Johnny's diagnosis?
I wonder if Johnny had a diagnosis such as Schizophrenia or Bipolar disorder? any ideas?
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MovieChat Forums > Naked (1994) Discussion > Johnny's diagnosis?
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When I first saw the film in the '90s me and my friends were under impression that Johnny has AIDS.Now that I watched it again yesterday I'm not so sure.
He's clearly(to me at least)has some kind of communicable disease...possibly STD...possibly some fatal affliction. He appears to get worse all the way through the film.
http://www.youtube.com/user/viclis11?feature=mhee
Johnny? Nihilism, but in love with the let's call it human spirit.
Jeremy? Nihilism, with an absolute absence of the ability to love.
Johnny is a mish-mash of nihilism, narcissism and self-loathing
shareOP As someone quite familiar with the manifestations of each of these psychiatric ailments, I am inclined to agree and had the same thought while watching the film.
I would certainly think he lies somewhere on the continuum of these disorders.
johnny is not mentally ill.
sometimes people are bums despite not being mentally ill.
the landlord, now, I think I could pin a couple of diagnoses on him.
Society sees someone that displays out of the box behavior and highly intelligent and philosophical discourse and automatically assumes there's something wrong (a handicap) with him. To me Johnny is inherently bound to his most powerful impulses (sex, adventure) and never tries to restrain himself in a confined mold in society where he would feel stuck. He's a drifter that hasn't found a reason or a way to contribute to society. He could be a doctor and because he chooses (or something has lead him) to be homeless, then for some it must because he is sick.
shareJust read all eight pages of this discussion about one of my most favorite movies ever. What nobody in the thread seemed to get is that when Johnny tells the security guard he has palpitations and neuralgia, he is merely suffering from nicotine withdrawal, and he is exaggerating a little bit because he is missing his dose. He wants to smoke in the building but the guard won't let him. What people here do get is that nihilism, fear of meaninglessness, is the driving force behind any character's coping mechanisms, and there is no cure so no point in diagnosing the disease.
shareJohnny tells the security guard he suffers with palpitations and neuralgia and the film before he meets him strongly suggests he's telling the truth.
He asks Sophie for some painkillers when he arrives. After he's had sex with Sophie, he is shown holding his heart. He struggles to walk up the stairs and has to force himself to make it. At a couple of moments on the street in the sequence where he meets the Scots, he makes a couple of facial expressions that suggests he's in physical pain.
It had nothing to do with nicotine withdrawal.