Melvin Udall In The Movie: As Good As It Gets

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

In the film “Hunt for the Wilder People” and the prologue of ‘Kafka on Shore ‘identity can change through hardship. In ‘hunt for the Wilder people ‘. Identity can change through hardship is evident when Ricky Baker changes into clothes that blend into the bush setting whilst he was getting chased by the child welfare. Nevertheless, Ricky’s identity changes towards the end of the film as he no longer conforms to the gangster style clothing hence he blends in with the environment. Similarly, in the prologue of ‘Kafka on Shore’, Identity changing through hardship is evident when Kafka plans to escape from his father to re-establish his life. Moreover, He creates a new imaginary friend called Crow whilst he was facing hardship with his father.

“In people with (OCD) obsessive- compulsive disorder, there is an excessive need for orderliness and attention to detail, perfectionism, as well as overly rigid ways of relating to others (Nevid and Rathus 293).” Martin is a very demanding individual and has an obsession to have everything in order. For examples, towels have to be evenly spaced with the same length on the towel rack and canned foods have to face label forward, as well as neatly stacked in the cabinet. Martin’s overall main crisis is his obsession with his wife, Laura, is he cannot live without her and he won’t let her live without him. He

Should we as a society set a monetary value on life, or let it exist on an emotional level? Are the accomplishments we achieve and the money we make throughout our lifetime the only things that determine what our life is worth after death; or should it be based on the value that the individual put upon their own experiences. In contemporary American Society, this question remains to be asked when someone loses their life. In the excerpt from Chris Jones’ “Roger Ebert: The Essential Man” The struggles which Ebert Endures, and the high value he remained to keep on his own life was revealed, which displayed his own personal value of life and how it is precious throughout the conflict. I agree with this mentality completely, because one’s circumstances may outweigh another’s, meaning that there is

Melvin takes his obsession of being clean to extremes; this is a very common manifestation of someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder. When Melvin goes out for breakfast he takes his own plastic utensils wrapped inside of a plastic bag, because he thinks that the silverware at the diner are not clean enough for him. This is another example of his fear of contamination.

The movie is a narrative about all the black soldiers fighting in the Civil War. The soldiers, made up of the free black men and some were free, were apart of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers Infantry. The film included actors such as Matthew Broderick, Robert Gould Shaw, Car Elwes, as Cabot Forbes, Denzel Washington, as Trip, and Morgan Freeman, as John Rawlins.

Glory is a historical movie of 1989 which includes the battle of Antietam and the story of a injured Captain who is sent to his home for recovery. The movie is a narrated or shown through the eyes of a Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a colonel commanding the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The movie is about the first trop of soldiers which includes the black people, who were first free man or run out slaves. It is about the journey of a white colonel who had to lead the infantry with black soldiers and the internal conflict within them.

The film Glory by Edward Zwick is one of the most well-known films of all time. The film itself is solely based upon the first formal unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War which consist of all African American men. They were essentially the very first unit of United States Colored Troops. They were formally known for their courageous attempts to and actions at Fort Wagner in 1863. The film is set in many different locations such as New York, Maryland, South Carolina and Massachusetts. In each of these different locations events took place that shaped our history. For example on November twenty seventh of 1862 Robert Shaw started to train soldiers. July eighteenth 1863 the Colonel Shaw and his troops attempted to take Fort Wagner, which didn’t succeed.

-Through the movie Cecil learns how to adapt to survive. He learns how to work in the house at a young age, so he doesn’t have to work in the cottonfields. When he leaves the fields, he does so because he fears he will get killed like his father did. He realizes the hardship that people of color face, even far from the cottonfields. He even resorts to stealing food, so he can eat. Once, he is hired at the hotel he learns the trick to surviving in the white world is putting on a mask. The mask Cecil puts on is used to put the white patrons at ease. Cecil’s view of the world is that the only way to survive is to go unnoticed.

The poetry of Rumi and the review of Chicago Sun-Times writer Roger Ebert on Groundhog Day both agree the view of human growth is determined by the heart and not the body. Rumi believes that a person has to go through two worlds (heaven and hell) to give up their life and become a better person. According to page 30, lines 1-4, Rumi says, “To dance is not to jump to your feet and rise painlessly in the air like dust. To rise above both worlds is to dance in the blood of your pain and give up your life.”

In this movie, Melvin displayed many compulsions. When he comes back to his apartment he locks his door 5 times and turns on and off the lights 5 times. He also washes his hands with 2 new bars of soap each time he washes his hands. When he walks, he avoids stepping on any cracks. He also sometimes repeats words quietly after someone has said something. Instead of trusting one, his has two clocks side by side near his bed for an alarm. These are just a few examples of the many compulsions Melvin has. He always

In closing, producers of the film, Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz created the 1975 film and made some alterations, additions, and also deleted some scenes from the original 1962 novel. The alteration was quite evident and changed the whole perspective of the film, literally. Instead of having the story told from Chief Bromden point of view it is told in an omniscient all-seeing perspective. The additions in the film including taking a character who is released early in the book and make him a character who is seen throughout the entire film. Taber takes pleasure in poking at Harding with sarcastic and physical jab and is an important character. The deleted scenes is the viewers of the film fail to see the betrayal by McMurphy which allows

Marvin Udall displays typical behaviors that many functioning obsessive compulsives have in common. Mr. Udall has obsessions which are, “persistent thoughts, urges that are experienced as intrusive and unwanted, whereas compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that an individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession (American Psychiatric Association., 2013).” Very early in the film we see Mr. Udall struggles with contamination-related obsessions and participates in ritualistic activities which serve to lessen his obsessional anxiety. We see him engage in hand washing rituals with extremely hot water and several bars of soap which is only intrusive to him, to later in the film where he must take a shower before dinner and has the character Carol waiting on him for what seemed like hours. Mr. Udall has a ritual to eat at a certain restaurant everyday for breakfast, where he also must bring his own plastic silverware for fear of germs.

We feel that One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest is filled with many psychological connotations. This movie is set in a mental hospital where McMurphy was admitted to be psychologically evaluated because of violent behavior. Upon his arrival McMurphy noticed that the patients were very robot-like in their actions. The hospital is extremely structured where the patient’s daily life was monotonous. We will discuss the various connotations by answering the following questions that have been asked.

1) In the movie as Good As It Gets, Jack Nicholson plays a character by the name of Melvin Udall, Single, maybe in his 50s lives alone, never married but a successful love novelist. Melvin demonstrated from the get-go traits of being homophobic, racist, self-centered, lacking empathy and social skills and unusual behaviors. As time goes on he witnesses the hardship of his neighbor Simon an artist and who falls into a depression, Carol a hopeless romantic with a sick son who he slowly starts feeling empathetic for. The “abnormal” behaviors that stuck out the most were his unusual Obsessions and Compulsions. Melvin had an obsession with being contaminated; he wore gloves to avoid touching things or people, or couldn’t wear a used coat and tie. There was a part in the movie were Melvin was using a pair of gloves and he threw them out, washed his hands with hot water, opened 3 new bars of soap to only wash his hands for 10 seconds at the most with each bar. In another scene Melvin was walking through a crowd of people and it looked like he was dancing but he was really trying to avoid all the cracks on the street. I saw hope in Melvin though when he was at the restaurant and a group of children were gathered around Verdell. Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) mentioned “Aren’t you afraid he might get stolen”? Melvin moved from his usual table to move closer to keep an eye on verdell which was something out of his comfort zone which lead me to believe this was the first step in the