The Fine Art Of Madness: Insanity In Modern Entertainment

Psychology as science only dates back as far as the late nineteenth century, but madmen in stories go back to the days of primary orality. More often than not, these stories involved ordinary men driven to madness by their own brazen defiance of the gods, by fate, or by the storyteller's need for a killer ending (centuries later, M. Night Shyamalan would take note). These actions were often shown to be the final domino of some great tragedy, such as Oedipus stabbing himself in the eyes upon learning how he had wronged his own family. Several centuries later, William Shakespeare introduced us to Prince Hamlet, who's "antic disposition" and melancholy would set the standard for protagonists at war with themselves.

In the early twentieth century, due in no small part to the popularity of Carl Jung and Sigmund Frued, we moved from a view of madness as punishment, to an actual treatable malady. Murderers had motivations beyond just pure evil, and perhaps even gained our sympathy to some degree. At the very least, understanding. And while the mad scientist character, as epitomized by Dr. Frankenstein and his ilk, was often driven by a lust for power, they were still in some way helping to better human understanding.

So where are we now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century? The madmen of today represent a freer, perhaps even more evolved human; one who can see beyond the boundaries set up by societal norms. As our technologically advanced, privacy free world inches closer and closer to Orwellian dystopia, these last few insane individuals represent the one thing that cannot (yet) be caged; our freedom to think what we like, regardless of the consequences.

These lunatics are often far removed from any actual brain disorder; serial killers don't usually double as mad scientists, grown men with invisible rabbits for friends are not always charming, and multiple personality disorder doesn't really work the way that it's often portrayed. But, outside of your One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nests and Girl Interrupteds, these are not supposed to be slices of life. This is insanity as a thinly veiled reflection of sanity. The murderers in the Scream films can appear completely normal, and then inexplicably flip, because they represent our duel natures, just as much as a werewolf or Mr. Hyde do. This is us; this is what we could become.

Hero or villain (or something in between), what we end up admiring about these characters is their freedom. We live in a society in which we are mostly free to do as we please, but there are certain lines we don't cross. We don't park our car on our neighbors lawn, for example, or knock off the local bank. For good reason; these type of behaviors are irrational, and could lead to self destruction. But, right or wrong, the deranged are free to do these things, since they either have no worries about the outcome, or no way of comprehending it.

Conservative thinkers might fear that the prevalence of insane heroes and villains is representative of a more permissive tolerance of outlandish ideas, i.e. "anything goes". This is partially true, but too small in focus. Ultimately, I think that it shows signs of our growing awareness that not only are multiple perspectives valid in a discourse, but that they can also be useful in an internal monologue. We are all the heroes, villains, movers and fools of our own drama, and it's becoming more and more a pleasure to meet ourselves.