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Dave Asuigui Olivier English 101 22 April 2009 Mediation Analysis: Welcome to Hollywood! The Passion of the Christ, Charlie Wilsons War, Changeling, and A Beautiful Mind; known to be movies that are based on biographies that were not boring, in my opinion anyways. I thought these movies were the greatest biopics ever made in history considering theyre also some of the most popular. In 1950s to 1955, the word biopic was first used to describe biographical movies hence the word bio (biography) -pic (motion picture). According to the dictionary, a biopic is defined as a film or television biography, often with fictionalized episodes. Very understandable I thought until after that comma in the definition stating often with fictionalized episodes. Fictionalized? Often? To my great reaction (not really), the first thing that processed in my head was Hollywood. Of course, it all make sense that Hollywood, which I describe as the fiction world, never had a movie that was close to being exactly the same as the biography it was based on, and every movie it has made over the years were either manipulated or fabricated. Reason being is probably because of the word entertainment. It all makes sense now because what exactly do we call our televisions at home other than TV, well me and my friends surely call it the entertainment box. Entertainment is the main focus of Hollywood, because it is all about what keeps everyone entertained. One of the movies that I thought was very interesting was A Beautiful

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Mind. First of all, A Beautiful Mind is not a film about math. Its not a film about schizophrenia. Its not even a film about John Nash, really. It is ultimately a film about gimmickHollywood gimmick (Rockwell 36). John Nash, as Russell Crowe, gave the audience a clear depiction of life with schizophrenia. Obviously very chaotic, confusing, dramatic, and romantic with a side of gentle humor, and a slice of devastating consequences. Full of fabrication, the movie successfully won the attention of critics and audiences. Nominated for best film and winner of four Academy Awards and best picture, this biopic definitely gives the audience a rollercoaster ride inside Nashs head. A Beautiful Mind, is a film based from a biography written by Sylvia Nasar, a reporter, about John Nashs life. However, the comparison of the book and the movie almost makes the movie very fictional. There is too much sugar coating in this movie believing that if they, in fact, used the real John Nash, that it will greatly bring up a controversy among people and politics. I believe its just wrong to distort, real true story into something more entertaining to audiences. One reviewer of the film, Cynthia Rockwell pointed out A Beautiful Mind belongs with films such as Fight Club, The Sixth Sense, Mulholland Drive, and even Mementoplaced within the growing genre of Hollywood gimmick films, the kind that take a strange twist near the end, forcing the audience to reevaluate everything theyve just witnessed. Only ostensibly [A Beautiful Mind is] a biopic (36) The film A Beautiful Mind is a great example of a manipulated, distorted, and fabricated biopic because society does not accept homosexuality nor do they want to see the true painful side of mental illness. John Forbes Nash, a mathematical genius, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, an appointed MIT professor, a very charming person with great humor and sensitivity, and a victim of an incurable mental illnessschizophrenia. In my opinion,

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Hollywoods use of Nashs biography wasnt only used for an attention getter, but just another story plot for film makers to manipulate. In spite of leaving some important information out from the biography, the imaginary people that were associated with the film as part of his schizophrenic experiences were not actually mentioned in the biography. It is very interesting because the film makers and the crew have greatly emphasized that it was greatly derived from Nashs biography. I believe Hollywood has done its deed to society by bringing to us entertainment. However, they have gone too far with their movies such as mixing fiction with non-fiction. At first, I thought A Beautiful Mind was just a great movie not only because it was based on true story but how the movie, in my opinion, was produced incredibly well leaving me with this feeling I have lived the life of John Nash. But, after knowing that its just a bunch of Hollywood tricks and an abundance of lies, deceit, and manipulationstheyve greatly changed my perspective on films that claim to be based on true story. Biopic or not, when it comes from Hollywood, it will more than likely be fabricated. Though, after reading reviews about the movies genuineness, the movie has basically opened my eyes to what the crew and the film makers have actually done to the movie, which was to compose a whole new John Nash that the society would actually find entertaining, and the type of John Nash that wont have a problem with society and politics. Further on, the whole crew and the film makers have greatly made it clear that they have made the movie as it was from the biography; when in fact, theyve left out information about Nashs painful life of schizophrenia, his sexuality, his divorce with his wife, and his child from a different woman. The true John Forbes Nash has had homosexual liaisons, had a child with a different woman, and was divorced by his wife Alicia. First of all, this wasnt even shown or mentioned in

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the movie. A great example, I thought, was the part where Nash met his wife Alicia who, in the movie, was his star student. In real life, however, Alicia and the rest of the women in her class were actually treated badly by Nash and Alicia nearly flunked out of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Not only that, but the film makers have actually planned to give the movie another interesting plot by making Nash a rags-to-riches type of story. Despite knowing from the biography that Nash came from a wealthy, educated West Virginian family, film makers instead removed the family and replaced them with Nashs heavy accent, which was to make him look like he came from a lesser, more rough neighborhood, I suppose. Ultimately, the book portrayed Nash as an arrogant, selfish, unkind, and unrepentant which were removed from the movie and replaced with a more charming John Nash. Also, the film represented Nash as an appointed MIT professor as a step up from his current position. When in reality, MIT wasnt even the Harvard or the Yale of that time. In spite of his moving to a higher position, he was actually demoted from his current position. And, by emphasizing his schizophrenic disease they have managed to cut out his divorce with Alicia. In the movie, Alicia was Nashs main support with his problems. She was the one who took care of him even when their relationship was almost falling apart. Alicia, in the movie, was portrayed as a strong woman and showed that she never gave up on Nash even when he almost killed their own son. In the beginning of their relationship, they used Nashs mathematical abilities as a way to make Alicia fall in love with him. Like the scene from their first date when Nash was actually using geometry in order to make the shapes Alicia liked him to make out of the stars on the clear night sky, or the piece of glass diamond that projected the colors of the prism which was supposed to be so fascinating and beautiful that it had basically changed her mood from mad to in-love with him. There were also other examples of this from the movie like the scene where

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Nash was watching students outside of school where they were playing football. Nash watches in interest and starts drawing on the window just to show that for some reason he has figured out some kind of mathematical theorem. That, of course, was just one of those Hollywood bogus, but here we see in the movie that he used his mathematical theorems to make Alicia actually fall in love with him, which gives the audience the idea that you can now make a girl fall in love with you by using numbers and theorems and following mathematical procedures. Again, its just another Hollywood bogus. There were also missing people in this biopic other than his rich parents. He had a young sister, and his younger sister also had a part in helping him with his mental illness. His family was a great deal because they actually had a part in the reason why Nash acted a little weird. Also, whatever happened to his previous son with a different woman? Well, the movie just didnt have room for that plot twist, plus Nash already has enough problems with his relationship and mental illness that they just had to exclude them from the movie. Truly, we the audience have no experience of schizophrenia unless we have witnessed or experienced it. I admit that I have never experienced this kind of mental illness before, but surely the movie gives us a great example; that having schizophrenia can make you see, hear, and interact with imaginary people. Also, not only is it curable by medication, but it is also curable by a love of a woman. Similarly, with hard work and determination, the disease will be cured in no time. Of course, if you are a psychiatrist or have studied psychiatry, you know that this just a bunch of bogus made up by Hollywood itself. Not only have they fabricated the life of a schizophrenic, but they have also greatly emphasized how bad it could be. But, after watching the movie, I realized that not only did they point out that John Nash interacts with imaginary people, but half of the movie was all about his interaction with these imaginary people, which,

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wasnt even mentioned in the book itself! To me, its just a complete mockery of his life and a total misrepresentation of schizophrenia that audiences, without knowledge, will most probably misconstrue. Thinking about whole information the movie has portrayed about John Nash and his mental illness makes me think that all schizophrenic people may actually be similar to him. The whole movie itself has made me change my own views of people who do suffer from this mental illness because of how John Nash portrayed himself in the movie. Likewise, as I have mentioned before that schizophrenia is now curable by not only medicine, but the love of a woman, hard work, and determination. In the movie, which shouldve been a scene where Nash had to go back to the mental institution to help cure his mental illness, was instead cured by his wife. Hollywood managed to cure his disease by putting Alicia in the scene, curing his disease with such moving speech. She calms him down after having a paranoid episode in the movie and telling him that everything that is real isnt in his head, but in his heart. After that dramatic and very moving scene, the movie moves on to show him on the road to recovery. An article by Robert Whitaker said that John Nashs recovery from schizophrenia is a moving story. But we are not well served when the movie fibs about the anti-psychotic drugs role in his recovery. If anything, his story should inspire us to reconsider anti-psychotics long-term efficacy with an honest, open mind. That would be a first step toward reforming our careand if there is one thing we can conclude from the WHO (World Health Organization) studies, it is that reform is vitally needed. Perhaps then we could even hope that schizophrenia outcomes in this country would improve to the point that they were equal to those in poor countries such as India and Nigeria. Once again, this is how Hollywood portrays schizophrenia in their films. Not bad, in my opinion, because the

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movie definitely got me into believing his hallucinations were real, when in fact its just another one of those Hollywood tricks. In John Nashs interview with the American Experience, he describes what it was like with his schizophrenia and how he has conquered it. John Nash described: Initially I did not hear any voices. Some years went by before I heard voices andI became first disturbed in 1959, and I didnt hear voices until the summer of 1964 I think, but then after that, I heard voices, and then I began arguing with the concept of the voices. And ultimately I began rejecting them and deciding not to listenThe consequences of rejecting the voices is ultimately not hearing the voices. Youre really talking to yourself is what the voices are, but its also parallel to a dream. In a dream [it is] typical not be rational. I had some philosophical ideals that were involved. I found myself thinking in political terms, but then I found myself able to criticize this thinkingthat it wasnt very valuable to think in political terms. Even now, I sometimes have a new realization that it can be not so good to think in political terms about some of the current issues. One can leave that to others. So in rejecting some of the political idea, that had a relation to the voices, so I could think of a voice maybe as representing what was analogous to a political argument, and then I could say, I dont want to listen to that (A Brilliant Madness). As I have mentioned before, Nashs homosexuality was cut out of the movie. Reason being, is because the film industry didnt want to get in the issue of homosexuality. They didnt want to get in trouble with society whatsoever. So they instead replaced his homosexuality with

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something more acceptable to society. They gave him alcoholism which was way better than portraying his sexuality. Alcoholism? Now how is that any better than portraying homosexuality in the movie? But sure, why not, lets just keep the audience from not finding out the truth and instead lets replace it with something more deadly and something more accepting to the public. Its funny how the film industry doesnt care about your liver but they do care about morals of society. In doing this, they could portray John as someone we would sympathize because we, as the audience, would feel bad for his mental issues and his troubled relationship; and because homosexuality could change our own perspective about him. Think of the controversies, the problems with the movie, and the consequences if the film makers in fact added his homosexual liaisons in the movie. The movie industry wouldve had people protesting outside their doorstep because of some great issues and controversy that homosexuality is not acceptable. The movie shouldve been criticized for its in-authenticity because they never did follow the biography, the real story of John Nash. Instead they take the short cuts that would avoid controversy by replacing it with drama, alcoholism, and emphasized schizophrenia. The movie isnt even close to being based on true story; instead it was just a movie. Had it not been mentioned that it was based on true story may have actually made this movie not that famous or even get an academy award. When asked by the author of the biography if she completely supported the facts that were shown in the movie. She responded by saying that writing a biography is just like the making of a movie. It is basically shaped and molded by the author just like the movie itself. I guess the big question about this whole ordeal is who exactly is John Forbes Nash if neither the author nor the film makers described him well? Ellie Goss, another reviewer of A Beautiful Mind described Russell Crowes portrayal of Nash as he tackles the character with such gentle humor and sensitivity that the general public will leave the cinema

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with a greater understanding of, and warmth towards, people with schizophrenia (Gross). Basically, it was just the actor the whole time, not John Nash. A Beautiful Mind is a beautiful movie. Very interesting and full of puzzling plots and a roller coaster ride to John Nashs head. The movie has changed attitudes of what schizophrenia is like. When in reality, the movie was only made beautiful by Hollywood. The entertaining moments in the movie, the romantic dramatization of Nash and Alicia, his episodes with schizophrenia, and the nice happy ending were all because of Hollywood. In Hollywood, reality doesnt exist anymore neither does the word authenticity and genuineness. Instead it has fabrication, manipulation, and deceit written all over its forehead. But, Hollywood doesnt care, because all they care about is how much you are entertained by their movies. They care about how much you will pay for those movie tickets to watch them in theatres. They care about your ratings of the movie, of how much you liked it. Needless to say, but its true. Society wont budge with true, genuine, real, and right to the fact, very boring based on true story movies anymore. Its all about entertainment and whatever helps them eat that bucket of popcorn. But really, we as the audience cant really do anything about it except to sit and watch whatever they produce with their cameras. I guess all I have to say about it iswelcome to Hollywood!