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Home > News & Events > CLA Today Archive > Spring 2006 : Mad at the Movies

Mad at the Movies

“I will not be ignored!” When Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) utters that dire warning in the film Fatal Attraction, a collective shiver runs through the audience. But Monica Luciana just might be calmly taking notes—recording clinical symptoms, taking Alex's measure.

How authentic is this chilling portrayal of an avenging woman spurned? And how accurate is the more nuanced depiction of bipolar Nobel laureate John Nash in A Beautiful Mind? Or of Eve's “three faces”?

Knowing that few movie-goers have the knowledge to separate clinical reality from cinematic fiction, Luciana found a compelling way to untangle the threads. She created the freshman seminar “Movies and Madness: Media Portrayals of Abnormal Psychology.”

Having taught large lecture classes in abnormal psychology, Luciana was eager to tailor her teaching to an audience of 20. “I wanted to teach in a more individualized manner, in a warmer sort of way,” says Luciana, whose research examines the neural bases of behavior in adults and children.

Luciana chose films that would appeal to students’ soft spot for pop culture while also addressing a wide range of psychological issues, from anxiety and mood disorders to substance abuse, psychosis, and criminal pathology. The films include As Good As It Gets, Fatal Attraction, A Beautiful Mind, The Three Faces of Eve, The Woodsman, Thirteen, and Trainspotting.

The students were hooked—but they didn’t just watch movies. They read modules from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and applied the diagnostics to the on-screen renderings of mental illness. “Cinematic portrayals vary in how well they measure up against clinical descriptions,” says Luciana. “I use the inconsistencies as teaching tools, to challenge which aspects of the portrayal are inaccurate.”

By the end of the semester, students could identify major psychological disorders and bring their new diagnostic tools to the movies. Alex might still make their flesh tingle, but at least they’ll understand her.