Mental Disturbance essays

Mental Disturbance essays In the film Falling Down, the main character D-FENS, played by Michael Douglas, deals with many ongoing social pressures that ultimately lead to his demise. At the start of his day, D-FENS' long-accumulated personal problems hit a boiling point and carry the man to a severe mental breakdown. He abandons his grid locked car during a traffic jam and decides to walk to the place he calls "home." Viewers are later opened to the fact that the place he would like to call home no longer welcomes him, nor does the wife and child he left behind. Throughout the day, his goal to reach his x-wife and daughter's residence in Venice Beach, California, acts as his motivation. This circumstance brings him in contact with many people who add to his already perturbed mental state. Inflated prices at a Korean-owned quickie-mart, a run-in with gang members on their "piece of shit hill" (Schumacher, Falling Down), and a modern day Neo-NAZI are some of the many factors that contribute to the character's i rrational behavior. After sitting through the entire duration of this 1 hour 53 minute film, it is apparent that the main character suffers from Antisocial and Borderline personality disorders and mood and stress related psychological disorders. Motivation, the "cause of an organism's behavior, or the reason that an organism carries out some activity" (Huffman, 410) drives D-FENS on his journey homeward. Motivation involves a need, a drive, and a goal. The character's need is one for "love and feelings of belonging," (Huffman 410) which is defined by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of motives. D-FENS, who viewers can assume, has been split from his wife and daughter for sometime, felt that the place he once called home is where he could find this sense of love and belonging. Since his divorce, D-FENS had been residing with his mother who fulfilled his "primary level of motivation," (Huffman, 410) whereas his basic needs such as "...