Mental Illness in the Movies: The Billionaire Aviator with OCD.

Mental illness is often portrayed in Hollywood films for its intriguing and rich potential for a story. However, the illnesses portrayed are sometimes exaggerated and altered to better suit the story of the film, providing unrealistic expectations and views around mental illnesses. In the following essay I will examine how the movie The Aviator portrays the anxiety disorder known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and examine how consistent the symptoms are in comparison to literature, and discuss possible messages it sends to viewers about the disorder.
The Aviator is a biographical film released in 2004, based on the true story of Howard Hughes, a famous aviator, filmmaker, …show more content…
The first instance of Hughes’ obsession over germs comes while he is in the bathroom washing his hands. A man comes out after him and washes his hands too, and because Hughes is closer to the hand towels, the man asks politely if Hughes can pass him a towel in which Hughes responds with a polite no. He is clearly disturbed and embarrassed that he cannot simply pass someone a towel out of fear it will contaminate him, so much so that he can barely look at the man or be near him again (Brigham & Scorsese, 2004). This is the first sign of the obsession over germs we see in the film, and the first time viewers must think something is quite wrong and bizarre in his behavior. Following this, Hughes is again shown in the bathroom washing his hands, yet this time he is alone. He is shown to be violently and excessively scrubbing his hands with soap, so much so that his hands start to bleed. When his is finished he tries to leave the bathroom but realizes he cannot open the door without touching it, so he is forced to wait until someone else comes to the bathroom and open the door so he can slip out at the same time (Brigham & Scorsese,