Fisher 1 (Courtesy of Charles (Scott) Fisher. Used with permission.) Scott Fisher Essay II Draft II December 10, 2004 Schizophrenic Creativity In Ron Howard’s (2001) A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe gives life to Sylvia Nasar’s depiction of the schizophrenic genius John Nash in her novel of the same title. Both Nasar and Howard try to depict Nash’s creative genius in an effort to unlock understanding of the creative process. The underlying reality of Nash’s psychological creative process may never fully be realized due to the extreme difficulty of coherently portraying the mind of a schizophrenic, however the relationships between the portrayals of Nash through each medium shed light on Howard’s own view of the creative process. Howard’s decision to depict a rather coherent case of schizophrenia directly relates to the overall depiction of the creative process as something at once logical and irrational, fantastic and grounded in reality. Although there are some inconsistencies between Nasar’s novel and Howard’s movie and even between Nasar’s book and what some reviews have claimed to be the truth of Nash’s life, these inconsistencies can be analyzed and understood to be intentional enlightening hints as to both Nasar’s and Howard’s views of what the creative process exactly was for John Nash. Ron Howard takes a very interesting diversion from Nasar’s text right from the beginning of the movie in an effort to project a fairlyFisher 2 consistent portrayal of Nash’s creative process from the very beginning of his signs of genius. Howard decides to initiate Nash’s case of schizophrenia from the very outset of Nash’s ability to think creatively. Nasar clearly presents Nash as a strong intellectual student who, however asocial, is not insane up through the age of thirty. Howard does arguably portray a coherent and rather sane picture of John Nash while he is at Princeton, but Howard makes the connection quite clear between Nash’s creative process and his schizophrenia. Charles Herman, Nash’s imagined roommate, appears as soon as Nash begins his graduate life at Princeton. During this time, Nash comes up with his non-cooperative Game Theory for which he later receives the Nobel Prize. Howard portrays Nasar’s sane but stressed Nash throughout this time, but lays the foundations for his final conclusion that Nash’s schizophrenia is directly linked to his creative process. The fact that Charlie is a result of Nash’s insanity is Howard’s link between Nash’s creative process and his schizophrenia. Although Howard deviates from Sylvia Nasar’s novel and the truth of Nash’s illness with his introduction of Charlie, Howard does depict a very strong and driven John Nash right from the beginning. Both Nasar and Howard show just how much John Nash wanted to be known amongst his peers. His asocial attitude toward his peers has led some to conclude that his reclusive behavior was one of the factors that led to his schizophrenia, and thus his creative mind. Howard definitely makes this link with Charlie. Schizophrenia was Nash’s reaction to his solitude. However, Nash’s drive to create something profound was, in a sense, schizophrenic in and of itself. Both Nasar’s book and Howard’s movie show a Nash who is very arrogant about his intellectual ability. Nasar writes: “Nash was very interested that everyone would recognize how smart he was, not because he needed this admiration, but anybody who didn’t recognize itFisher 3 wasn’t on top of things. If anyone wasn’t aware, he would take a little trouble to make sure he found out.” Nash does go on to come up with his Game Theory, however, before that, he does appear to be slightly out of touch with reality. Although it is accepted that Nash didn’t go insane until around the age of thirty, Charlie may well be Howard’s attempt to portray Nash’s desire to be known amongst his peers and his slightly off base assumption of his intellectual prowess before the completion of his Game Theory. Howard thus makes the case that John Nash’s creativity spawned from both his schizophrenia and his obsessive desire to be known. However, there is a very important part of Nash’s life that has been left out from the movie A Beautiful Mind. After coming up with the Game Theory, Nash went on to work for RAND. Fortune Magazine described RAND as “the Air Force’s big-brain-buying venture.” The movie does try to touch upon such a military recognition when Nash visits the Pentagon, but the movie, again, falsely relates his successes at the Pentagon to his schizophrenia. Howard’s addition of Parcher to the end of the scene is his way of making that connection. However, Nasar’s version of the story clearly emphasizes a break between Nash’s release from RAND and the onslaught of his mental disease. Like Howard’s use of Charlie, his use of Parcher in the Pentagon could be his way of depicting a neurological phenomenon in Nash that was slightly schizophrenic in and of itself or that would lead eventually to the disease. Charlie was Howard’s way of showing Nash’s imagined self importance that would eventually lead to schizophrenia. His early introduction of Parcher could be his way of illustrating yet another avenue that led Nash into his mental disease. Nasar touches upon a study that was done relating the onset of schizophrenia to individuals who underwent military training during times of peace: “several studies have since shown that basic military training during peacetime can precipitate schizophrenia in men with aFisher 4 hitherto unsuspected vulnerability to the illness.” Nash’s view of his own self worth is arguably evidence of his vulnerability to schizophrenia, and Parcher represents Nash’s confusion resulting from his contacts with the military during peacetime. Nash deciphers codes in the movie after the Korean War, a time of peace. To understand why his services are required, he invents Parcher to tell him what exactly is going on. Howard does work the time well between Nash’s first vision of Parcher and when Parcher becomes a main character in Nash’s life. Up until Parcher recruits John Nash, Howard portrays these schizophrenic characters in such ways that do not lead John Nash to go insane. After Parcher becomes a main force in Nash’s life, Howard shows Nash leaving the world of reality, in chronological accordance with