A Beautiful Mind

Do you see dead people? There are people who do see dead people and it is not always possible to tell the dead from the living. One man from Iran saw dead people and they would not leave him alone until he did what they wanted him to do, much like the Ghost Whisperer. This was extremely painful to him because if he ignored them they made his life hell. If he did what they wanted, such as sending messages to the living, the living thought he was crazy. Just like John Nash in A Beautiful Mind, and Elizabeth in A Question of Power, life was brutal when he did not keep the non-living under control.

 Nash and Elizabeth suffered from visions in the form of people that they alone could see. The visions haunted them. Nash could not escape his three people. They put a lot of pressure on him. Parcher told him everyone would die if he did not continue working. Dan told Elizabeth that her son would die. It was their way of controlling Nash and Elizabeth. The way the film and the story were made it was hard to know where the truth was – but toward the end it becomes apparent that the “ghosts” are only in the minds of Nash and Elizabeth. No one can see them, hear them, and they only have as much power as Nash and Elizabeth choose to give them. 

      The people in the visions were as real as anyone else in their lives. Charles, Parcher and Marcee were important to him and they influenced his decisions. He believed that he was saving the United States by working for the government. He really believed that if he did not find the codes the Russians would take over the United States and the world. This is what Parcher told him and after he was shot at he believed that he had no choice but to cooperate with Parcher no matter what he suggested. The trauma of getting shot at changed the way he looked at the world. Elizabeth saw horrifying images associated with Dan, such as this one:

Dan’s head exploded into a ball of that red fire. The loud, pounding rhythm of his drama drummed in her ears day and night. It was like large, grasping hands gathering every thread of her life to themselves for a total command; a total encroachment on her mind and soul (Head 159).

      Bessie Head, author of A Question of Power, and Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind, have produced to works of art that compliment each other and help each others audience understand the dreadful diseases experienced by Nash and Elizabeth. Like the guy from Iran, and the Ghost Whisperer, each have to learn how to live with what they are experiencing. They have to learn to live around them, and with them. Nash never went anywhere the rest of his life without Marcee, Charles and Parcher nearby. Even after Elizabeth took the leap out of hell, she talked to Sello about Tom, a living man who helped rescue her. The message of both the book and film is that we have to learn to deal with our own demons, in whatever form they take. We give them power or take away their power to control us. Only we can set ourselves free.