Media Critique

Abnormal Psychology
PSYCH1310
August 19th, 2016
Feather Nixon

Sarah Catherine Ireland-Labelle

Niagara College
4285986

A robin red breast in a cage, puts all of heaven in a rage

-William Blake
I chose the movie Red Dragon (2002). I believe that he is a Sociopath. He is a sadistic
serial killer, who is highly organized and his victims are carefully chosen. According to the
DSM-IV, sociopaths operate in an instant gratification mode. In the movie, the killer would
become aroused when watching a home video of one of the families that he had murdered. He
also became highly aroused when he took one of his female coworkers to see a sedated tiger. He
became short of breath and it appeared he was having some type of sexual fantasy. They often
believe they are doing something good for society and nothing bad. The killer would murder to
appease the Red Dragon, to which he would speak to, and take orders to kill from. He believed
he was becoming the dragon, and had the likes tattooed on the whole back of his body. He also
ate the Great Red Dragon and the woman clothed painting from the museum, believing again,
that he would become the dragon.
If you look at the DSM-IV for Antisocial Personality Disorder, he fits all of the criteria. If
you look at the subtypes of sociopaths, he is three of the four; common, alienated, aggressive. At
one point in the film, he states that I have no pity. He clearly holds no remorse for his crimes.
His behaviors are generally aggressive, at one point he pulls a knife on a newspaper salesman
because he wanted a newspaper and didnt want to wait until the newspaper stand was open. He
also killed a male coworker because they were interested romantically in the same female. When
he saw the other man at the womens house, he shot him, and would later use that males body in
a fire he sets to his own house, to fool the police into thinking it was him. The killer was without
parents, but was raised by his grandmother who would abuse him because of his bedwetting,

among other things. She would pull on his penis and threaten to cut it off, saying things like you
want me to cut it off? and call him dirty little beast and faggot. The years of abuse he
suffered at the hands of his grandmother, essentially made him a monster. He was incredibly
physically fit, strong, and quite charismatic. Although his lifestyle was fairly common; he held a
regular job, and maintained the appearance of being a regular member of society, his low selfesteem because of his cleft palate, which also caused him to be incredibly self-conscious, not
only of his appearance, but also of his speech, caused him to lead a solitary lifestyle. That, and
the fact that he talked to a painting and was obviously delusional. Because of the nature and type
of abuse he endured at the hand of his grandmother, he had some serious issues with women, and
being able to feel love/be loved. His behavior was sometimes impulsive, when he kidnapped the
journalist, for example. There wasnt much preplanning, but rather a direct impulse to something
that upset him.
This obvious dislike or deprecating attitude towards women, was made clear when at one
point in the movie, he has a conversation of sorts with the dragon about whether or not to kill his
female co-worker whom he has developed feelings of apparent affection for. His dislike for
women obviously came from the horrific emotional, and physical abuse by the grandmother, and
his coping mechanism became trying to become the Red dragon. He was a direct product of his
environment, and had no chance of being anything but a very deeply scarred, angry, aggressive,
and impulsive serial killer. A serial killer who was luckily killed at the end. A sociopathic killer
like that, would not have been able to stop on their own. If he hadnt been shot, he would have
needed the death penalty. There is no chance of helping such an individual. The chance of
recidivism is very high with such individuals. There is no amount of therapy or medication to be
able to undo the years of abuse and psychological distress it clearly caused him. When someone

is subjected to such abuses, there is a very high chance that they will develop some type of
mental disorder by the time they reach early adulthood, although most of the warning signs will
be prevalent during childhood, bedwetting, weird sexual fantasies, abuse to animals, etc., all of
which he displayed in the movie. He was a highly disturbed man who killed to appease his oddly
sexual desires. I found the movie quite entertaining, and definitely understood the character and
his disorder much better after learning about the disorder in class through lectures. It definitely
makes it easier to watch serial killer movies and diagnose which type they are!!
DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder (301.7)
A. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring
since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by
repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for
personal profit or pleasure
3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others
6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work
behavior or honor financial obligations
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt,
mistreated, or stolen from another.
B. The individual is at least age 18 years.
C. There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.
D. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or
a manic episode.

References

Ratner, Brett. Red Dragon, 2002, Universal Pictures

DSM-IV, Criteria for a Sociopath, Anti-Social Personality Disorder,
http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/pn.39.1.0025a
Nixon, Feather. PSYCH1310, 2016, Lecture notes