In today's society, many assume that those with extreme mental illnesses are aggressive and dangerous threats to people around them. In fact, a study conducted by Pescosolido and others in 1996 suggests that almost sixty-one percent of people believe a schizophrenic person is at least somewhat likely to behave violently (1341). In actuality, however, work by Heather Stuart and others shows that the mentally ill are no more likely to engage in violence than anyone else, unless substance abuse is involved (Par. 13). Contrary to the stereotype, violent acts perpetrated by such individuals is usually unrelated to delusions caused by the mental illness.

Filmmakers often portrays the mentally disabled as vulnerable characters unable to escape the fates that await them. For example, the character Marnie in Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name (1964) is essentially trapped into marrying the other protagonist, Mark. Marnie, like Spider, has killed in her childhood and been traumatized by the event. This trauma creates issues for her well into adulthood; she becomes a thief, is uncomfortable with men, and fears the color red--problems that cause her many difficulties. In the end, it is these idiosyncrasies that catch Mark's interest and lead him to blackmail Marnie in order to force a turn around. Though Marnie has killed once, she does not present a threat to anyone else's life. Even when Mark traps her, she never attempts to harm him, although she does attempt suicide to escape.

Cronenburg shows Spider as being an equally vulnerable character, particularly through his demeanor. Spider behaves in a way most viewers will likely see as strange; he wears many layers of shirts and collects small pieces of string to make a web. Many of these quirks, such as making the web, have connections with his forgotten past. Wearing five shirts, on the other hand, does not appear to have an explanation, and most likely developed as a result of events suffered while in the asylum. All of these behaviors suggest that Spider has been the victim of some kind of trauma in his past. While much of Spider's ordeal did occur as a direct result of his mental illness, this only serves to strengthen the idea that he is vulnerable because he is not even fully aware of the world around him. In fact, Spider's very manner displays him as weak and vulnerable, as he consistently stutters, talks quietly, and walks slightly hunched over. Cronenburg also frequently shows close-up shots of Spider's face, allowing the viewer to see in no uncertain detail his timid, forlorn facial expressions.

Throughout his life, Spider has remained vulnerable to some kind of authority figure, be it his parents, the asylum director, or the warden at the half-way house. Spider has bounced directly from one person's charge to another, never finding the opportunity to become independent. Spider's relative powerlessness is displayed at various points of the movie, as when he is forced to tell his father that he does not think his mother is dead even though he believes otherwise. Spider also has very complicated relationships with his caretakers. As a child, he seems to care deeply about his mom, while not getting along well with his father. It is possible that when he began to feel as though his mother preferred his father over him, he made up the idea of his father's bringing home a whore. He most likely also felt as though the matron of the halfway house did not care about him much, leading his imagination to connect her with the whore he had already created in his mind. Even his murder of his mom (whom his mind has replaced with "the whore") and his attempted murder of the matron at the halfway house faili to empower him. At the movie's conclusion, he is replaced in the more restrictive asylum.

On top of having no control over his current life, Spider has no control over his memories. When a flashback occurs, Spider watches the flashback in as passive a manner as the viewer. While showing Spider as powerless, this effect also causes the viewer to feel more kinship with the adult Spider, as Spider and the viewer rediscover Spider's past together. This feeling of connectedness with Spider serves as a way to assist the viewer in understanding and empathizing with Spider's actions, hopefully helping the viewer realize that Spider is not as dangerous as one might think at first glance.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Cronenburg's message is that he conveys it even while centering the movie on a character who has committed murder. Though Spider has killed before, the odds of him killing again are very low. Spider's delusion only appears when he is under the care of a woman, and with proper counseling such a situation could be easily prevented. Outside of a woman's care, Spider does not show any violent tendencies at all. For example, when Spider is in the asylum he appears timid and obedient, returning the broken shard of glass to the asylum director rather than attempting anything violent with it. This suggests that Spider may even be able to live a normal life; he would not have a woman taking care of him were he not in the halfway house. Spider is also far less likely to cause harm to anyone at the end of the movie, as he has finally realized that much of what happened during his childhood was a delusion. Unfortunately, by that point, Spider had already gone too far to avoid being brought back to the asylum.

Some of the supporting characters in the movie Spider also uphold the idea that the mentally ill are not dangerous. Terrence, for example, is perhaps one of the wisest and calmest characters in the movie, a resident at the halfway house who befriends Spider and never once loses control. The one exception, a raving man in the asylum who brandishes a shard of glass at the director of the asylum, takes more of a defensive stance than an aggressive one, suggesting that he might not have harmed anyone if allowed to calm down.

Although many people believe that the mentally ill may be a danger to society, the majority of them are no more dangerous than anyone else. Cronenburg is aware of this, and uses his movie Spider as an object lesson to convey this truth. While Spider may seem dangerous at first, closer analysis reveals that Spider would be quite harmless under different circumstances. Using Spider's timid personality and strange habits, as well as displaying his relationships with the people that govern his life, Cronenburg provides a compelling example of a misunderstood victim of mental illness.

by Nathan Davis

WORKS CITED

Spider. Screenplay by Patrick McGrath. Dir. David Cronenburg. Perf. Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne. 2002. DVD. Tristar Home Entertainment, 2003.

Marnie. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Sean Connery and 'Tippi' Hedren. Universal Studios, 1964.

Stuart, Heather. "Violence and mental illness: an overview." World Psychiatry vol. 2 issue 2. June 2003. pg. 121-124. April 28, 2007.

Pescosolido, Bernice, John Monahan, Bruce Link, Ann Stueve, and Saeko Kikuzawa. "The public's view of the competence, dangerousness, and need for legal coercion of persons with mental health problems." Am J Public Health vol. 9 issue 89. September 1999. pg. 1339-1345. April 28, 2007.