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By Simon Augustine, M.Div

INTRODUCTION

Moviegoers and Madmen

Men are more interested in what they see when dreaming than what they see when awake.

- Diogenes

The movie theater is a miniature mental asylum. A temporary home made of cushioned seats (and padded, sound-proof walls) for the bereft, the dazed, the longing, the beautiful losers; men and women who need images almost as much as they need real people.

Maybe that explains why some of the most iconic and compelling characters in American cinematic history are those who embody madness in one of its many forms; like we moviegoers who watch and live vicariously through these fictional people, the characters themselves struggle with a relationship between reality and image, trying to find a fulcrum between the outside world and imagination: Randall P. McMurphy, irreverent would-be savior of “The Cuckoo”s Nest;” Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes, deranged stalker/fan par excellance, “hobbling” her favorite author in Stephen King”s Misery; Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, “god”s lonely man,” dangerous dreamer, epitome of urban social alienation; Dr. Hannibal Lecter, fascinating in his genius brand of cannibalistic insanity; or Sally Field as Sybil, bringing the complexity and pathos of multiple personality disorder to national consciousness. And the list goes on….

These are the rebels and sufferers of delusion who buck the system, fight against the status quo, or terrorize the neighborhood; the pin-ups of our hearts; quintessential American (anti-)heroes who dramatically attempt to change reality, either in the streets or in their minds-with consequences of chaos, societal upheaval, or a measure of personal healing. And who among us has not walked into a theatre in hopes of changing ourselves by seeing something new, by dreaming with assistance, understanding our identity through fresh images and the words of unreal people? We watch the crazy-brave on the screen to measure our lives and minds against their thoughts and deeds; and with a unique sense of self-reflexive grandeur and paranoid fondness for the power of The Image that only movies bestow on us-we the believers so skilled at a suspension of disbelief-we suspect that perhaps our heroes and villains of semi-reality are watching us too, making sure we are sufficiently moved by their efforts.

By:  ahillis                        Source