A Beautiful Mind (2001) Ron Howard
Discussion Questions, Resources, and Viewing Guide
“Madness in Movies” Coordinated Studies
Brian Holt & JC Clapp, North Seattle Community College, 2013
This film you are going to have to watch twice. The first time, just watch it and write down what
you notice, but don’t worry about the details the first time around (don’t read the rest of these
questions until you’ve watched the film once, since they will spoil it for you). After you’ve
watched it once, then go back and watch it again, this time with the below questions in mind.
1.
At several points in the film we’re shown time passing where the image of John Nash is
stable and the world around him moves on. One example is when he’s sitting at his desk
in the window at Princeton and the weather changes slowly from winter to spring –
indicating that he’s worked for months and now it’s graduation time. Where else do you
see a similar technique used to show the passing of time? Why might Howard have
chosen to show time in this way? What other ways is the passing of time communicated?
Notice all of the boxes, frames, and strong vertical and horizontal lines. Where do they
appear? With whom are they associated? What might they indicate?
There are significant uses of special effects in this film, especially around the use of light.
Discuss where you see light used in significant ways and what that use communicates to
the audience.
What can you find out online about insulin shock therapy? Is it an appropriate treatment
for schizophrenia? Is it still used today? John endured insulin shock therapy five times per
week for 10 weeks for a total of 50 treatments. How might that have affected his body
and mind?
Glass and mirrors feature frequently in this film. Who looks through glass? Who is seen
through glass? When is glass broken? By whom? What might this motif be used for? What
does it communicate?
It is revealed that John Nash has paranoid schizophrenia. People with paranoid
schizophrenia often:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.










Have difficulty with the difference between real and unreal experiences
Struggle to think logically
Lack emotion (flat affect)
Maintain strongly held beliefs that are not based in reality (delusions)
Hear or see things that are not there (hallucinations)
Have problems paying attention
Engage in bizarre behaviors
Are socially isolated, anxious, angry or argumentative
Have scattered thoughts or “loose associations” that get in the way of logical thought
Have false beliefs that others are trying to harm you or your loved ones.
Point to specific places in the film where we see John exhibiting these behaviors. Based on
what you know about paranoid schizophrenics, is the portrayal of John Nash’s condition in
this film accurate? Why or why not?
7.
8.
Charles Herman (roommate), Marcee (Charles’s niece), and William Parcher (Dept. of
Defense agent) all turn out to be figments of John’s mind. On the second viewing of the
film, notice how those characters are handled from the beginning and how they aren’t
seen by other people. Do we have any indicate that they are imaginary before it is
revealed?
This film is based on the true story of John Nash, but it diverges significantly from the
facts. Read through the below synopsis of how the film is different from Nash’s actual life.
Then consider why the changes were made that were. How would we have felt differently
about Nash onscreen if the story had been portrayed more accurately? Who is the
intended audience for this film? Why would that audience appreciate the changed version
of the story over the facts? Consider how cultural and historical influences might have had
an impact on the story that was ultimately told. And, given how much of the story is
changed for the film, can it still accurately be called a “true story”?
Overview of the Divergence from actual events
Based on a Wikipedia entry on the film, but significantly condensed for brevity by JC.
One difficulty was in portraying stress and mental illness within one person's mind, so the filmmakers
"invented a narrative that, while far from a literal telling, is true to the spirit of Nash's story.” (according
to the screenwriter). The film made his hallucinations visual and auditory when, in fact, they were
exclusively auditory. Nash never saw people, so none of the parts about Charles (roommate), Marcee
(little girl), or William Parch are true at all. Nash never thought he was working as a decoder for the
military (with the magazines). All of that is fictionalized. Furthermore, while in real life Nash spent his
years between Princeton and MIT as a consultant for the RAND Corporation in California, in the film he
is portrayed as having worked for the Pentagon instead. None of the Pentagon part of the film is true,
either.
Nash is shown to join Wheeler Laboratory at MIT, but there is no such lab. He was appointed as C.L.E.
Moore Instructor at MIT. The pen ceremony tradition at Princeton shown in the film is completely
fictitious. The film has Nash saying around the time of his Nobel prize in 1994: "I take the newer
medications,” when in fact Nash did not take any medication from 1970 onwards. Nash also never gave
an acceptance speech for his Nobel prize because of fears the organizers had regarding his mental
instability.
Few if any of the characters in the film, besides John and Alicia Nash, corresponded directly to actual
people. In the film, schizophrenic hallucinations appeared while he was in graduate school, when in fact
they did not show up until some years later. Nash also fathered a son, John David Stier (born June 19,
1953), by Eleanor Agnes Stier (1921–2005), a nurse whom he was having an affair with and then
abandoned when informed of her pregnancy. The movie also did not include Alicia's divorce of John in
1963. It was not until Nash won the Nobel Memorial Prize that they renewed their relationship,
although she allowed him to live with her as a boarder beginning in 1970. They remarried in 2001.