On (Un)Realistic Representation of Psychopaths in Movies, and Why My Selection Might Surprise You. Part 3.

OK, so I am finally here and posting two days later. I promised to give you some examples of a well-portrayed psychopathic characters in movies. I kept it to the American production because characters from those movies are usually well-known or at least recognizable to the main public. This is very important for both me and you, my readers, as you will know what I am talking about without having to google everything. So, let´s cut to the chase and start with the character that will surprise you the most on this list:

The Chief Deputy Marshall SAMUEL GERARD from the blockbuster The Fugitive, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

“Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive’s name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him.”

From the first moment we see him arrive on the scene of the train accident, we know this is not a guy to mess with. In fact, he serves as the movie´s Big Bad (pardon my “Buffy” expression) until we get to know the real villain of the story, Dr. Charles Nichols (by the way, the other psychopath in this movie). But I am jumping too forward in the story right now.

 

It´s obvious that Gerard is not only good, but great at what he´s doing. He is a no-shit character: ambitious, stern and very demanding - not only from himself but other people as well. He has high standards and refuses to compromise (or bargain, literally). That is why he is so effective. Yes, that´s the word. Gerard does not behave like a human; he is a bulldog who just got a hold of a juicy bone, a well-tuned machine. It´s because he is a hardened, experienced cop, you´ll say. Well, I think that is not the right reason. In my humble opinion, he is so effective due to his zero empathy.

Although it´s obvious that he has some bond with his colleagues, especially Cosmo Renfro (played by Joe Pantoliano), when you watch the interactions of the team, you can easily read from their faces that working with the loud, mercurial, narcissistic, ever-barking Gerard must be exhausting for them sometimes. He does not give orders, he yells. When his demands are not immediately fulfilled, he snaps and yells even more. If you don´t do your work to your best credit (read: you don´t fulfill your purpose in the game), you are removed from the game.

 

Or you can be sure he at least thinks you are an incompetent idiot, and shows you no mercy - like in the case of the poor greenhorn Newman, who who was taken hostage (out of his own inexperience) by an escaped and extremely dangerous convict. Gerard acts effectively, with little emotion, and shoots the prisoner dead. Newman, whose hearing got nearly damaged by Gerard´s swift gunshot, later blames Gerard for his lack of empathy, claiming that he should have bargained with the convict. Gerard is completely unaffected by this speech, asking his trainee impassionately whether he really cannot hear with the ear. He then tries Newman´s hearing by whispering: “I don´t bargain.”

Which is exactly the reason why Gerard, like many real-life psychopaths, excels in his job: with no empathy, it is easy to navigate through a hard work and make tough decisions. This incident with Newman, that was not just a mere boss lecturing his employee or explaining the decision he had had to make when killing the convict. He did not care about the convict, or even Newman and his feelings; he only cared about Newman being an efficient tool of justice (notice my use of the word “tool” here), someone who would execute the rights of a US Marshall with the same no-shit attitude that he had. He did not even have anything against the dead man or his trainee. He did not love the, he did not hate them. As he later repeated, he did not care at all.

Despite him being respected by his subordinates for his deduction, investigating and “man-hunting” skills (and actually having one or two friends within the squad), Gerard is still known for arrogant and condescending behavior towards them, which also points to his narcissism and irritability. While it´s not surprising that he uses his superior position to belittle Newman, the youngest member of the team…

 … a senior member of the team, Henry, also has a taste of his boss´ nasty jabs:

Even his friend Cosmo experiences Gerard´s moods ever so often, but unlike others, he has the guts to stand for himself, which is probably why Gerard kind of respects him.

But empathy is not the only thing Gerard is missing; he doesn´t have any conscience either. This is demonstrated in the infamous tunnel chase scene, in which he finally manages to corner Dr. Richard Kimble. Gerard only knows that Kimble is a convicted murderer of his wife who plead innocent during his unsuccessful trial, claiming that his wife was killed by a one-armed man. Gerard is not bothered about checking the facts in the slightest; he just wants to bring “his man” back. When the desperate Kimble points a gun at Gerard, repeating that he did not kill his wife, Gerard (in)famously retorts:

Now a little trivia: this quote was not even in the original script. Tommy Lee Jones, who portrayed Gerard on screen, was just supposed to look scared and say nothing. But he thought that saying that he did not cared was exactly what Gerard would have said, so he improvised.

Many people say that his retort was cruel, and they were bothered by it. How can anyone not care? Well, this scene was supposed to bother you. Normal people care about others, at least a little. They just do. They even care when they say they don´t (if they had not cared, they would not have gotten angry). Gerard said he did not care without any emotion because he truly did not feel anything. He just wanted to bring "his man" (meaning Kimble) back, and that was it. There´s only one human "subtype" that thinks like this, with no emotions involved. It´s a psychopath. I can totally see you disagree now: "But he does not kill people and is not evil!" Now, are you SURE? His job gives him a perfect opportunity to do BOTH and be justified in it. Evil is a point of view. What is evil to one is justice to another.

There are several points that actually prove my theory of him being a psychopath right. He has a powerful charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, gets bored when nothing´s happenening and angry when he feels people don´t do what he wants, he has no remorse or sense of guilt, and he has the sensitivity of a polar bear. He can be also quite cunning, as proven by this scene (very clever, Samuel):

And have you observed that Gerard always stays cold and unfazed in dangerous situations? This is what psychopaths usually do. It is because their limbic system is differently wired and their amygdala is about 16 percent smaller than in neurotypical people. When I watch Tommy Lee Jones play this character, this is the thing I notice about him first. He just reacts differently from the rest of his team. They are emotional, he is so... cold and rational, at best. 

So, whaddya think? Do you think that I might be right about him?