He displays them throughout the film......fear,guilt,hurt...lol nice try.
Fear-First time he sees the monster
Guilt- When he 'kills' the elderly woman
hurt- He's clearly upset his father is not around. There's no arguing that scene with the presents.
I highly doubt he's a sociopath...more like an introverted weirdo. Also lets remember...hes a teen...teens have many phases.
Being a "sociopath" doesn't mean you don't have emotions, it "just" means that you can't feel empathy, to put it simple.
shareCorrect although even then that's not entirely accurate... in that all individuals that have the personality component of a high level of narcissism (psychopathy, sociopathy, NPD, BPD, etc.) are capable of empathy. It's that it's insufficient and selective. Many of them have and do form bonds however flimsy and dysfunctional, it's just they don't feel enough empathy for people in general, especially not their victims.
shareYeah, of course. Also, these personality disorders affect everyone different, and then there is comorbidity. So yeah, more complex than just not feeling anything.
He's faking it. He just doesn't care. That's all.
Sociopaths can be very charming. It's all acting.
Why fake fear if there's no one to see you faking it?
shareIndeed. Personally, I got quite the opposite vibe from the story and the movie judging by the way it's presented by the script and the main cast's acting. I'm guessing that the book must be quite different and less ambiguous regarding the issue, but if I had to go solely by the film's proceedings I'd say that this kid strikes me not as a sociopath but as a plain smarter than average, egotistical Joe who's just münchhausing the whole thing in the name of self-importance and attention-seeking.
I insist, not talking about the book, just asserting what I got from the film based on what was told and the way it was told.
Terms like sociopath, narcissist, and psychopath all fall under the blanket term of "anti-social personality disorder" because, while they have their own definitions, there are so many degrees they can be diagnosed at. They can be one, or all, or none and still fall under that blanket term...so it can manifest in all sorts of ways that aren't well understood.
shareWouldn't you be a little scared if you saw your elderly neighbor turn into a clawed supernatural monster right before your very eyes and see it rip someone apart, then have it be coming after you?
shareYeppers.
shareWriting this cuz it's Christmas break and cuz I'm bored
Fear - Wouldn't you be a little scared if you saw your elderly neighbor turn into a clawed monster and watch it evicerate evicerate someone?
Hurt - John's father's abuse of him and his mother is what made John become a sociopath. He abandoned them and whatever little communication he has with them is careless and extremely brief. All they get is cards sometimes, and he doesn't even care enough to put any music on the IPod he got for John. He ruined John's emotional state and made life very tough for all his family, and he can't even be bothered to care about them a little more. The one person in the world who's supposed to be this great role model, who's supposed to be there for you and care for you - your father - isn't and doesn't. I don't know a lot on how sociopathic relationships/ the sociopathic spectrums work, but I know relationships are possible, and having someone abandon you after hurting you and your family like that, I'm sure that'd be a touchy subject. I'm sure for anyone, that relationship between father and son would hurt.
Guilt - That scene is more about fear than guilt. John has built his entire life on keeping his compulsions at bay, and he's allowed himself this little chance to be violent so that he can lure the monster back home, but he just lets it out and then can't reel it back in. He's scared he might actually kill her, but he's not supposed to kill her. She's done nothing wrong, and he's only allowed himself this bit of freedom for his compulsions so that he can get rid of the monster killing people all over town. He's scared that if he actually kills her but manages to kill the monster, it wouldn't matter because there would still be another "monster" in town, because he'd become a slave to his compulsions. He calls Neblin to try to calm down, and remember what and why he's doing this for.
PRETTY sure sociopaths are BORN, not MADE. I BELIEVE there's some proof "out there" that has stated that. It there's VITAL left out of a person's makeup (no, dear,I don't mean the Cover Girl). Something in frontal lobe is diminished... Something involVing the amygdala,a tiny area in the temporal lobe. It's responsible for making humans....human.
But maybe I'm just nuts AND wrong.
And red hot anger at his mother, even wielding a big knife her way!
sharePeople who don't process emotions in the "normal" way come in many shapes and forms.
In my capacity as a teacher working with students with special needs, I've encountered quite a few students on the autism spectrum whose empathy did not operate in the typical fashion. Many times it has to do with not understanding that other people have emotions too, and that their emotions matter just as much as yours. Children with lower empathy can still feel frustration, anger, joy, surprise, and other emotions on their own behalf.
There's also a question of whether or not the emotions displayed by John have to do with empathy or if they are self-interested.
For example: John is fearful when he sees the murder, which can be explained as an instinctive emotion born of self-preservation. Is John's guilt when he hurts the woman because he is putting himself in her place and imagining her pain? Or is it because he worries he will be caught; because he is angry at himself for losing control; because his plan has hit a glitch? John's anger/hurt at the father can also be explained from a self-centered point of view: he feels that he should be loved and cared for by someone who shows him only the minimum of attention.
I believe that John has emotional issues, but being sociopathic (or even psychopathic) does not equate to being evil or a killer. When push comes to shove, I think that John discovers that he does have emotional connections: he is angry at the killing of his therapist; he defends his mother; he corrects the killer "It's HIM, not IT". I think that part of what has happened is that John has convinced himself that he's a sociopath.
In a way, it might be comforting for someone like John (few friends, distant father) to tell himself that he doesn't have feelings.