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Essay on “A Beautiful Mind” Movie

The 2001 motion picture A Beautiful Mind stars Russell Crowe as the Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash, a complicated character who along with his brilliance, was also plagued by a life long struggle with schizophrenia. The film’s narrative plots a path for the audience from times before Nash was aware of his illness through to the point at which he and his wife find a way to manage the condition. In this short essay I intend to explore and examine the ways in which the theme of schizophrenia is treated within A Beautiful Mind, from the symptoms, to the treatment and the minutia of how the illness impacts on the individual and the individual’s family.

The first signs within the narrative that the audience can see John’s illness manifesting is in his increasing inability to communicate his feelings, which takes a toll on his personal relationships and the intimacy that he once enjoyed. The role that his wife takes on during the film can almost be seen as an audience surrogate, with Alicia seeking to help from the outside by seeking treatment and the need for medical definitions of her husband’s problems. From John himself, however, we get to experience a more internal side of the illness, with depictions of hallucinations and delusions along with outward symptoms like awkward facial expressions and slurred, jumbled passages of speech. In showing both the internal and external sides of schizophrenia through the experiences of both Alicia and John, the film brings a pleasing sense of balance to the topic of mental health.

Something else that the film does very effectively is show that schizophrenia, and more broadly any mental illness, is never a single cure type of problem. Though John shows some change in function and a degree of control after initial treatment, the narrative makes it clear to the audience that the battle is far from won, and this is demonstrated by the fact that the character continues to experience hallucinations and follow them as if they were real life: for example, his belief that he was a government employee helping to decode newspaper secrets.

Interestingly, something that is particularly significant about the treatment of mental illness within the film is that John, by the end of the narrative, instead of experiencing a triumphant victory over schizophrenia, has learned to cope with his afflictions in a way that allows him to function as best he can. In choosing not to interact with his hallucinations, John is taking control of his illness whilst at the same time understanding that he can never truly rid himself of the schizophrenia. In treating it like a part of yourself that needs as much care and attention as any other, a balance can be found where you neither let it rule your life nor completely succumb to its heavy power. This suggests a wider point that it is possible for anybody, not just John Nash, to be able to take control of their mental illness and live alongside it without allowing it to completely dominate the essence of their lives.

In conclusion, it would be fair to surmise that A Beautiful Mind is an extremely effective cinematic tool that can be used to demonstrate both the effects and concepts that are related to schizophrenia. The picture manages to capture and portray the essence and impact of an illness that by its very nature is almost intangible, and for that it should be applauded. It can be seen as a great resource for opening up a discussion about schizophrenia and mental illness in general.

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Home Essay Samples Entertainment A Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind: Film Review and Analysis

Table of contents, a beautiful movie.

• Grazer, B. (Producer), & Howard, R. (Director). (2001). A Beautiful Mind [Motion Picture]. United States: Imagine Entertainment.
• Nasar, S. (2011). A Beautiful Mind. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
• Rockwell, C. (2002). A Beautiful Mind (Film). Cineaste, 27(3), 36. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=7035635&site=ehost-live
• Thacker, M. & Hughes, C. (2013). Movie Review: A Beautiful Mind. Mental Health Clinician. 2(8), 246-247 https://doi.org/10.9740/mhc.n132978

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A Beautiful Mind

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Summary and Study Guide

John Nash is born and raised in Bluefield, West Virginia. As a child, he is introverted and quiet, preferring reading and performing experiments to playing with other children. He is obsessed with codes and patterns and enjoys playing pranks on his sister and schoolmates.

Intending to become an engineer like his father, Nash secures a scholarship to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. After a year, he abandons engineering to major in mathematics. He is not popular with his fellow students who find him odd, arrogant, and immature.

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Nash continues to be unpopular with his fellows when he becomes a graduate student at Princeton University. Nevertheless, his tutors recognize his great potential and he begins to develop a reputation as a great original thinker, as well as an eccentric scholar who spends much of his time wandering around lost in thought.

While at Princeton, Nash conducts research on game theory, coming up with a theorem later known as the “Nash equilibrium.” Though some consider his work important, it is not until much later that this research will become a key part of modern economics and, eventually, win Nash a Nobel Prize.

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Nash takes a lecturing position at MIT as well as summer consultancies at the RAND Corporation. Around this same time, he experiences the first of several sexual relationships with men. The relationship is brief and furtive but is also the first time he experiences reciprocity, helping him move out of his emotional isolation.

Shortly after, Nash begins a secret relationship with a nurse named Eleanor . They have a child together but, to Eleanor’s dismay, Nash does not offer to marry her or even support her, suggesting that she should put the child up for adoption. Around the same time, Nash begins a relationship with Jack Bricker , a mathematics student two years his junior. The relationship is not entirely happy but it helps Nash appreciate human connections. Later, Nash is arrested for indecent exposure after a sting operation in a public convenience and loses his position at RAND.

Shaken from his experiences, Nash starts a relationship with Alicia, an ex-student of his, who pursues him enthusiastically, determined to win his heart. Although he continues to see both Eleanor and Bricker for some time, he eventually marries Alicia and for a while they are quite content.

However, Nash’s mental health declines sharply. He becomes delusional, seeing patterns in mundane occurrences and becoming convinced that he is receiving messages from foreign governments and aliens. Paranoid and distracted, he begins writing incomprehensible letters to foreign officials and talking about world government and threats to world peace.

Nash is involuntarily committed to a mental hospital and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. For several years, he is in and out of clinics, recovering and being released and then relapsing again. During these relapses he travels to Europe several times, attempting to renounce his American citizenship to become a citizen of the world.

After several years of struggling with Nash’s condition, Alicia divorces him and he is left confused and delusional, wandering around Princeton campus writing incomprehensible messages on blackboards. New students call him “the Phantom” because of his gaunt, disheveled appearance.

Gradually, Nash’s condition improves and by the 1990s he is more like his old self, still eccentric but no longer delusional. He moves back in with Alicia, although only as a “boarder” and begins to develop a relationship with their son, Johnny, who has also begun to experience symptoms of schizophrenia.

As Nash lingers in obscurity, his work becomes more and more recognized as it is picked up by a new generation of economists. Eventually, he receives the Nobel Prize for this work. His mental health continues to improve from this point onwards.

As Nash recovers, he becomes more socially capable and aware of others and begins rebuilding relationships with friends and family. By the time Nash and Alicia remarry, he is working on mathematical research again and is developing increasingly strong relationships with those around him, becoming less isolated and alienated than ever before.  

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A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family Essay

The film A Beautiful Mind is a film revealing the life of outstanding mathematician and Noble Prize winner John Nash. The movie starts with early years of the scientist when the first signs of paranoid schizophrenia were revealed. Despite incredible skills and abilities, his psychological disorders somehow contribute to his perception of the reality.

Moreover, Nash learned to define which of his experiences were paranoia and hallucinations and which ones were his real perceptions. In the movie, the hero seems to have an ability to control his illusions and choose the one that help him solve mathematical problems.

With regard to this assumption, schizophrenia may suddenly develop and can influence greatly career, family, and communication within social medium. For instance, John Nash can see mysterious people resembling undercover agents whom others cannot see. He believes that he is chased by those agents, which is in fact is false. The emerged confusions and misconceptions lead to conflict and disagreement with real people.

The psychological disorder presented in the movie refer to one of the most common of schizophrenia – paranoia. It is characterized by the emerging hallucinations accompanying delusions that often have grandeur character.

Specifically, there is an assumption that “…stressful life experiences and a combination of biological factors, including heredity, biochemical imbalances, and structural abnormalities in the brain, contribute to its development” (Nevid, 2008, p. 546). Hence, scholars are inclined to believe the genes influence the development of the disorder and, therefore, they point out a person’s propensity for schizophrenia.

However, heredity cannot serve as a sufficient explanation for causes of the disease. In other words, genetic vulnerability does not imply a 100 % possibility of the disorder occurrence. Additionally, there is an argument that the development of schizophrenia can be caused by biochemical imbalances in the brain (Nevid, 2008, p. 547). Brain abnormalities are proved to be associated with the disease and, therefore, they may influence the reinforcement of deviated behavior.

Finally, biological influences and psychological pressure occurred in the early childhood could also be a reason for the appearance of brain trauma. Judging from the above-presented assumptions, the movie proves that that John Nash initially presents himself as a strangely behaved person revealed through specific way of thinking and expressing ideas. His approach to mental thinking and ability to imagine is slightly explained by his psychological disorders.

There is another concept that is worth introducing to understand the underpinnings of the schizophrenia occurrence. Specifically, Nevid (2008) provides evidence revealing that both environmental and biological connection contribute to the reinforcement of antisocial personality disorder.

Lack of and inconsistence in outlooks on moral values explains certain situations in the movie. Hence, the story reveals that John Nash is estranged from other people because of extreme engagement with his mathematical equations. His entire world seems to be composed of figures, equations, and schemes. Currently, little evidence is found concerning the relation between psychological influences and the detected disease. ( A Beautiful Mind , 2001)

However, the film shows that stress life can play a significant role in shaping the patients’ attitude to the social setting. Absence of social communication skills is explicit when it comes to the way the character interacts with other people, including his colleagues, friends, and his wife. In this respect, signs of deviate behavior lead to the conclusion that John Nash has certain psychological disorders.

Finally, abnormal behavior can also be grounded on the interaction of specific biological and psychological factors. In particular, deviant behavior can be caused by biological influences, such as neurotransmitter functioning, or brain abnormalities. Interaction of biological and socio-cultural factors contributes greatly to shaping the patterns of abnormal behavior.

The movie shows that Nash worked for Pentagon to decipher secret messages, which, probably, amplified the scientist’s perception of the responsibility he undertook ( A Beautiful Mind , 2001). With regard to this situation, bio-psychological model explains a particular predisposition that increases the probability of developing a specific disorder. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as diathesis caused by particular sources of stress.

In conclusion, schizophrenia can be caused by a complex of psychological, social, and biological factors that should be carefully considered because a particular kind of treatment is implemented. Currently, there is no a unanimous opinion and evidence concerning the effectiveness of different therapies.

The disorder, however, is still subjected to experimental treatments by means of medications and psychotherapy. Because the movie reveals a real story, it can be stated that patient John Nash has not been fully recovered from auditory hallucinations, but he is able to distinguish between the reality and illusions.

Known methods of treatment involve psychological treatment along with biological therapy, as presented in the movie. As a result, the patient recognizes that he has a certain disorder, which is great advancement, but he still suffers from illusions and paranoia. In whole, anti-psychotic medications are ineffective if they are not psychologically and socially supported.

In my opinion, a movie reveals a true story proving that people with schizophrenia can have the right to normal existence and that their mind can function effectively even if they suffer from hallucinations.

Works Cited

A Beautiful Mind . Dir. Ron Howard. Perf. Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, and Paul Bettany. Imagine Entertainment, 2001. Film.

Nevid, Jeffrey S. Psychology: Concept and Applications . US: Cengage Learning, 2008, Print.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 28). A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-beautiful-mind-understanding-schizophrenia-and-its-impact-on-the-individual-and-the-family/

"A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family." IvyPanda , 28 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/a-beautiful-mind-understanding-schizophrenia-and-its-impact-on-the-individual-and-the-family/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family'. 28 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-beautiful-mind-understanding-schizophrenia-and-its-impact-on-the-individual-and-the-family/.

1. IvyPanda . "A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-beautiful-mind-understanding-schizophrenia-and-its-impact-on-the-individual-and-the-family/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-beautiful-mind-understanding-schizophrenia-and-its-impact-on-the-individual-and-the-family/.

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A Beautiful Mind Film Analysis

Updated 12 April 2021

Subject Learning ,  Movies

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Category Education ,  Entertainment

Topic A Beautiful Mind ,  Film Analysis ,  University

The film A Beautiful Mind

Nash's diagnosis and treatment, nash's struggles and triumphs, works cited.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — A Beautiful Mind — A Review of John Nash’s Movie, a Beautiful Mind

A Review of John Nash’s Movie, a Beautiful Mind

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Published: Jan 15, 2019

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A Beautful Mind

Under humanity in the encarta encyclopedia, it cites human condition, human.

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