Analysis of Perception and Reality: A Case Study of 'A Beautiful Mind'

This essay explores the complex relationship between perception and reality, using the movie 'A Beautiful Mind' as a case study. The film portrays the life of John Forbes Nash Jr., a brilliant academician suffering from schizophrenia, whose perception of reality is distorted by his mental illness. The essay delves into how Nash's delusions, such as believing he was being pursued by government agents, blurred the line between what was real and what he perceived, ultimately leading to his hospitalization. The analysis highlights the power of the mind and how deeply ingrained beliefs can shape an individual's understanding of the world. The essay concludes by reflecting on the subtle challenges in distinguishing between perception and reality in everyday life, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and critical thinking and encourages to explore similar content on Desklib.

Running head: PERCEPTION V REALITY
Perception v Reality
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PERCEPTION V REALITY
There is often the thought that what we perceive in the real world and what things
actually are, are two very different things. This is because of the actions of our subconscious
mind. The reality is very different from our perception of it (Wilson & Soranzo, 2015). We see
and feel things according to our own ability to interpret the real world. As a result, the way we
understand the world might be very different from the way another individual perceives the
world. Over here, the conflict between reality and perception arises (Weber, Weibel & Mast,
2018). This essay seeks to analysis this very conflict of perception versus reality by taking the
case study of a movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’ which was released in the year 2001.
The movie. ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001) is based on the story of an academician who
suffers from the problem of schizophrenia (Ebert, 2019). He had a brilliant and glorified past
where he was a renowned professor in a university. However, the disease of schizophrenia
slowly started to take a toll on him and started to crumble his entire life. However, he failed to
notice the symptoms and tried to tackle with the issue by alienating all the people around him
and forsaking his research. He was all consumed with an obsession and soon started to believe
that several government agencies were trying to take him hostage (Ebert, 2019). Eventually he
was forced to be admitted to a hospital where he was administered with electric shocks and was
given regular medications which was for the purpose of making him accept his condition as he
was in denial. The entire movie revolves around this very definition of reality and perception
(Thomas, Welch & Baumeister, 2015). The director made a beautiful analysis of the two
concepts, making the audience aware of the subtle power of the mind.
The main argument put forth by the director in this movie is the difference between
perception and reality. In the movie, the character of John Forbes Nash Junior is shown to be a
Nobel Prize winner who had a prosperous career. However, his perception of the real world

2PERCEPTION V REALITY
made him lose his sanity (Ebert, 2019). He started to believe that secret government agents were
behind him when this was actually not the case. His mental illness degraded to such a condition
that he had to be hospitalized. In this scenario, the doctor who was assigned to Nash had the
challenging job of making him believe in the real world. However, an important concern which
can be noted in this instance is the power of the mind (Chaudhuri, 2016). If an individual starts to
believe in something, the whole idea takes control over the entire mind. Thus, the saying follows
that an idea cannot be killed. In other word, the idea that took over control in Nash’s mind that
he was being pursued, fueled his anxiousness further. This acted as a catalyst towards his disease
of schizophrenia. The main contention of the entire movie was based on this dilemma – the
dividing line between the real world and that which is perceived by the individuals (Arlow,
2018).
This dilemma can be seen even in the real world instances. For instance, when I wake up
from sleep there is always the wonder if I am still dreaming or am I in fact awake. Moreover,
when I meet new people and I do not meet them for many days, in the time lapse I wonder if I
have ever indeed met them. The distinction between reality and perception often does hamper me
to take decisions but not in a challenging way. I often make a distinction between perception and
reality by touching things and feeling them. If I can touch and feel them then I consider them to
be true and real.
In conclusion it is observed that the idea of perception and reality is quite debatable and
there are very subtle ways in which this distinction can become a challenge. However, the aim is
to believe in oneself.

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References:
Arlow, J. A. (2018). Fantasy, memory, and reality testing. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 87(1),
127-148.
Chaudhuri, A. (2016). Cognitive constraints on the perception of reality. In Einstein, Tagore and
the Nature of Reality (pp. 192-210). Routledge.
Ebert, R. (2019). A Beautiful Mind Movie Review (2001) | Roger Ebert. Rogerebert.com.
Thomas, B. H., Welch, G. F., & Baumeister, J. (2015, September). Human Perception and
Psychology in Augmented Reality (HPPAR) Summary. In 2015 IEEE International
Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Workshops (pp. 3-3). IEEE.
Weber, S., Weibel, D., & Mast, F. (2018). Time Perception, Movement and Presence in Virtual
Reality.
Wilson, C. J., & Soranzo, A. (2015). The use of virtual reality in psychology: A case study in
visual perception. Computational and mathematical methods in medicine, 2015.