The Imaginary in the Biopic: Deconstructing Convention in Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Abstract

©2021 by the board of trustees of the university of illinois author sylvia nasar opens the biography A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash with a quote from William Wordsworth that envisions a mind forever “[v]oyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone,” which portends a narrative describing the often dynamic but reclusive mind of John Nash, a socially awkward and eccentric mathematical prodigy whose aptly titled Nash Equilibrium was a leading concept utilized in the field of governing dynamics (Nasar 11). Like the figure described by Wordsworth, the Nash portrayed in Ron Howard’s biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001), here played by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, is beset by strange thoughts—paranoid schizophrenia, specifically, which manifests in the form of three initially corporeal individuals later revealed to be delusions within the film’s narrative: Charles Herman (Paul Bettany), Nash’s witty and cavalier college roommate at Princeton and emotional confidant; Marcee Herman (Vivien Cardone), Charles Herman’s young niece, who facilitates a much-needed humanity in the antisocial Nash; and perhaps most important of all, William Parcher (Ed Harris), who enlists Nash’s help at the Department of Defense to combat the risk of a communist invasion and, later, the impending threat of a bomb being detonated on United States soil. Most notable, though, are Nash’s reliance on Charles for both emotional support and advice through many difficult times in his life (struggling to succeed in college, deciding whether to marry Alicia Larde [Jennifer Connelly], etc.) and his relationship with his covert and dictatorial supervisor, William Parcher, whose mission orders become increasingly clandestine and engender Nash with a paranoia that begins to affect his relationship with his new wife and child. One of the major conventions of the biopic that George Custen describes in his seminal work on the subject, Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History, is the place the secondary characters hold in the travails of the biographical film’s protagonist. Custen argues that secondary characters in biopics essentially act as a support system for the heterosexual male lead character and aid in his ability to succeed. While secondary characters are a mainstay in most Hollywood fare, their role in biopics is especially integral since they serve as one of several levels of encouragement (the wife character being another) needed for the lead male character to surmount the generic challenges imposed by his genius. In Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, the secondary characters initially exist as support systems necessary for Nash’s success. However, unlike the secondary characters described by Custen, the figures that the audience firmly believes to be supporting Nash’s humanity and patriotism, respectively, are in fact the very sources of Nash’s mental breakdown and eventual hospitalization. Hence, Howard’s The Imaginary in the Biopic: Deconstructing Convention in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind (2001)