MOVIE REVIEW PAPER(50 points)
Due Date = April 20, 2020 at 2:00pm
Turn in by April 6 at 2:00pm for 5 points extra credit.
1. Watch a movie that prominently features a mental disorder and/or mental health
treatment that was reviewed in class. See list below. You must receive my permission to
review a movie that is not on this list.
2. Write 3-page paper that critically examines how accurately the movie portrayed the
mental disorder (and/or the treatment) by discussing specific examples from the movie in
the context of the course material. The purpose of this assignment is to take an informed
perspective on information you receive in everyday life, and critically evaluate the
accuracy and impact of this information. For example, your paper may address how
some of the following questions came up (or oddly, didn’t come up) in the movie and
how this corresponds with course material (i.e., is it consistent with what you learned? or
is it dramatized? or inaccurate?):
• Causes: does the movie address the development of this disorder?
• Symptoms: what symptoms the character is displaying? Is there a depiction of
the “4 Ds”? how does this disorder play out in different situations/across time/with
different people? Is the disorder explicitly discussed (and how)? Are there any
co-occurring disorders?
• Treatment: is treatment described? Is this a credible treatment?
• Other: what is the impact of this movie’s portrayal on public understanding of
mental disorders?
3. The paper should be formatted as follows: typed, double-spaced, 1” margins, Times New
Roman Font, 12-point font. Proofread the paper before submitting.
List of Approved Movies
The movies are available through the Oxford Public Library (free membership for students), the
Ole Miss Library (movies with an *), Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, youtube, etc. Some of these movies
have more accurate or complete portrayals than other movies. Please remember that one of the
primary objectives of this paper is to critically examine these components.
Anxiety, OCD, PTSD
Analyze This
As Good as it Gets
Birdy
Born on the Fourth of July
Matchstick Men
*The Aviator
*The Deer Hunter
*Vertigo
What About Bob?
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or Mockingjay (either Part I/II)
Room
The perks of being a wallflower (PTSD)
Jacob’s Ladder (PTSD)
Iron Man 3 (PTSD)
*Dirty Filthy Love
Eating Disorders
The Best Little Girl in the World
To the Bone
When Friendship Kills
Mood Disorders/Suicide
American Beauty
Anomalisa
*A Single Man
Cake
*Dead Poets Society
Garden State
House of Sand and Fog
It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Ordinary People
Prozac Nation
*Revolutionary Road
Scent of a Woman
*Silver Linings Playbook
*It’s a wonderful life
*The Hours
The Virgin Suicides
Running with Scissors
Mr. Jones (1993)
The Skeleton Twins
Little Miss Sunshine
Personality Disorders
*A Clockwork Orange (Antisocial PD)
American Psycho (Antisocial PD)
*Boyz N the Hood (Antisocial PD)
*Cape Fear (Antisocial PD)
*Silence of the Lambs (Antisocial PD)
The Dark Knight (Antisocial PD)
We need to talk about Kevin (Antisocial PD)
*Fatal Attraction (Borderline PD)
*Girl, Interrupted (Borderline PD)
*Gone with the Wind (Histrionic PD)
Play Misty for Me (Borderline PD)
Single White Female (Borderline PD)
Wall Street (Narcissistic PD)
Black Swan (mom – Dependent PD)
Schizophrenia and Delusional Disorders
*A Beautiful Mind
Benny and Joon
Black Swan (Nina)
Joker (2019)
*Misery
Shine
Shutter Island
*Sophie’s Choice
*The Fisher King
*The Soloist
Love & Mercy (psychosis; 2014)
Substance Use Disorders
28 Days
Beautiful Boy
Ben is Back
Clean and Sober
Leaving Las Vegas
Rush
*Requiem for a Dream
Sherrybaby
Spun
*The Lost Weekend
*Traffic
*Trainspotting
When a Man Loves a Woman
Treatment/Therapy
*A Clockwork Orange
*One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Patch Adams
The Dream Team
What about Bob