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Movie Case Study
‘A psychological analysis of “Secret Window’s” Mort Rainey’
By: Megan Dezenski
i. Name of movie and synopsis:
“Secret Window” tells the story of Mort Rainey, an author facing writer’s block while also dealing with a divorce with his unfaithful wife. Dealing with the hardships in his love life, he then finds himself being falsely accused of plagiarism by a man named John Shooter. Mort is given three days to prove that he’s the original author of the story while Shooter continuously harasses him, before turning fatally violent.
ii. Presenting problem of the character:
Upon first introduction, it is clear that Rainey possibly suffers from clinical depression. He frequently falls asleep several times a day, presenting an abnormal sleeping pattern. Symptoms also include a negative outlook for life and a negative perception of himself, showing lack of motivation and no interest in personal hygiene. He frequently wears a robe, appears dirty, has messy hair, and his diet seems to consist mostly of chips and liquor. Along with his frequent bouts of sleep and low motivation, he frequently drinks alcohol.
Cognitive symptoms consist of him having writers block which shows poor concentration, frequent agitation towards the people around him and his wife, low self esteem with self blame, and a negative perception on life. Emotionally, he feels unaccomplished, emotionally low, despairing about his unfinished story and his personal life falling apart, and unreasonable anger to the maid, his soon to be ex wife with her new boyfriend, and he is slow in responding to those around him. Behavior wide, he seems slow in his actions and reactions, often lounging around the house and showing no interest in socializing or physical activity.
The possible cause of his depression seems to stem from his personal life failing 6 months prior, when he found his wife was having an affair and caught them at a motel. In reaction to this event and his personal life falling apart, his work life seems suffer, leading him to his writers block. Since he has had consistent symptoms of major depression for 6 months, he could possibly be diagnosed with clinical depression.
iii. Background information:
Mort Rainey is a male in his early 40’s to late 30’s who is a published and accomplished author. While physically his health seems to be fine, his unhealthy habits could look to future problems. He frequently drinks (possibly an alcoholic), smokes, and doesn’t show much interest in his personal hygiene. His diet consists mostly of liquor and potato chips. His family consists of his wife and their baby, which had died before his wife could give birth. Other than them, he shows no connection to any other family or blood relatives.
His other relationships (non-blood related) are with his dog Chico, his private investigator named Ken, his maid, and the local sheriff with whom he does not agree with. Antagonistic relationships include Ted Milner, who was having an affair with his wife, and Shooter, who threatens him with plagiarism and physical violence.
Most often Rainey turns to alcohol and his cigarettes to help with his stress. At the time we meet Rainey, he seems to be dealing with many difficulties in his life, which include the divorce he is having with his wife, his frustration with his writers block, being wrongly accused of plagiarism, and later his house burns down. His goals are few, showing little motivation in life, but he does want to prove he is innocent of plagiarism to shooter by obtaining the magazine his story was first published in, and to finally get out of writers block and finish his story.
iv. Observations of behavior:
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Ballroom Blitz.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/929531
http://www.motivational-well-being.com/motivational-songs.html
Bon Jovi
 DownSight · Tue Mar 02, 2010 @ 11:35pm · 0 Comments |
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