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Natalie Johnson
Justice Morath
Psychology 1010
6 October 2014
Movie Lab: KPAX
Prot is an interesting character who inspired several people throughout the film. In the
beginning of the film it was indicated by the homeless black man that Prot appeared out of
nowhere which automatically left me wondering where he came from. The relationship between
Mark (Jeff Bridges) and Prot (Kevin Spacey) starts out very professional and just a few minutes
into the film their faces line up in the reflection of the glass which hinted that they may have a
deeper relationship, of course that was proven by the end of the film. The real question I am still
asking myself, even after watching the film a few times, is: Is Prot from KPAX? I cant answer
this question with absolute assurance because there are many factors that come into his situation
and many variables.
When Mark asks his family for help with his patient (Prot), he hesitates on showing his
true emotions on how convincing Prots case is. At face value Prot seemed, at least in my
opinion (I also have little to none experience in psychiatrics) less crazy then the other patients
in the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute. Mark then ran tests on Prot after discovering that he knew
an abnormally amount of information on astrophysics, specifically in the unknown part where
Prot claimed KPAX was. The tests that they performed on Prot showed that he was able to see
ultraviolet light, which humans cant see. This was the variable I mentioned before, since
humans cant see ultraviolet light it is almost a no brainer that he is not human. However, Mark
finds out more about his past and where he came from which was a small farm town.

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Mark realizes that Prots real name or other name is Robert Porter, which leads me to
question that he might have multiple personality disorder or maybe a stress disorder. Prot stated
that he was sent to earth on a 5 year mission and would be leaving soon, the traumatic event of
his wife and daughter being murdered was 5 years ago. Prot didnt exactly have a home life or a
work life, so it is hard to tell if it would affect other aspects of his life. Gathering the information
that was given, it most likely would have affected it, though, again we cant be so sure as to
compare his disorder with other parts of his life was unknown. Prot carried himself in the most
sophisticated and confident way, especially when he is talking about KPAX and the solar system
surrounding it. Prot often referred to taking notes of what he sees and who he encounters, which
was convincing in the fact that he may have never been to Earth. Another situation that was
conclusive was when he was in Marks office eating a banana, he ate the entire banana with the
peel on and did not show any doubt in himself that he might be eating the banana wrong.
Towards the end of the film, Mark brings up the fact that he knows Robert Porter and
Prot acknowledges that he knows who he is but does not remember that he is Robert Porter. Prot
also stated we dont have families on KPAX which could mean that he doesnt want to
associate himself with families, wives, or children. Prot also responded negatively to the
sprinkler water at Marks family BBQ, the children were running through the water and that
triggered something in Prot to scream dont go into the water! Tuning back to another scene in
the film when Mark was performing hypnosis on Prot, Prot talked about how he would help his
friend and then how his friend wanted to kill himself. Prot also stated that there was a river
behind the house which Mark found out towards the end of the film.
With all the given information, I still have the lingering question of Is Prot from KPAX?
I cannot accept that he is from KPAX. I do believe he suffers from several psychological

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disorders, although I may not be familiar with all of them, there is no other way to logically
describe it; even with his convincing performance and fascinating examples. Even with the
different factors in play, like the ultraviolet light (which was never really addressed) and how
Bess (a patient who never spoke in the movie) disappeared the day that Prot supposedly left for
KPAX. His body, however, remained on Earth in a traumatic state. There were a few questions
that went unanswered but logically it makes sense to believe that Prot went back to being Robert
Porter and that he had to deal with the horrendous events that occurred 5 years ago.