Psychopathy in the Movie Industry

“They don’t have a name for what he is,” says Clarice as she tries to unveil the mystery of Psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter; however she strays far from the truth. The name is Psychopathy and popular culture and characters that have caught the public’s attention, those charming, highly intelligent, cold-blooded murderers, have shown us that our fascination with the twisted minds of these psychopaths is nothing new. However, this leaves us with the question of what is psychopathy and whether it is portrayed accurately through these films and characters and why is it that we, as a public, enjoy these types of films.

Pyschopathy derives from the Greek words “psyche”, which means “mind”, and “pathos”, which means “illness”. Psychopathy literally means mental illness and is characterized by chronic immoral antisocial behavior in which the person displays a lack of conscience and the ability to lie and deceive without feeling remorse (Hesse, 2009, p. 207).

Psychologist Robert Hare developed in the 1980s what is now known as the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL). This contains the criteria for diagnosing psychopaths and is internationally used. This checklists contains the profile of psychopaths and clusters the symptoms into two different classifications: Emotional/interpersonal symptoms and social deviant behaviors.

The emotional and interpersonal symptoms that characterize psychopaths are that of a glib and superficial charm, egocentrism and grandiosity, lack of remorse or guilt, lack of empathy, deceitful and manipulative, and having shallow emotions.

Psychopaths are witty and articulate. They know how to present themselves under a favorable light and are very likable and charming most of the times. However, such charm is superficial; people who interact with them tend to describe their behavior as too slick and smooth, too insincere. They ramble and create unlikely stories about themselves that are not related to what is known about them and are not afraid of being caught; in fact, when they are caught, they simply twist their story and continue with it as if nothing had happened.

An egocentric personality is characteristic of the psychopath; this comes hand-in-hand with an inflated view of their self-worth and importance; they have a strong sense of entitlement and often come across as arrogant. Because of their inflated self-worth, they blame others for the outcomes of their behaviors. Even if they claim to have specific goals, they have no idea how to reach them and very little chance at attaining them.

One of the key aspects of psychopathy is the lack of remorse or guilt that these individuals present. They do not care or are not concerned over the effects that their actions have over others. Even if they verbalize remorse, they tend to contradict themselves with their actions or words. This lack of remorse or guilt allows them to rationalize their behavior and to shrug off any responsibility for their actions. Their lack of remorse and guilt results in a lack of empathy. Psychopaths view people as objects or possessions, assets to achieve their often criminal and harmful goals.

Because of this sense of entitlement and their lack of remorse and guilt, lying and deceiving are a natural talent for them. They are proud of their ability to lie and remain unfazed when being caught or are not concerned by being caught. Because of this ability, Robert Hare describes in his book Without Conscience (1993) the actions that derive from it, such as cheating, bilking, committing fraud, conning, and manipulating people.

Their emotions are limited in range and depth; they are prone to dramatic and short-lived outbursts that display feelings; these types of emotions are considered proto-emotions, which are primitive responses to immediate needs.

Poor behavioral controls, impulsiveness, constant need for excitement, lack of responsibility, early behavioral problems, and adult antisocial behavior characterize the socially deviant behaviors that psychopaths display. These behaviors are to satisfy their own needs without taking into account the harm they pose onto others.

With these symptoms, the Psychopathy Checklist allows professionals to identify those individuals that fit the mold of a psychopath. However, according to legal and psychiatric standards, a psychopath is not insane, which is against the portrayal of psychopathy in the mainstream film industry.

The thriller genre derives into two subtypes that characterize those films that delve into the criminal minds of psychopaths: crime thriller and psychological thriller. Crime thriller is characterized by the focusing of the film in the criminal; it’s mostly driven by action, rather than by the psychological part of the characters; examples of crime thrillers are The Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, and No Country for Old Men. On the other hand, psychological thrillers tend to focus on the protagonist (and often the “good guy”) of the film and on the psychological struggle that derives in mental and emotional conflicts between the protagonist and the antagonist.

Most common are the crime thriller films, which have provided plenty of cold-blooded psychopaths to analyze these common portrayals and stereotypes of the psychopath that are discussed in the following paragraphs. The portrayal of the psychopath in these films, according to Hesse M. in his article titled Portrayal of Psychopathy in Movies (2009), often tend to focus on callous, calculating, and aggressive individuals that are portrayed as highly intelligent and who carefully plan their behaviors and actions; most of these individuals are trialed and dimmed “criminally insane”, therefore placing them into psychiatric guards and presenting them as having a mental illness (209).

Of course, subtypes exist of these psychopathic murderers. According to Jennifer Copley, North America mass media glamorizes these individuals and places them in the roles of the war hero, the psychopathic cop, dynamic villains, and anti-heroes.

The war hero is glorified as a brave individual that perform well under pressure and due to the lack of morality and the fear of killing others, has the capacity of saving others. Examples in popular films can be found in movies such as The Dirty Dozen, in which psychopathic individuals are glorified and fall under the myth that you can turn a psychopath inside out and find a hero. Films that have the psychopathic cop character present them as the “shoot now, ask questions later” type. Like the war hero, their lack of remorse or guilt makes them perfect protectors of others. Such is the case when Clint Eastwood portrays Harry in the movie Dirty Harry. These depictions are highly unrealistic; psychopaths are not concerned about others’ wellbeing and such behavior of protecting others would merely be possible if they see a benefit for them. They’re egocentric, irresponsible, and highly impulsive, which would result in chaos and deaths.

The anti-hero depiction of a psychopath consists of individuals that work outside the law in order to protect society. These types of characters can be found in films such as V for Vendetta, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Fight Club, among others. Again, writers and filmmakers seem to ignore the egocentric nature of the psychopath.

Finally, another erroneous depiction of the psychopath comes in the form of those dynamic villains. They have detailed and meticulous plans in order to carry out their deeds, are highly intelligent, hold prestigious positions, and are considered by society as “mentally insane”. Truth is that their lack of focus and impulsivity does not allow for psychopaths to make such meticulous plans; they act on impulse. There is no correlation between psychopathy and high levels of intelligence, according to case studies conducted by Cleckley and depicted on his book The Mask of Sanity (1988). Most, if not all, of these psychopathic cold-blooded murderers are males; the lack of portrayals of female psychopaths lead to the belief that only males can display these behaviors, when in reality both males and females are diagnosed with psychopathy and both are violent and aggressive. Hare emphasizes that psychopaths are not bad according to legal and psychiatric standards; on the contrary, their behavior is the result of choice.

Despite these erroneous media depictions, real-life psychopathic, cold-blooded criminals do exist. Famous examples of these criminals can be found in individuals such as John Gacy, a Junior Chamber of Commerce “Man of the Year” who dressed up as Pogo the Clown to entertain children, who murdered 32 young men and buried their bodies under a space under his house; or Ted Bundy, who murdered several dozen women and when he was caught blamed it on pornography and a “malignant entity”. Of course, as Hare explains, not all psychopaths are criminals and not all criminals are psychopaths, just as not all psychopaths are serial killers (1993). An example can be found in Joe Hunt, a “White Collar” psychopath who founded the Billionaire Boys Club and murdered two of its members in order to keep the authorities from finding out the fraud they created by investing the organization’s money on lavish lifestyles of the members (Hare, 1993, p. 3-7).

The public tends to be fascinated by the psychopath’s mind and behavior; Markman and Bosco wrote on their book Alone with the Devil (Hare, 1993, 80) that the audience identifies with them because it allows to live out fantasies of a life without internal controls. In consequence, the fascination of the audience and the lack of realistic portrayals of psychopaths in movies lead to the glamorization of the psychopath and the acceptance of the lifestyle by the audience and serve as powerful role models for individuals with poorly developed internal standards, psychological problems, or feelings of alienation (Hare, 1980, p.80). Furthermore, Levermore and Salisbury (2009) found that there’s a positive relationship between the exposure to violent media and aggression in teenagers (p. 33).

As an audience, it is important to be informed about the effects that the mass media has over our society; psychopathic serial killers might be an interesting watch for many, but the depictions are everything but realistic. Proper characterization must be demanded by the audience in order to fully understand the complexity of the criminal mind and the effects of society. Of course there comes a risk of losing the audience’s attention and interest in such films; however, the criminal mind, the accurate depiction of the psychopath, can be exploited in order to create an accurate and entertaining film.

_{Works Cited}

• _{Copley, Jennifer. (2008). The Glamorization of the Psychopath. Retrieved from http://jennifercopley.suite101.com/media-glamorization-of-the-psychopath-a63747.}
• _{Hare, Robert. (1993). Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. New York: The Guildford Press.}
• _{Hesse, M. (2009). Portrayal of psychopathy in the movies. International Review of Psychiatry, 21(3), 207-212.}
• _{Levermore, M.A., & Salisbury, G.L. (2009). The Relationship between virtual and actual aggression: Youth exposure to violent media. The Forensic Examiner, 18(2), 32-42.}