been known to spend hours inflicting a slow death on animals...this is a form of control that allows them the power to crave” (Kocsis,2008) . Many future serial killers also show a major interest in setting fires. Even though it is common for most young children to show a slight interest in fire, those with serial killing in their future are somewhat pyromaniacs. Psychologist say serial killers have a fetish with fire that is equivalent with an arsonist “Arson is psychologically attractive because it involves manipulating power and control, something that serial killing also offers” (Myers, 2006, p.904) they can even start out as arsonist before they develop fully into their careers of serial killing. Many of the characteristics given above can be easily seen in a child but are ignored either because the guardian does not care or because they believe the child will “grow out of” whatever phase they are going through. The fact of the matter is that these are psychological problems that will not just fade away with age. The cause of most of these behaviors in most children is due to impulse control and the reward center in the brain. When a child does things such as set fire to things or torture helpless creatures it boost the reward system in the brain causing them excitement , pleasure and the want to continue this behavior because they feel enjoyment from...
It can be said that Hitchcock had in some regard, the upmost contempt and disregard for the female character and its expression throughout the majority of his films, showing both a lack of “incontrovertible evidence” (101) and a lack of restrainment in his depiction of a highly problematic and violent incident, the rape and the “attempted” (almost subsequent) murder of a woman. Regardless of how violently depicted the aforementioned incident was, it is the female’s inevitable exclusion through sound and language that leads to her inevitable downfall, displaying both films’ attempts “to appropriate femininity and to destroy it”, alluding to Modelski’s curious comparison of “sympathy and misogyny” (110).
Depictions of psychopaths today have become exaggerated based off of what you see in movies and films. The psychopaths in movies are believed to be dangerous or have an anti-social personality disorder. Not all psychopaths can be defined in that manner. Psychopaths are identified as people who are emotionally unstable. They are ultimately suffering from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. There have been studies ultimately wondering if a psychopath is born, or is it raised? Genetics and environment combine to produce conditions that create psychopathology. By paying attention to environmental variables we can potentially reduce the amount of people who become dangerous psychopaths.
Psychopathy; the trait that truly distinguishes humans from ¨machines¨, emotionful to emotionless. Within the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, one may logically assume that the protagonist, Patrick Bateman is indeed implied to be a psycho as the title suggests. However upon further analyzation, Bateman is revealed to be an unreliable narrator, he does not captivate the reader with all of his emotions verbally, for they are revealed through his actions. Bateman certainly does murder people, however, clinically murder doesn´t rule somebody to be a psychopath. Bateman feels no visible remorse for the victims he kills, because Bateman lives in an artificial hyperbole of a yuppie world where no love is shown, all relationships superficial.
The media most often showcases psychopaths as individuals who are inherently evil and dangerous towards themselves and others. Yet, this concept of psychopathy goes far beyond this idea of pure evil and instead necessitates a needed psychological understanding. These individuals, psychopaths, are generally characterized by a lack of empathy and conscience. Indeed, psychopath’s indifference to the repercussions of their actions combined with other characteristics such as hostility and aggression make for a potentially dangerous personality (Lyken, 1996, p.30). In order to identify a psychopath’s recidivism, it is important to differentiate them from sociopaths who, instead of having a psychological impairment that makes it difficult for them to socialize, have been systematically under socialized (Lyken, 1996, p.30). In accordance. psychologists have developed the methods such as the Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R) to help identify those with psychopathic tendencies (Walters, 2012, p.409). That is why predictions of recidivism among psychopaths is most efficient when done
The attitude towards women has changed dramatically since 1990, the year that this film came out; you will however, find a few men who still have the attitude that women were put on this earth for their enjoyment. In the early nineties, women were hyper-sexualized and viewed as pawns in a game. MTV showed music videos with scantily clad women, which were seen as extremely scandalous at the time. The nineties was also an era of growth, liberalization and sexual discoveries that carried over from the eighties.... ...
A psychopath is someone who is unable to live harmoniously in society due to their profound lack of compassion, empathy, conscience, and remorse (Hare, 1993). Many psychopathic symptoms have been proposed to result from cognitive and emotional processing impairments. The concept of a psychopath is often of a ruthless and dangerous criminal, an image commonly depicted in the media and film. Though psychopaths do make up an estimated 40% of dangerous offenders in Canada, it is the non-violent manipulators and cheaters, like white-collar criminals and unethical business people, who can have the most impact on the general population (Bonta & Motiuk; 1996, Hare, 1993). Therefore, understanding the cognitive bases and development of psychopathy can allow exploration into possible interventions and treatments, as well as identifying measures for use in diagnosing psychopathy in childhood and adolescence. Additionally, the deciphering of abnormal processes can give insight into normal functioning, thus helping to expand current knowledge. This paper reviews conclusions that processing of
When Ronson wraps up his work in The Psychopath Test, a novel, he creates a theme of paranoia as he ventured into an industry of madness. He establishes his work’s meaning that any individual may appear normal, abnormal, or be a psychopath within. In other words, his theme follows the idea that life can be full of deceiving people. In order to convey his theme, he used four significant characters. They include himself as the narrator, David Shayler with Rachel North, and Robert Hare. These characters not only emphasize Ronson’s theme, but also help establish the purpose of his theme, which is to showcase that madness can be anywhere.