Most realistic depiction of a psychopath

I'd say Joker, especially the Phoenix version, is a sociopath.
He has the classic background.
Abused and tormented pretty much all his life... then seeks help but is forgotten about.
By the end, he snaps, and feels little to no remorse for his actions, blaming everyone else. Even laughing at the chaos he caused.

Lector isn't socio nor psycho.
You could say Hannibal Rising shows something in his childhood that makes him snap... but I don't know how much that movie is canon.
If it is, then yeah, he has sociopathic tendencies, but I wouldn't call him a full on sociopath.
He's definitely psychotic (psychotic not psychopathic) though.

John Doe from Se7en... not socio or psycho.
Psychotic definitely as well... but we don't know his full past.
His reasons are based in reality, the scum and awfulness, as he sees it, drives him.
He could have a traumatic past which shows itself in his current behaviours... so he'd be a sociopath.
A true psychopath though wouldn't act like John Doe. A psychopath wouldn't give two sh*ts about what complete strangers are doing to each other, let alone spend their time punishing them for it.
John Doe, possibly a sociopath, but without info on his past we can't be sure.

John Wick however...
Could be either.
We don't know his history. He could always have had a penchant for killing, which means he's a psychopath.
This would explain his chosen profession.
It's only when something happens directly to him, his wife dies then those punks kill the dog she left him in her Will... that he takes action and takes it to the extreme.
Again though, the thing happening directly to him causing him to take action, is also a sociopathic trait.
You hurt me. You will pay for it.
I'd say, even given the fantastical elements of the movie, the character's history and events of the movie and John Wick's reaction... John Wick is probably a psychopath.

__________________

I have no idea. There’s no context to this. My mother hates her sister’s guts and it’s mutual; I can imagine her doing that to a company she does own. I suppose I could refuse to sell it to my aunt’s kids and sell it to a stranger instead, but I doubt this sheds much light on psychopathy. The above is just randomly spiteful, isn’t it? Are psychopaths random? I’m not sure. In The Lobster (2015), I completely relate to Angeliki Papoulia’s character because she only wants honesty from her partner. Not emotion but no bull**** either. He is lying to her, sleeping with her to stay alive. She gets annoyed not because it hurts her emotionally, but because this is not a reliable, dependable partnership in her eyes and too much trouble to go through with. I relate to that a 100 per cent. Even the dog she kills to test her theory that he does feel something and hence is no psychopath and hence is lying to her. It’s not a random murder.

In my experience it usually comes down to my lack of emotion in all “appropriate” situations. I’ll flip when my expensive earring falls into a drain, but I’m utterly unperturbed at funerals or in the face of my own potential death from surgery.

Age-wise I am far past “learning” empathy, though people have tried to indoctrinate me since I was a toddler. Besides, you have to want to learn something to be good at it, and I never did understand what benefits empathy would bring me. When other people empathise with me, I want them to **** off. It is exhausting and rather unpleasant. When I’m having a **** day, never ever has a human being been able to make me feel better. I would rather watch a film.

Empathy rests on feeling something and I don’t, though on an analytical level I’m reasonably good at understanding people without any sort of “mirroring”. When my mother cries and throws tantrums, I feel mild exasperation and apprehension but nothing else, whatever one would feel. Anyway, I only made the reference because I think psychopathy is not a “mental illness”. It’s certainly something innate, but I would have thought society is moving away from calling something one can’t help an illness. It’s incredible how when it’s psychopathy no one tries to be even tactful.

Thank you, this is much appreciated.

Yeah psychopathy is a character trait rather than an illness.

It's like saying someone who is very passive has a mental illness, because they don't stand their ground in a conflict or refuse to get into conflicts.

Has nobody seen 'Angst' ? Easily the most realistic portrayal I've seen. Makes these Hollywood psychos like Chiggurgh and Joker look like Pixar movies.

Well I'm not sure those things necessarily stir up all that much empathy in non psychopaths either, but whichever way it is, you may want to consider wisely how open you choose to be about having little or no empathy, as it's not exactly associated with anything positive among most "normal" people. And for good reasons I might add. Having to deal with people ridden of empathy can be pretty maddening. Especially in combination with heavy manipulation.

I might be wrong here, but in my experience psychopaths don't care about much beyond bettering their economic position, and analysing and nerding around movies is typically not on the priority list.

I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'd say that if puppies or innocent children in severe stress and pain doesn't make you feel bad in any way then there's probably something wrong with you.

My economic position is quite excellent. And it’s Boxing Day, I would work but I can’t. I think films are abstract and much more pleasant than people, even Human Centipede. But maybe you’re right. I am quite certain “something” is, but quite what is by now irrelevant.

But films are people. Isn’t it a way to be inside but outside at the same time. The world. From a comfy spot.*you wouldn’t like to be in the human centipede film, would you?

I watched a vid of that self proclaimed psychopath you mentioned. She seem to be better from therapy, not just something liquid occupying a space that disappears when nobody is there to see it. thanks for the nod. I’ll go down this rabbit hole again.

That’s quite the statement. I don’t exactly disagree; there is something to it. Films certainly have their own souls and personalities. However, unlike actual people, films can’t “react” back at you. Yes, they can evoke feelings in you but you are ultimately in control, at least more so than had they been able to “talk back”. That’s why I prefer films to people.

I wouldn’t LIKE to be in HC, no. But again, I can picture myself in it and worse ****, my mind tends to visualise these things. I think I’d very calmly and rationally attempt suicide in this scenario which I might potentially manage, who knows.

It’s interesting, right? I don’t know. Therapy does help one understand oneself better (personally I never felt the need), but I don’t know to what extent it can make one “better”, and whether one should even want to get “better” in this context (aka become more neurotypical).

I just thought of a good psychopathic character.

Gordon Gekko.

Then again, he just pursues wealth. The thing doesn’t delve deep enough into psychology.

True, but the character himself is a true portrayal of a functioning psychopath.

I agree.

This was actually the only other name mention as not making the cut with Bates, Lecter, Bateman for not quite fitting the mold lol I’m not disagreeing, I left out saying it as I have never seen Wall Street.

There is something to it and that’s nice to hear, sometimes I just like to light a little fire statement and see where it lands, I would’ve hated if you bowled me over with agreement or disagreement

I just think psychiatric labeling of people is bull****, it's as if psychiatrists are in fact actually normal people. The neuroscience behind psychiatric medication clearly is not understood very well.



Psychopathic/Sociopathic behavior clearly does result from adverse situations that are basically impossible to respond to "empathetically", however, like with other things, not always. I've studied lots of sociopaths/psychopaths because they are fascinating to me...and Ted Bundy certainly didn't have it very rough early on, but look at the stuff he most likely did...it seems like he was just mad about his girlfriend rejecting him, so he killed other girls because he knew he could get away with it.

Yes though he get her back after reinventing himself or something, only so that he could cut her off this time, which he did instantly which is kinda even more ****ed up. There was clearly a massive wound there.*That and his obsession with violent pornography wasn’t it or so he says. What a **** head.

Random tidbit - I always thought because of a movie, Bundy had gone crying to his death like a baby but this was a mammoth lie from the film makers, a detestable one. He’d gone to his death looking oddly serene with a slight knowing smile. I can kinda guess why they changed it up, so dumb. I digress sorry but yeah I know about Bundy too. He’s a piece of ****, like all of them.

Regarding the actual topic my favorite depiction would certainly have to be Kim Bodnia in In China They Eat Dogs (1999)

Not sure his character qualifies as a full blown psychopath, but the way limited empathy and the general careless attitude is delivered is absolutely top notch acting IMO.

I am no Psychologist but the choice of Chigurh surprises me. That character seems to me to have almost supernatural powers of competency and my interpretation of the character is that he is an amalgam and symbolic of post-modern values that are overwhelming the old-guard characters in the film. I didn't think that Anton Chigurh was even supposed to be a realistic character.


I also observe that a lot of psychopathic characters in film are embellished with a high degree of intelligence or competency. Chigurh is on example and Hannibal Lechter is another. I guess the psychopathic dolts are not worth being the subject of a movie

This thread has caused me (and again, I'm a doctor) to consider the possibility, nay likelihood, that psychopathy is like autism and Asperger's and has a spectrum.

Specifically, Gekko has no empathy that anyone can see anywhere in the film. He acts completely out of self-interest, using a high degree of manipulation, and has no concern for the consequences to others.
My immediate boss is a bit like this. He and I are kinda friends, we talk about movies instead of work and such, but he will also just throw me and my colleagues under the bus in a heartbeat, over and over, if it's what's good for his position. So I wonder if he is on the Psychopathy Spectrum.
HIS boss (actually his boss's boss) is at least on the Asperger's spectrum for sure but he also practices this business practice called "burning the platform" where you just make sweeping change that you know people are going to hate and is going to adversely effect their lives with the understand that almost everyone will jump off a burning platform and swim to the new one, no matter how unappealing it is, rather than drown.
That's some sick-ass ****, but that's how my employers operate. Is that also Corporate Psychopathy?