Shutter Island: What's More Scary Than The Truth?
What’s more scary than the truth?
Shutter Island, produced in 2010 and directed by Martin Scorsese, is a psychological thriller film that portrays psychological treatments in the 1950’s. Martin Scorsese’s alteration of the Dennis Lehane novel, Shutter Island, is in fact a horror movie, but it will not come across as your average present-day horror film. Typically directors take ghosts, monsters, vampires, or possessed people and develop a film to scare its viewers, and it more than likely always does. The average horror film filled with a group of “hills have eyes looking” creatures is always scary, but there’s a sense of comfort knowing that it’s just a movie. We thrive off of being scared and the idea of watching these movies knowing they …show more content…
aren’t real, but is that really what we fear? Although these movies are filled with blood and gore, there’s something more realistic and psychological when it comes to tapping into what we Americans are truly afraid of. Rather than using these unrealistic and supernatural beings to scare the audience, the horror of this film is portrayed through psychological distress and internal damages: “a new vision of fear.” In this essay, I will explain how the horror in Shutter Island comes from the perceptions of psychological treatment in the 1950‘s and how it relates to the present-day fear we Americans face from the horrific memories of September 11, 2001.
The film is set in 1954 as World War II veteran and current federal marshal Teddy Daniels, and his new partner, Chuck, set out to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. Teddy Daniels explores the asylum in hope to unfold the mysteries of Shutter Island, while his past terrors and hallucinations from guilt interfere with his mindset but actually turn out to help him with the investigation in the end. Scorsese did a great job keeping the audience on edge and just a little bit confused during Teddy’s hallucinations, as intense and fascinating dream-like visions attack him and cause him to question what is real and what is not. Towards the movies end, Teddy makes a journey to the lighthouse where he strongly believes psychosurgery experiments are being done. When Teddy arrives in the lighthouse he notices Dr. Cawley, the head psychiatrist, waiting there for him. It is during this scene that Dr. Cawley finally explains to Teddy that he is really Andrew Laeddis who murdered his wife after she drowned their three children. Dr. Cawley continues to tell Andrew that he had created a fake life to escape the traumatic reality of his past, and that the entire hospital crew was involved in the role-play in hopes that Andrew might face his reality. As stated in multiple articles throughout the internet, Andrew Laeddis is facing Dissociative Identity Disorder/Delusional Disorder while going through the role-play experiment. After the attacks on September 11th 2001, millions of people were faced with trauma and a strong amount of fear, which caused some of them to develop delusions and create an unrealistic life for themselves. After something horrific happens to a person, their mind becomes insane and they are sometimes left with no other choice but to imagine a new, normal, and sane life for themselves. Dr. Cawley is trying to cure Andrew so that he could be sane again, but even after Dr. Cawley explains to Andrew what is really going on and gets Andrew to believe him, the reality only lasts a short amount of time. During the scene when Andrea and Dr. Cawley are in the lighthouse, Dr. Cawley explains to Andrew, “You were committed here by court order twenty four months ago. Your crime is terrible. One you can 't forgive yourself for, so you invented another self. You created a story in which you 're not a murderer, you 're a hero. Still a U.S. Marshal. Only her at Ashecliffe because of the case and you 've uncovered a conspiracy so that anything we tell you about who you are, what you 've done, you can dismiss as lies, Andrew.” The conversation between the two carries on like an interview, and after hearing more and more explanations from Dr. Cawley and experiencing another hallucination from his wife, Andrew finally answers why he is in the hospital,
“I killed my wife because she murdered our children.
She told me to let her go.” Dr. Cawley proceeds to ask Andrew who Teddy Daniels is and why he Teddy up along with Rachel Solando, Laeddis responds, “He doesn’t exist. Neither does Rachel Solando. I made them up. I can’t take knowing that Dolores killed our children. I mean... I killed them because I didn’t... I didn’t get her help. You know. I killed …show more content…
them.”
As the film ends, Dr.
Cawley realizes that Andrew is still living in his fantasy world and brings Andrew to be lobotomized. In the 1950s, lobotomies were practiced as a way to "tame" or "relax" extremely violent or problematic patients. Nowadays, lobotomies are rarely practiced due to the large amount of deaths resulted from the surgery. The portrayal of psychological treatment in the 1950’s usually leaves viewers feeling cautioned about the dangers in todays modern psychology. Dealing with the Holocaust and WWII forces people to think about this real life tragedy that could have easily happen to anyone of them. The flashbacks that occur throughout the film represent Teddy’s memories from being in World War II at the liberation of Dachau and all the horrible images he saw there that forever changed who he is. Similar to the horrific nightmares Teddy has from his memories of the Holocaust, Dennis Lehane (original author of the story Shutter Island) had dreamt up the plot in the midst of another tragedy known as 9/11. The movie was produced in 2010, during the post-traumatic years of September 11th in 2001. Shutter Island was influenced to be set in the 1950’s Cold-War period after Lehanes experience with 9/11. The movie focuses on the fear of going through a traumatic time and having to face the reality rather than to hide from it. Shutter Island is not just a movie that has an “unexpected twist,” but is more a movie focused on the psychological treatment used in the 1950’s
and the traumatic event that happened 12 years ago - September 11th.
If we ask ourselves if mental hospitals like Ashecliffe really exist, the answer is yes. Throughout the years these types of hospitals have changed due to the advance in learning and treatment methods. There were many conflicts revolving around the usage of these “mental insane asylums” back in the 1950‘s. People were hearing that these hospitals were not used for the right reasons and were abusing their patients by experimenting with them. When people are faced with traumatic situations in their life, it is hard for them to accept the feelings and move on. Many Americans today find it more frightening to watch horror movies that focus more about realistic occurrences rather than supernatural, hard to believe, ones. While watching Shutter Island, your mind starts to pick out certain situations that you could actually relate to, and that is what scares people. The movie itself provokes fear by taking the audience on a “mind trip” that confuses their sense of what is real and what is not - this sense of mind is what relates Shutter Island to the post-traumatic stress from the 9/11 attacks. As the plot begins to fold out, vivid scenes and music help unfold the frightening twist that contributes to the suspense the story already holds. Using various lighting effects, flashbacks, camera angles and dream scenes, the usage of bright and dull colors throughout different scenes is used to make this a more thrilling and horror evoking film. These different color schemes really highlight the amount of comfort Teddy feels while in his fantasies instead of in reality. While watching a movie that makes your fantasies look better than your reality, you start to question your own thoughts... And that causes you to fear your reality and what horrible things can happen to anyone.
Shutter Island brings to a persons mind a variety of philosophical questions: What is sane and what is not sane? What is insanity? Is it curable? Was this all a lie? What is reality? Who is the real bad guy? Reading about how the film is presenting Teddy Daniels with Dissociate Identity Disorder, I found that many people who struggle with dissociative disorders have also suffered from extreme traumas in their lives; For example, Teddys wife murdering his children and causing him to murder her. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, so many US citizens were affected by the tragedy and needed all the help they could get. I’ve seen how people act after going through horrible, unforgettable, times in their life and it’s not easy for them to just move on past it - so many people will never be the same again. Although, in the film Dr. Cawley and the hospital staff are all in on a role-play experiment to try and return Teddy back to his sane/normal state of being, he still can’t turn himself completely normal again. After the incident with Dolores (Teddys wife) murdering his children and also his experiences at the liberation of Dachau, Teddy became violent and dangerously depressed. It is clear the Teddy will never be himself again, he will either remain a violent monster or he will end his life as the man he remembers he used to be. In his very last line of the movie before he goes to be lobotomized, Teddy asks to Chuck (Dr. Sheehan), “Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?” What Teddy is asking here is simple, would you rather live your life as a completely different and violent person or would you rather die with the last good memories you have from when you were normal and sane? During the post years of 9/11, tons of individuals committed suicide and also became unbelievably depressed to the point where their lives will never be the same again. It’s scary to watch a movie and wonder, what if that was you? Or to think, that could really happen to me and I’ll have no idea how to react or how I would save myself from becoming a monster. In Shutter Island you aren’t faced with supernatural monsters and serial killing creatures, you’re faced with the truth... And what’s more scary then the truth?
Works Cited
Passarelli, Justina. "A One Way Ticket to Shutter Island - Applied Psychology OPUS - NYU Steinhardt." Web log post. A One Way Ticket to Shutter Island - Applied Psychology OPUS - NYU Steinhardt. New York University, 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .
Wolcott, Stephen R. "Film2Fact: SHUTTER ISLAND." Web log post. Film2Fact: SHUTTER ISLAND. Film2Fact, 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .
Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Definition." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 03 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .
Shutter Island, produced in 2010 and directed by Martin Scorsese, is a psychological thriller film that portrays psychological treatments in the 1950’s. Martin Scorsese’s alteration of the Dennis Lehane novel, Shutter Island, is in fact a horror movie, but it will not come across as your average present-day horror film. Typically directors take ghosts, monsters, vampires, or possessed people and develop a film to scare its viewers, and it more than likely always does. The average horror film filled with a group of “hills have eyes looking” creatures is always scary, but there’s a sense of comfort knowing that it’s just a movie. We thrive off of being scared and the idea of watching these movies knowing they …show more content…
aren’t real, but is that really what we fear? Although these movies are filled with blood and gore, there’s something more realistic and psychological when it comes to tapping into what we Americans are truly afraid of. Rather than using these unrealistic and supernatural beings to scare the audience, the horror of this film is portrayed through psychological distress and internal damages: “a new vision of fear.” In this essay, I will explain how the horror in Shutter Island comes from the perceptions of psychological treatment in the 1950‘s and how it relates to the present-day fear we Americans face from the horrific memories of September 11, 2001.
The film is set in 1954 as World War II veteran and current federal marshal Teddy Daniels, and his new partner, Chuck, set out to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. Teddy Daniels explores the asylum in hope to unfold the mysteries of Shutter Island, while his past terrors and hallucinations from guilt interfere with his mindset but actually turn out to help him with the investigation in the end. Scorsese did a great job keeping the audience on edge and just a little bit confused during Teddy’s hallucinations, as intense and fascinating dream-like visions attack him and cause him to question what is real and what is not. Towards the movies end, Teddy makes a journey to the lighthouse where he strongly believes psychosurgery experiments are being done. When Teddy arrives in the lighthouse he notices Dr. Cawley, the head psychiatrist, waiting there for him. It is during this scene that Dr. Cawley finally explains to Teddy that he is really Andrew Laeddis who murdered his wife after she drowned their three children. Dr. Cawley continues to tell Andrew that he had created a fake life to escape the traumatic reality of his past, and that the entire hospital crew was involved in the role-play in hopes that Andrew might face his reality. As stated in multiple articles throughout the internet, Andrew Laeddis is facing Dissociative Identity Disorder/Delusional Disorder while going through the role-play experiment. After the attacks on September 11th 2001, millions of people were faced with trauma and a strong amount of fear, which caused some of them to develop delusions and create an unrealistic life for themselves. After something horrific happens to a person, their mind becomes insane and they are sometimes left with no other choice but to imagine a new, normal, and sane life for themselves. Dr. Cawley is trying to cure Andrew so that he could be sane again, but even after Dr. Cawley explains to Andrew what is really going on and gets Andrew to believe him, the reality only lasts a short amount of time. During the scene when Andrea and Dr. Cawley are in the lighthouse, Dr. Cawley explains to Andrew, “You were committed here by court order twenty four months ago. Your crime is terrible. One you can 't forgive yourself for, so you invented another self. You created a story in which you 're not a murderer, you 're a hero. Still a U.S. Marshal. Only her at Ashecliffe because of the case and you 've uncovered a conspiracy so that anything we tell you about who you are, what you 've done, you can dismiss as lies, Andrew.” The conversation between the two carries on like an interview, and after hearing more and more explanations from Dr. Cawley and experiencing another hallucination from his wife, Andrew finally answers why he is in the hospital,
“I killed my wife because she murdered our children.
She told me to let her go.” Dr. Cawley proceeds to ask Andrew who Teddy Daniels is and why he Teddy up along with Rachel Solando, Laeddis responds, “He doesn’t exist. Neither does Rachel Solando. I made them up. I can’t take knowing that Dolores killed our children. I mean... I killed them because I didn’t... I didn’t get her help. You know. I killed …show more content…
them.”
As the film ends, Dr.
Cawley realizes that Andrew is still living in his fantasy world and brings Andrew to be lobotomized. In the 1950s, lobotomies were practiced as a way to "tame" or "relax" extremely violent or problematic patients. Nowadays, lobotomies are rarely practiced due to the large amount of deaths resulted from the surgery. The portrayal of psychological treatment in the 1950’s usually leaves viewers feeling cautioned about the dangers in todays modern psychology. Dealing with the Holocaust and WWII forces people to think about this real life tragedy that could have easily happen to anyone of them. The flashbacks that occur throughout the film represent Teddy’s memories from being in World War II at the liberation of Dachau and all the horrible images he saw there that forever changed who he is. Similar to the horrific nightmares Teddy has from his memories of the Holocaust, Dennis Lehane (original author of the story Shutter Island) had dreamt up the plot in the midst of another tragedy known as 9/11. The movie was produced in 2010, during the post-traumatic years of September 11th in 2001. Shutter Island was influenced to be set in the 1950’s Cold-War period after Lehanes experience with 9/11. The movie focuses on the fear of going through a traumatic time and having to face the reality rather than to hide from it. Shutter Island is not just a movie that has an “unexpected twist,” but is more a movie focused on the psychological treatment used in the 1950’s
and the traumatic event that happened 12 years ago - September 11th.
If we ask ourselves if mental hospitals like Ashecliffe really exist, the answer is yes. Throughout the years these types of hospitals have changed due to the advance in learning and treatment methods. There were many conflicts revolving around the usage of these “mental insane asylums” back in the 1950‘s. People were hearing that these hospitals were not used for the right reasons and were abusing their patients by experimenting with them. When people are faced with traumatic situations in their life, it is hard for them to accept the feelings and move on. Many Americans today find it more frightening to watch horror movies that focus more about realistic occurrences rather than supernatural, hard to believe, ones. While watching Shutter Island, your mind starts to pick out certain situations that you could actually relate to, and that is what scares people. The movie itself provokes fear by taking the audience on a “mind trip” that confuses their sense of what is real and what is not - this sense of mind is what relates Shutter Island to the post-traumatic stress from the 9/11 attacks. As the plot begins to fold out, vivid scenes and music help unfold the frightening twist that contributes to the suspense the story already holds. Using various lighting effects, flashbacks, camera angles and dream scenes, the usage of bright and dull colors throughout different scenes is used to make this a more thrilling and horror evoking film. These different color schemes really highlight the amount of comfort Teddy feels while in his fantasies instead of in reality. While watching a movie that makes your fantasies look better than your reality, you start to question your own thoughts... And that causes you to fear your reality and what horrible things can happen to anyone.
Shutter Island brings to a persons mind a variety of philosophical questions: What is sane and what is not sane? What is insanity? Is it curable? Was this all a lie? What is reality? Who is the real bad guy? Reading about how the film is presenting Teddy Daniels with Dissociate Identity Disorder, I found that many people who struggle with dissociative disorders have also suffered from extreme traumas in their lives; For example, Teddys wife murdering his children and causing him to murder her. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, so many US citizens were affected by the tragedy and needed all the help they could get. I’ve seen how people act after going through horrible, unforgettable, times in their life and it’s not easy for them to just move on past it - so many people will never be the same again. Although, in the film Dr. Cawley and the hospital staff are all in on a role-play experiment to try and return Teddy back to his sane/normal state of being, he still can’t turn himself completely normal again. After the incident with Dolores (Teddys wife) murdering his children and also his experiences at the liberation of Dachau, Teddy became violent and dangerously depressed. It is clear the Teddy will never be himself again, he will either remain a violent monster or he will end his life as the man he remembers he used to be. In his very last line of the movie before he goes to be lobotomized, Teddy asks to Chuck (Dr. Sheehan), “Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?” What Teddy is asking here is simple, would you rather live your life as a completely different and violent person or would you rather die with the last good memories you have from when you were normal and sane? During the post years of 9/11, tons of individuals committed suicide and also became unbelievably depressed to the point where their lives will never be the same again. It’s scary to watch a movie and wonder, what if that was you? Or to think, that could really happen to me and I’ll have no idea how to react or how I would save myself from becoming a monster. In Shutter Island you aren’t faced with supernatural monsters and serial killing creatures, you’re faced with the truth... And what’s more scary then the truth?
Works Cited
Passarelli, Justina. "A One Way Ticket to Shutter Island - Applied Psychology OPUS - NYU Steinhardt." Web log post. A One Way Ticket to Shutter Island - Applied Psychology OPUS - NYU Steinhardt. New York University, 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .
Wolcott, Stephen R. "Film2Fact: SHUTTER ISLAND." Web log post. Film2Fact: SHUTTER ISLAND. Film2Fact, 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .
Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Definition." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 03 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .