Aviator is a film produced in the US as a biographical drama and one that speaks on the real life story of one Howard Hughes. Hughes is a renowned director of film in Texas. The film Aviator was directed by Martin Scorse while Logan John wrote the script. It was released in the year 2004 on 25 th December in the United States and went forth to win numerous awards in the Oscar Awards (Almeida, 2010). The story talks about Howard Hughes that is a very rich a successful director of film suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Howard Hughes was born in a family that was utterly concerned with hygiene. His mother constantly insisted on the horrible adversities of some diseases and that led to Howard growing up to develop a phobia for dirt insisting that everything he touches be hygienic. The phobia grew up with him and posed a significant challenge to him as he strived to chase his ambition and reach his set goals (Almeida, 2010). The primary means of analysing the OCD in the film aviator entails the use of psychological approach through Howard, the main character. It is clear that Howard obtained his OCD since his early days as a child.
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Aviator as earlier mentioned describes the early adult life of Howard Hughes that is an eccentric billionaire with superb talent. He begins as a driven and successful aeronautical engineer, maker of films and a man of the ladies in Hollywood in the years 1920s and 1940s (Grist, 2016). The film shows that Howard was affected by the OCD symptoms that revealed themselves as severe and sometimes incapacitating even though there is the aspect of Howard being functional in his life course as depicted by the film (Almeida, 2010). The film does well to illustrate the various thoughts and compulsions that may result in serious distress to the persons suffering. It further provides an account of what is likely to transpire in the event of an untreated OCD and the contribution it makes to the burden as a whole. The film helps the audience understand the feeling one has when they are close to an OCD patient that has not yet gone for medical assistance.
Leonardo DiCaprio who plays Howard Hughes is the main character in the movie. Howard suffers from OCD that begins from when he is a child and grows up with him to determine his habitual activities. Howard descents from a hygienic family that is so concerned with the cleanliness of the surrounding and thus makes him a very hygienic individual who worries a lot about not getting dirt (Grist, 2016). He grows u to be very ambitious with high level enthusiasm and is a very eccentric playboy. However, his character is not an amusement to every person. Howard gets into a relationship with Katharine Hepburn.
Character Portrayal
The Director of the film, Martin Scorcese seems at pains to depict the life of Hughes in a realistic manner and despite the behaviour seeming atypical or odd, they characterise the real-life symptoms of Hughes. Most of the symptoms of OCD that Hughes had were quite classic and more so the fears f contamination. The possible source of the fears is shown to emanate from when Hughes was a child where his mother warns Hughes of an epidemic telling him that he is not safe (Almeida, 2010). Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Hughes as one that has slightly mild symptoms in the early parts of the film such as insisting on unopened milk bottles, ordering the same kinds of meals in every restaurant and wrapping the airplane wheel to protect it from germs by creating a barrier.
Hughes carries his bar of soap everywhere he goes so that he can use it in the public restrooms and washes his hands in a stereotyped manner. His compulsions tend to worsen whenever he is stressed (Grist, 2016). The severity of his symptoms as well as their complexity increases as the movie progresses. Hughes continuously repeats phrases and words in a compulsive manner and develops a complicated and elaborate routine that he follows to its exactness. A slight deviation from the routine compels him to begin over from the very beginning. At times Hughes gets stuck in some of the repetitive and uncontrollable compulsions bouts. It gets to the point when Hughes begins to avoid appearing in public, washing his hands to the point of bleeding and temporarily holing up in the screening room that is well assumed with piles of refuse and allowing nobody to come in courtesy of the obsessive effort of Hughes to establish a zone that is free of germs in which he can comfortably live (Almeida, 2010).
In addition to the symptoms of OCD that he suffers from, Hughes is depicted to have other personality aspects. He is self-driven and a perfectionist usually going over time and over the budget to complete a given film or a design of airplane to the exactness of his design specifications. It is odd that despite the safety obsessions related to his OCD, Hughes takes risks with the safety of his physique such as challenging the records of world air flights and opting to pilot planes that have never before been tested. Hughes is further seen to date a number of high profile women and more specifically actresses getting a good number of publicity in regards to his character as a womanizer (Almeida, 2010). The perfectionism of Hughes is typical for some people that have OCD but the other characteristics such as taking of risks and the sensationalistic behavioural aspects are not so much typical of such persons.
A more crucial part of the film entails when Hughes prepares for and attends a hearing at the senate in order to defend himself from accusations of profiteering war. He was issued with a subpoena at a time when he was severely under the attack of the OCD symptoms and was thus forced to leave his safe zone (Grist, 2016). Hughes is thus forced to leave his comfort zone and ignore all that his OCD demands of him in terms of routines and rituals in order to get to the hearing at the senate having to function as an ordinary and relatively normal person in a situation that is highly stressful. The real-life event is accurately portrayed in the film. However, it is not an overt observation to have that kind of rapid change to positivity in functioning. In fact, many at times, the rapid remission in the symptoms of OCD in a substantial way usually occurs in the absence of treatment regardless of the level of motivation.
Etiology
The OCD in Howard begins slowly. It first becomes clear during the time when as a child; he undergoes a lecture by the mother on how clinical he must be to avoid germs as they are dangerous. One scene shows him as an adult, getting uncomfortable and going to the bathroom to wash his hands where he continuously washes his hands long after what many persons would consider sufficient and enough. The scene clearly indicates the obsession Howard has with cleanliness and being sterile which stems from his fear of germs (Almeida, 2010). His Obsessive Compulsive Disorder continues to worsen with the progression of the film.
Later on in the movie, it is seen that Howard is utterly disgusted with a business partner because he has an unnoticeable peck on his jacket and refuses to look or even speak to the man until he takes a clean handkerchief and wipes the speck then dispose of the handkerchief in a specific trashcan (Grist, 2016). The scene depicts the aspect of exactness with his OCD and leads to the next stage of the life of Howard where he begins to cripple his life. Such scenes send very chilling messages to the audience and depict the issues that an OCD patient experiences in the course of their lives.
Treatment Issues
The film demonstrates how untreated OCD is associated with the rise of depression to a person and the contribution it has to the burden of sickness. The understanding of the illness has improved in a significant way since the presentation of the Aviator over the decades from when frontal lobotomy was the last resort of treatment for the disorder. A good part of scientific research indicates that a major part of the sufferers is the brain disorder even though it acknowledges the early influences (Almeida, 2010). It is imperative to further appreciate that the stressful events in life as well as major changes in life bring forth of worsen the OCD symptoms, which is something that the film properly documents.
It is fortunate that the past two decades have seen the development of cognitive behavioural treatments that have been very effective in the treatment of symptoms by use of either exposure or response prevention where three out of four persons get significant help, or usage of cognitive therapy that is critically effective for mild OCD. Moreover, there are assumptions that the neurotransmitter has problems, serotonin that may be insufficient in particular areas of the brain of some persons with the OCD (Almeida, 2010). The following does well to elaborate on the usage of particular drugs in the SSRI group of the antidepressants that increase the available levels of serotonin useful in treating moderate to severe levels of OCD even in the absence of depression (Almeida, 2010). Persons that obtain relief from the medication alone have a high tendency of relapse when the medication stops unless it is packaged together with the therapy of cognitive behaviour.
According to the film, the obsessive compulsive symptoms of Hughes fluctuated gravely in response to the traumas and stresses that took place in his life and more so when he was near his fatal plane crash. Hughes is somehow able to manage the symptoms fairly especially when he was totally absorbed in work (Grist, 2016). The extreme levels of focus that necessitated him to fly a plane ensured he overcame his symptoms giving him some of his happiest moments in his life. The same makes sense because it is well to appreciate that effective treatments are those that entail mindfulness in the current times and moments with distraction to activity known to lessen some of the OCD symptoms (Grist, 2016). The issues were recently examined with a long-term study to make a follow up on both children and adolescents observed at the OCD specialist clinic for the Young People situated at the Maudsley Hospital in London (Almeida, 2010). The conclusion was that early diagnosis and immediate treatment of OCD in childhood may help a long way in the prevention of chronicity insisting on the need to increase recognition at the earliest stages of the disorder. The researchers further authored in their report, that it is well to begin the issuance of cognitive therapy to the persons that are detected to show symptoms and characteristics of OCD like Hughes (Alex, 2014). Such methods go a long way in curbing the problems related to OCD in adulthood where persons become overwhelmingly concerned about everything denying them the rightful opportunity to lead normal lives.
According to the psychoanalysis by Freud who places great emphasis on unconscious motivation, the primary cause of a lie in behaviour in the life of a person is the unconscious mind (Alex, 2014). The experts of perspective behaviour indicate that obsessive compulsive disorder is a learned behaviour that is reinforced with the reduction in fear. Behavioural theory mandates that compulsions are behaviours that are learnt and reinforced by strong redukasi. On the other hand, cognitive behaviour or perspective rather, is another key idea that has seen compulsions occur because of the deficits in memory. The inability to remember some actions accurately or even differentiate between the done behaviour and the imagination many times while the obsessive thoughts come about because of the inability of one to ignore the stimulus.
Message and Impact
The scenes properly convey the message of what persons suffering from OCD experience in their lives. I feel that the scene where the mother lectures Howard on germs is very important because it gives the point of trigger of his OCD suggesting that indeed OCD is a behavioural condition that depends on the manner in which a person chooses to lead their lives. Many people fail to trace the sources of their OCD and thus makes treatment difficult. The scene where Howard wishes to have a handkerchief thrown into a particular dustbin indicates that OCD persons have issues with exactness (Alex, 2014). The scenes go a long mile in telling people or the audience rather than indeed persons with OCD can have a normal life like the other ordinary persons but only face the challenge of dealing with the demands of the OCD.
It is ironic that Howard fears germs but is comfortable collecting bottles full of his urine. Such a scene together with others like when he is uncomfortable touching door knobs are unnecessary because they contradict the entirety of the purpose of the film as well as the nature of Howard as a person suffering from OCD (Alex, 2014). On a general scale, it is well to suggest that the film does well to capture all moments in the life of an OCD person and chronologically illustrate how the disorder leads to the chaotic life of such an individual.
Conclusion
Aviator is a film produced in the US as a biographical drama and one that speaks on the real life story of one Howard Hughes. Hughes is a renowned director of film in Texas. The film Aviator was directed by Martin Scorse while Logan John wrote the script. Howard suffers from OCD that begins from when he is a child and grows up with him to determine his habitual activities. The film demonstrates how untreated OCD is associated with the rise of depression to a person and the contribution it has to the burden of sickness.
The Director of the film, Martin Scorcese seems at pains to depict the life of Hughes in a realistic manner and despite the behaviour seeming atypical or odd, they characterise the real-life symptoms of Hughes. Despite having OCD, Howard shows characteristics that are far from the typical ones that characterise a person with OCD. Such traits reveal that it is possible to change the person or treat the person using cognitive behavioural methods. The film has a fine touch on mental health in regards to OCD and tells that OCD is a cognitive behavioural challenge.
References
Alex. (2014). Musings about “The Aviator”. Psychological Blog, 1, 1.
Almeida, J. (2010). The Aviator. Rcpsych.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2017, from http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/discoverpsychiatry/blogzone/mindsonfilmblog/theaviator.aspx
Grist, L. (2016). The Aviator. Film International, 14(1), 102-119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/fiin.14.1.102_1
