Classic films depicting introversion

how about good will hunting?
 
Again, could you guys explain your choices, and describe how you think introversion is presented in these films? Thx
 
Restraint said:
Again, could you guys explain your choices, and describe how you think introversion is presented in these films? Thx
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ahh.. sorry.
ok well,hmm. Will hunting, the main character, go out only with his close friends and does not even share anything with them. Eventually he got a girlfriend and he even shut her out. (though at the end he fixed that). In general, he prefered doing things alone as well.
 
I don't know about classic but there was that one from the cohen brothers about the barber shop guy....

"The man who wasn't there"
 
The film Crush (2001/2) - British romantic comedy. Watched it again last night. The main character is a female british schoolmaster in her 40s, who's pretty introverted. She is cloistered behind her job as a principal. Classically shy and introverted. Meets a younger man, they have an affair, and fall in love, but her friends do not approve. They question how serious it is, or how the town will respond. There's a tragedy in the film, but she recovers.
 
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I've seen Three Faces of Eve. We watched it in a class in high school. I can't remember why. At the time our discussions revolved mostly around whether a split personality would be as distinct and 'theatrical' in the real world. There was skepticism. I can't say are thoughts were any deeper than that.

I always thought of Punch Drunk Love as an introvert's movie. The entire sound track seems to revolve around the challenge the main character faces with social situations.
 
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The protagonist from "Rebecca" immediately came to mind.
 
Altruistic Muse said:
The protagonist from "Rebecca" immediately came to mind.
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I'd agree but i'm curious whether she was always like this or whether circumstances or traumatic experiences growing up may've made her more introverted. Not sure.
 
These are the movies covered in the book Party of One that were analyzed for their loner characters:

Mad Max
The Maltese Falcon
The Big Sleep
This Gun for Hire
The Searchers
High Noon
Dirty Harry
Blade Runner
Midnight Cowboy
Harold and Maude
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
The Postman

Negative Portrayals:
Shrek
The Silence of the Lambs
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
One Hour Photo
Taxi Driver
The Passenger
The Tenant


I think only those couple that I bolded are from the time frame you asked about. Those are definitely more Noir, I have yet to watch them.
 
NeverAmI said:
These are the movies covered in the book Party of One that were analyzed for their loner characters:

Mad Max
The Maltese Falcon
The Big Sleep
This Gun for Hire
The Searchers
High Noon
Dirty Harry
Blade Runner
Midnight Cowboy
Harold and Maude
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
The Postman

Negative Portrayals:
Shrek
The Silence of the Lambs
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
One Hour Photo
Taxi Driver
The Passenger
The Tenant


I think only those couple that I bolded are from the time frame you asked about. Those are definitely more Noir, I have yet to watch them.
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Interesting list. Clint Eastwood plays the classic but badass introvert in almost all his films. But his introversion is always associated with depth and a high level of intelligence - a positive stereotype. But not so positive when the characters are sociopathic serial killers :p or grouchy cartoon/animated characters. Now that you mention this list, other children's movie characters come to mind. E.g. Many Disney and other children's film villains were usually introverts/outcasts - The wicked witch/fairy godmother (lived in a castle alone) in Sleeping Beauty, Ursula in The Little Mermaid, the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Scar in the Lion King, etc.
 
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Amelie - main character (probably infp) is a shy, quiet loner who has trouble connecting to people and often prefers indulging in fantasies created by her vibrant imagination

Pi - main character (probably intp) is an isolated loner who is completely obsessed and consumed by numerical patterns
 
Donnie Darko - don't know if this film is counted as a classic.


I particularly like the way that only he was really priviy to his insights - and only he was aware of the significance of his decision to go to bed before the stray jet-engine landed on his house.
 
Jack Nicholson plays an introverted character in The King of Marvin Gardens. the movie is pretty much of a character study showing Nicholson's character interacting with his very extroverted brother. Also has some very nice shots of Atlantic City before it went Vegas.
 
Citizen Kane. Screw Rosebud. I totally want my own Xanadu.
 
Anita said:
I was watching Now, Voyager (1942) with Bette Davis played the lead character Charlotte Vale. I first learned about this film when i had to watch if for a course on film since the 1940s. Loved it. But what's most interesting about the film is that it represents the tendency early on, helped early on by the mental health profession, to treat introversion as a disorder, especially in women. When she was supposedly unglamorous and introverted, the main character was seen and treated as undesirable, but when she got "well," she was extroverted, vibrant, and confident. It's an interesting look at the way the way Classical Hollywood looks at personality typing without addressing it directly. I think she would probably be typed as an INFP/INFJ.
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I disagree with this, I have watched this movie and Charlotte was not an introvert, she suffered social phobia and had very low self esteem and depression due to the hideous overbearing and controlling mother. Once these issues were dealt with in therapy her natural personality emerged and she clearly wasn't an introvert.
 
Travis Bickle from Scorsese's taxi driver is a classic, if negative(and perhaps sterotypical), cinematic representation of introversion. The film begins with his ineptitude at dealing with human interaction which catapults him into isolation and a heightened sense of detachment which finally becomes murderous. Depending on how you interpret the denouement he is hailed as a hero and mistakenly accepted back into society, but even so the last scene shows that its a tenuous balancing act at best.
 
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I agree, Stopharian, and I think that is what is so chilling about that film. You can sort of 'feel' how being an introvert thrust back after a war can lead to all of the 'dark-side' revenge fantasies of the introvert. Its a very 'real' threat. And having grown up as a child around returned vietnam vets, I can attest to the realism.
 
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Dancer in the Dark. The lead character regularly coped with situations by retreating into her own mind.



EDITED TO ADD: Oops. I just noticed you said "classic." Nevermind. :P
 
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