If you have not seen A Beautiful Mind directed by Ron Howard and staring Russell Crowe, I do not recommend you read this.
If you have seen it however, I would love to read any additional comments you may have!
Film Review
A Beautiful Mind
Ron Howard, the director of the movie A Beautiful Mind, uses syntactic moments throughout the entire film as a way to enhance the present themes. In so doing, he truly captures the drama that goes along with schizophrenia for both the patient and the people in their life. He does so in a way that flows so naturally, the viewers may even find themselves questioning their own sanity at certain points.
Howard uses a variety of concepts to pull this off. One of the key ways is the appearance of Charles, Marcie, and Parcher. Charles, John’s “prodigal roommate”, first appears when John is by himself. Having no prior knowledge that John is schizophrenic, the viewer may simply overlook this, but there are parts that foreshadow that Charles does not actually exist. When John is playing pool with Charles, and Charles decides to get a drink, John is asked by a fellow classmate, “Who’s winning.. you or you?”. John is about to respond but doesn’t actually get the chance.
Parcher is the next to appear. He is first seen when John is in the Pentagon. John sees him and asks “Who’s big brother?” but gets no response, again foreshadowing the non existence of Parcher. Finally, Marcie, Charles’s niece, appears. The largest clue that Marcie is too a figment of John’s fragmented mind, is that when she runs to chase a flock of pigeons, they do not move. A key element shared by all of these characters is their lack of interaction with any people other than John Nash. Because their appearances are so subtle and John’s interactions with them are so real, it is easy to believe they do in fact exist.
Howard also used visual concepts to illustrate John Nash’s genius. These were present in a number of places and often simultaneously used to illustrate his insanity later in the film. Often when Nash was having a profound discovery it would be visually displayed as figures, numbers or letters lighting up and flashing. His pure mathematical genius was also displayed on the windows and chalkboards he worked his equations out on.
John’s fragmented mind is also portrayed symbolically throughout the entire film. There are certain key moments that illustrate this. One is when John and Charles push John’s desk out the window while at school. In this instance, the broken window is symbolic of his fragmented mind. In another scene, John’s shadow is cast on a set of double doors. When these doors are opened, John’s shadow is broken, further illustrating his schizophrenic mind. In a bout of frustration, John’s wife breaks a mirror. The next morning, John is shown taking the broken pieces to the trash, and his face is shown in the fragments of the mirror.
Ron Howard successfully put his viewers into the mind of a schizophrenic and portrayed the difficulties associated with all aspects that go along with the disease in a marvelous way. Every aspect he incorporated flowed beautifully and truly enhanced the viewing experience. By creating such marvelous syntax, he was able to show true genius as well as tragic insanity.
Tags: A Beautiful Mind, Genius, Insanity, Schizophrenia, Symbolism, Syntax
Don’t forget another symbolic scene. When John comes home from the “car shase”, and then locks himself in the room at his house, while his wife is banging on the door saying “talk to me, let me in!” This symbolizes how John shuts does not let his wife into his mind.