Fun and Serious In Film Patch Adams

Hunter (Patch) Adams is the main character of this movie in which he is a middle-aged man that one day carries himself into a mental ward for trying to commit suicide. It’s there where he is given the nickname “Patch” and identifies that he has an eagerness to help people through understanding, laughter, and having a personal connection with them. Two years later, after leaving the institution he enrolls himself into a medical school and makes friends immediately with other students especially, Truman who he shares his dreams and aspirations with. Patch encounters a female student Carin in which she is serious to become one of the top of the class because they were only a handful of females which were eight females and he later fell in love with her. While in school, Patch has some difficulties in which he would like to help patients by using humor, but Dean Walcott wants Patch to follow the rules, even if it is kicking him out of school. As the film continues, Patch has to make an important decision whether to continue to pursue his dreams and efforts or to be thrown out of the medical school by Dean Walcott.

A PSY 102 student could benefit from watching this film because it shows you that if you really enjoy doing something the drive and determination would be there to pursue that dream no matter what gets thrown your way. This movie showed us that we can use language anywhere just has to be used in the right context. That the power of laughter which is a language can help someone a lot either when they are in a good mood, a bad one, or they simply have an illness or disease which is discouraging them. He used one of his best personalities to help others be the best they can be and in return, it also helped him cure his depression.

Three facts I found interesting were when he went to the top of the cliff when he was in the courtroom scene and the communication between Patch Adams and his patients.

Firstly, his communication and connection with his patients are seen as being quite strong. Patch Adams uses a different way of communication in which he doesn’t focus on only their illness but he focuses on their life either before they were a diagnosis. Like the fun, laughter with their family and friends. As seen through this movie when becoming anything that has to do with the medical field you have to gain a relationship with your patients for them just to follow your instructions or even taken to another extent to do a surgery. Take, for example, Patch Adams’ relationship with the medical professionals in his mental institution he didn’t trust many of them because they didn’t listen to him. This also brings out the point that to be a critical thinker you have to be able to listen to both sides of a situation and find a common ground that isn’t harmful to any side. This also brings along the fact that to be a critical thinker you have to be an active listener and not a passive one.

Secondly, the courtroom scene was probably the best scene in this movie which showed Patch Adam’s determination to continue helping others without a medical license or insurance by his long monologue on the purpose of life. In my opinion, the advanced problem-solving method was used because during this scene the board went through all the possible alternatives and decided on the best alternative which was beneficial to Patch Adams and the present and future patients. So, they allowed Patch Adams to finish his medical degree and to continue doing his work which was providing medical service free to patients who couldn’t afford it or who he simply just wanted to help. This speaks on being an active listener because the board of determining whether Patch Adams could legally continue his career could have not been too fond of the alternatives but they had to look at the bigger picture and realize there are people who aren’t in the same social class as them. To realize there are some people who cannot afford proper medical care and thanks to Patch Adams they are getting proper medical for free.

Lastly, the scene from the top of the cliff in which Patch Adams was in the Anything Goes stage of knowledge in which he was judging why did that have to happen to him. To have his true love Carin killed and asking God if he commits suicide then god would not stop if he does. I could infer that he is on that stage because he is not really contemplating what the authorities are saying or have agreed upon but is just saying to himself that whatever happens is what happens.

My reaction to this movie at first was that this was a crazy and comical movie in which this man was trying to get help for himself but didn’t want help at the same time. I continued on I saw Hunter “Patch” Adams as someone who was a humorous person but then had his persevering ways in which he proved a lot of people wrong by pursuing his dreams. This showed me that this movie had one of the major themes that stood out for me which was being determined but you still have to have a little bit of humor no matter what.

This movie changed one belief that I had which was that it does matter where you come from and what you have done which will determine your future. Patch Adams has really changed that belief and showed me that you could have been in a coma, a mental ward for years, gone to prison, and or may have a disability. That all these situations or circumstances should not stop you from following your dreams.

In conclusion, I believe Patch Adams was a really fun but yet serious movie. It had scenes where you could have a little laugh but then there were others where laughter had to be out aside and you had to imagine yourself in the situation and look at how you would react and thank god for creating you how you are. To have the right mind to think properly, the right amount of legs, hands, fingers. There many things we take for granted and we don’t realize we really wanted them until the opportunity or time has passed.