Hyatt Hasanieh: Assignment 2

A Beautiful Mind is “an extraordinary story, and it has been made into an extraordinary movie” Nell Minow. This movie is based on the true story of John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician who was offered to work as a cryptographer after he published. He published an idea that was inspired by a night out with the boys. His friend quoted Adam Smith “every man for himself” when it came to how to approach women at a bar. Nash argued that a cooperative approach would lead to better chances of success. This event lead to Nash developing a new concept of governing dynamics and published this article. This is when he was asked to join MIT. Years later he was invited to the pentagon to crack encrypted enemy telecommunication. It’s the work he did that that triggered it all. He then goes back to MIT, falls in love with a student and she realizes he is speaking to others. Nash has paranoid schizophrenia and he was in denial of it for years. He believed Russian agents are out to get him and it is not until he is sedated and is given insulin shock therapy that he was release from a ward. He then went off his meds and almost accidentally killed his baby. He thought Parcher (the made up character) was watching the baby while in the tub. Alica, his lover, found the baby in time and decided she was done. Then Nash admitted that he knew the people weren’t real. He put it together–It’s been three years and no one changed in size or age. The film ends will Nash staying off the medication and learning to live with the disease and constantly being in reminded that he has it. He returns to Princeton and is granted permission to audit classes and work in the library. Two decades later he learned to ignore the hallucinations and is allowed to teach again by the late 1970’s.

Although this is a biography it is also a drama film. Charles Herman, the first hallucination, is first seen from Nash’s pint of view. This is an indication that Charles is a hallucination because it is shown from Nash’s perspective after an empty shot of his dormitory door. Another scene in the library, Nash and Charles are the only ones shown indicating he is in his own world when he's talking to Charles Charles suggests that Nash should take a break and drink some booze. Charles leaves abruptly and Nash loudly proclaims that he is going to get wasted, which garners a few stares from the other students (Howard). This part indicates how Nash’s mental state is deteriorating because the students witnessed a man having an outburst. Also, Charles disappeared as suddenly as he showed up. This goes on with the other hallucination characters such as Parcher and Marcee.

Film: “A Beautiful Mind”
5 words: Drama, true, gifted, psychological, uncovering
Thesis statement: This film is a drama based off a true story, a gifted mathematician living with psychological thoughts and uncovering how to survive with it.