MovieChat Forums > Circle (2015) Discussion > why does wanting to live make you a soci...

why does wanting to live make you a sociopath? spoilers.

posted 9 years ago by ryanrdeye
27 replies | jump to latest

I notice that gets thrown around here a lot. First off its an extreme situation, and your life is on the line. Being human is wanting to live, and that's great. Self sacrifice is amazing, so is compassion for others, but to consider that guy a sociopath cause he didn't want to die?

Also on a side note, I notice people saying the zap might be knocking them unconscious. The first lady who gets knocked out they show a close up of her face, and blood is coming out of her eye socket.

[–] svellis-96785 9 years ago

For me it's not so much the fact that he wanted to live that made him (arguably) a sociopath. It's the fact that he lied and manipulated people, which he knew would kill them, in order to get what he wanted, and he did it entirely calmly, without appearing to think much about it or care about their deaths. He didn't show any emotion over it.

[–] Makarov-324 9 years ago

I agree the movie goes out of it's way to show that the guy has little emotion about it and his ranting at the end also reveals it. If it wasn't for that I'd agree with the OP that it's just an extreme situation.

Technically though I'd say the aliens are responsible for the deaths of the pregnant woman and child, because the situation they engineered is what caused their deaths.

[–] everydayboredom1980 9 years ago

I agree.

My guess is that most people would do terrible things to survive. Kill strangers, even kids and pregnant women. People will naturally put their lives (and the lives of their loved ones) over people they have never met.

But most people would feel bad about it. The guy in the movie showed no feeling of remorse or guilt at all

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ScorpionTDC 9 years ago

I think it depends on the context. Because, honestly, no. Wanting to be the one who walks out of there alone (even at the expense of others), doesn't mean you're a 100% sociopath.

Being a sociopath means someone is incapable of feeling sympathy or empathy for others. It's beyond "I WANT to survive this." It would be more akin to wanting to survive and having no sort of guilt, remorse, or anything of the like from how you had to get there. And, honestly, I do think Eric was probably sociopathic. It's one thing to be a good person thrust into a bad decision who makes the choices necessary to live, but I think most non-sociopaths would still feel some degree of remorse or guilt and well... Eric really didn't from what I saw.

I liked that he lived though. I really didn't see it coming, and I thought it suited the plot a lot more than some idealistic happy ending

Death Awaits (Horror forum)
http://w11.zetaboards.com/Death_Awaits/index/

[–] griffon652 9 years ago

The fact that he didn't want to die does not make him a sociopath. However, the cold, calculated and emotionless way he pulled off his plan to murder them both shows that he clearly has all the necessary traits that qualifies someone as a psychopath.

Btw the term sociopath and psychopath are commonly confused. This guy is not a sociopath. He is psychopath (which is worse).

[–] ScorpionTDC 9 years ago

The fact that he didn't want to die does not make him a sociopath. However, the cold, calculated and emotionless way he pulled off his plan to murder them both shows that he clearly has all the necessary traits that qualifies someone as a psychopath.

Btw the term sociopath and psychopath are commonly confused. This guy is not a sociopath. He is psychopath (which is worse).

No, he's not. Psychopaths get off on pain, a trait Eric absolutely did not show whatsoever. Being cold, calculated, and incapable of sympathy/empathy are the hallmark traits of a sociopath.

Death Awaits (Horror forum)
http://w11.zetaboards.com/Death_Awaits/index/

[–] danzig138-668-939218 9 years ago

Psychopaths get off on pain

That's simply not true. But then, psychopath and sociopath are poor terms that don't even have fixed definitions. Both are essentially pop psych words that are used interchangeably and to describe a multitude of mental and psychosocial disorders.

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WORDS MEAN THINGS! Also, before you come to bitch about a plot hole, rewatch the show/movie.

[–] werecow2003 8 years ago

Btw the term sociopath and psychopath are commonly confused. This guy is not a sociopath. He is psychopath (which is worse).

Neither are generally recognized as official terms. The closest thing would be antisocial personality disorder.

[–] syousefnia 9 years ago

Living is overrated.

[–] leftmefordead 9 years ago

Nothing wrong with wanting to live, just the calculated and methodical way he did it, depicts him as a 100% sociopath.
In those kind of situations, If they are smart enough a sociopathic person is almost always going to win unless they got unlucky and zapped at random early on.