A Beautiful Mind: Review of the Film and the Textbook on Schizophrenia

This essay will be outlining the benefits of watching the movie “A Beautiful Mind” as a student taking Critical Thinking – Psychology 102, this will include how the movie related to the chapters we’ve covered in class, 3 facts given in the movie which I found interesting or important, my reactions to the movie, if there were any unanswered questions that I would like to know and if the movie changed any beliefs/notions which I had prior to watching the movie.

This movie would benefit a PSY 102 student in many ways including them knowing what Schizophrenia is, how it was treated, or dealt with back in the days of John Nash and all whilst becoming more aware of how the mind and body of a person operates. Each student after watching this movie should be able to link each chapter to some aspect of the scenes and apply it to their lives.

Chapter 1 of the textbook (Thinking Critically) informed the reader of how one's thinking process functions and ways in which it can be changed positively. This chapter refers to the movie in the sense that John Nash, one of the main characters, didn’t follow the simple protocol of learning and solving issues. By him following his own method, he failed to recognize that his behavior and attitudes were strange. Due to his behavior and ways of doing things, students who took his class were also lacking confidence in him as to how he is said to be a great problem solver yet doesn’t recognize that his behavior was abnormal.

Another chapter that also had a great connection with the movie, in my opinion, would have to be Chapter 3. My reason for saying this is because John was schizophrenic, back in those days there were very few ways in which to cure any illness and so though there wasn't much to do, if the doctor took the time to review and evaluate the steps to problem-solving, then he would've noticed that he could've come up with other alternatives on how to solve the problem and the other ways in which he could've helped John.

Three facts in the movie which I found interesting were how John questioned his knowledge on his condition, how the sequence of the movie was set out, and lastly how John had some level of fun even though he was on constant medication and stress. When John began to think deeply and question how much he knew about his condition, that was when I truly knew that he was a critical thinker. John questioned someone in authority, which is one of the three stages of critical thinking, and so, therefore, he forced the person to somewhat set their beliefs straight whilst still helping him to build himself and evaluating his beliefs whilst at it. Secondly, the sequence of the movie really helped me in thoroughly understanding the process and the timeline that it all happened in. It also helped for me to completely understand when John began to be troubled mentally. The movie began with the main character, John, in a classroom at Princeton University which they are having an open discussion about competition and being encouraged to all register and participate in. At this point in the movie, I didn't think too much of how isolated John was in the corner of the room and rubbing his head viciously as though he was worried or bothered. Further on down in the movie I then realized and connected it to the beginning of the show that he was somewhat troubled since the beginning because he was always doing the same thing throughout the rest of the movie. Third, is when a young man came over with his wife and he pretended to have an imaginary friend sitting in the chair, scaring the young man for a moment and then confessing that there is no point in him being sick and not able to have a little fun. To me at that point in the movie, it made me realize that there really is no point in being droopy and sad as a sick person as it only stresses you out even more, and even worst if you are healthy.

One thing that was left unanswered for me in this movie was what happened to his young son. Though his son was young and didn’t have a great role in the movie, I would’ve still wanted to know whether or not his child was made aware of the fathers mental disability, did he check to see if he may have been at risk of the same disability, why he didn’t attend his father's award ceremony, there are many answers pertaining to the son which I was unsure of and left without answer with.

None of my ideas or notions were changed from watching this movie because I have been very open to the mental disabilities which have been discovered, I read about them quite often and I’ve also read about cures, how they’ve come about and what more could be done. In fact, I would say that it just lit another bulb in me to continue to read about these rising issues in the world.

In conclusion, I must say that this movie definitely would have an impact on anyone whether they are a PSY 102 student or not because of how influential it is and how well it gets you to think of how the society was then versus how it is now and how the medical field has improved over time.