The Movie Misery Chastain

It is more likely to stick in our memory, when a film villain can make us think about what lies within all of us. One must wonder why on the other hand Hollywood would invest in making a villain that remains without purpose. By such anemic villainous renderings we’re temporarily startled and sometimes even jump out of our seats of these masked characters such as Michael in “Halloween", that senselessly slashed and kill their victims, yet they seem to fall flat. Indeed, these slasher films do not leave the same lasting impression of our memory, as something that simulates a horror so close to our own realities. “To understand others’ villainy, we need only look into ourselves at our weakest, most enraged, or most desperate and vengeful moments”

“To understand the motivations of others is a fundamental step toward self-understanding, as an individual or as a nation” (Fischoff 713). At one point in the Movie “Misery” we learn that Annie has suffered the loss of her father at an early age. This possibly caused her to hold to things more tightly in unhealthy attachments, in the years to come. Annie grows obsessed with the author and the character Misery Chastain in Paul Sheldon’s book series. At times she confesses to stalking Sheldon at his cabin before his car accident. We most likely, will not remember the story line of characters like Freddy Krueger for his obsession with following his victims and that he senselessly seems to do it just for sport to scare his victims. Yet, Annie obsesses out of a struggle that we can understand due a need to control not losing relationships anymore, that she once traumatized

Anger can stem from many of the rejections and insecurities in our lives. “Given the proper nurturing we are all capable of anything” (Fischoff 708) provided we choose to act out our anger. Annie shares with Sheldon that she feels disillusioned from her divorce and has never seemed to recover from the hurt of her husband leaving her. In the past and present, Annie has no impulse control. She becomes angry and irritable very easily and goes from sitting quietly to jumping from her seat and yelling at the top of her lungs. After reading a few pages of Paul’s unpublished book she is sitting by his side, feeding him soup and expressing concerns with the profanity. In mere seconds she becomes so angry that she spills the soup on the bed. Annie Wilkes feelings for Paul Sheldon shift from flattery to contempt. She realizes that at the end of the eighth book Misery dies, she barges into Paul’s room in the middle of the night hysterically and yells “YOU! YOU DIRTY BIRD, HOW COULD YOU! She can't be dead, MISERY CHASTAIN CANNOT BE DEAD! I DON'T WANT HER SPIRIT! I WANT HER, AND YOU MURDERED HER! I thought you were good Paul but you’re not good! You’re just another lying dirty birdy!” The day before she professed to Sheldon, the Sistine Chapel and Misery’s child in his books, were the only divine things on earth. Annie wants Paul to bring the misery character back to life.