Fictional portrayals of psychopaths
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Characteristics
Psychopaths in popular fiction and movies generally possess a number of standard characteristics which are not necessarily as common among real-life psychopaths. The traditional "Hollywood psychopath" is likely to exhibit some or all of the following traits which make them ideal villains.- High intelligence, and a preference for intellectual stimulation (music, fine art etc.)
- A somewhat vain, stylish, almost "cat-like" demeanor
- Prestige, or a successful career or position
- A calm, calculating and always-in-control attitude
Smooth Psychopaths
A calm, calculating and always-in-control attitude is probably most at odds with the typical real-life psychopath. A psychopath is much more likely to be impulsive, disorganised and short-tempered rather than the smooth-talking, self-disciplined characters portrayed by Alain Delon (Tom Ripley in Purple Noon), Richard Gere (Dennis Peck in Internal Affairs), Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs), Christian Bale (Patrick Bateman in American Psycho), Alec Baldwin ("The Teacher" in The Juror), Kiefer Sutherland ("The Caller" in Phone Booth), John Malkovich (Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire), Kevin Spacey (John Doe in Se7en), and Christopher Meloni (Chris Keller on the HBO series, Oz).Comedic psychopaths
Clearly psychopathic characters can be found in black comedy with characters such as Charlie Chaplin as the title character in the murder farce, Monsieur Verdoux, and Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder in the Blackadder television series. More recent examples of this type of comedic psychopath include Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor in Superman; Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Batman; John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson as a pair of casually murderous hitman-hipsters, Vince Vega and Jules Winnfield, in Pulp Fiction; Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a couple of giddy white-trash spree killers, Mickey and Mallory Knox, in Natural Born Killers; Peter Stormare as the taciturn Swedish kidnapper/murderer, Gaear Grimsrud, in Fargo; and John Cusack's hitman, "Martin Blank" in Grosse Pointe Blank, a nice, ordinary guy who doesn't have the slightest qualm about committing murder for a living.Realistic psychopaths
Perhaps more accurate portrayals of psychopaths are Bob Rusk (Barry Foster in Frenzy), Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet), Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci in Goodfellas), Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting), Doyle Hargrave (Dwight Yoakam in Sling Blade), and Don Logan (Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast) -- all of whom are crude, impulsive characters who relentlessly torment other people.Michael Madsen's notorious portrayal of Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs appears to combine the stylized received Hollywood stereotype of the criminal psychopath with the more realistic aggressive deviant behavior of the true-life psychopath.
One of the first films to seriously explore the subject of psychopathy was Fritz Lang's 1931 German Expressionist suspense thriller, M, which features a celebrated performance by Peter Lorre as a desperate, self-loathing serial killer who compulsively preys on young children.
The character Fred Frenger, played by Alec Baldwin in the film Miami Blues, fits the profile of a psychopath. He lies and steals habitually, attacks and kills people without provocation, makes and breaks promises to get what he wants, and does not show remorse. Roger Ebert described him as "a thief, con man and cheat. He also is incredibly reckless... He wanders through the world looking for suitcases to steal, wallets to lift, identification papers he can use." Leonard Maltin writes in his Movie Guide that Frenger is a "psychopathic thief and murderer." Other critics have simply dubbed the character a sociopath.
Angelina Jolie's character, Lisa, in the film Girl, Interrupted is diagnosed as a sociopath, but, in the end, we are left wondering just how valid that diagnosis might be.
The Japanese novel, Battle Royale, features a character named Kazuo Kiriyama who appears to suffer from a form of Pseudopsychopathic Personality Disorder. In the movie, Cry Wolf, the character Dodger exhibits many characteristics of a psychopath, but the movie never states that she is one.
Randle Patrick McMurphy from the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest declared himself a psychopath to enter a mental ward. He does, however, show symptoms such as sexual promiscuity, violent behaviour and a lack of remorse which point to the truth of his diagnosis.
The original fictional psychopath?
It has been suggested that Bram Stoker based the character of his Count Dracula on a real person (actor manager Henry Irving [link]) and, in so doing, may well have left us one of the first ever detailed, fictionalised pen portraits of a psychopath. Count Dracula fits the stereotype of the "Hollywood Psychopath," and predates it so perfectly that it would be reasonable to consider him something of a prototype.
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