Fatal Attraction Essay PDF

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Professor Kraft...

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Alex in Fatal Attraction has very peculiar personality traits that need closer examination. She has many symptoms that coincide with certain personality disorders symptoms such as Borderline Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder. Her behavior in the movie is very intense and dramatic, and doesn’t fail to make the onlooker uncomfortable. Her erratic outbursts which then turn into soft waves of calmness are unnerving, and so is her drive to create and execute horrible plans.

When she first meets Dan, she is very charming and seductive, and while watching, the viewer could see how she forces her smooth and intoxicating charm onto him, and he willingly spends a night out with her; and a night in. After that one night of fun, she is instantly needy and clingy to Dan, who wasn’t trying to continue seeing her. She didn’t fail however to talk him into spending the day with her, even though he was adamantly telling her he couldn’t. This scene of her pressing and persuading him until he broke and said yes to her portrays the symptom of her feelings of emptiness needing to be filled through her dependence on another person. During their time at the park, Dan fell to the ground after running and pretended he was unconscious. Alex didn’t handle the joke very well and got intensely angry and told Dan that her father died of a heart attack right before her eyes when she was seven. To this he sobered up but then she broke out laughing, saying it was a joke just to make him feel the same way (even though it wasn’t). This shows how she doesn’t manage anger very well. That night

Alex wanted Dan to stay over again, already infatuated with him, even though he obviously had his family on his mind and was worried of the consequences of this new relationship. Dan ends up sleeping with Alex again, but once he starts getting dressed to go, her sweetness dissolves and she becomes terrifyingly angry again. They get into a fight. As he is about to leave, she calls to him to wait. She is softly crying

and hugs him, but as he pulls away he notices the blood on his face. She had slit her wrists, which forced Dan to stay and take care of her so that she wouldn’t die or harm herself again. Alex meets the symptom of selfmutilation for the need of attention, one of BPDs criteria. She also displays how she is impulsive, fears abandonment, and will do anything to get the attention she craves. As the movie progresses, Dan tries to keep Alex away but she only gets closer. Alex obviously meets the symptoms of being unstable in her moods and having toxic relationships, but she also displays symptoms that could categorize her with Antisocial Personality Disorder. She fails to follow the rules due to the crimes she is willing to commit to get what she wants, and the fact that she doesn’t quit shows her lack of remorse or a conscience. Her deceit in the beginning by the workings of her charm are only the prelude of the true darkness she was capable of. Alex tells Dan she is pregnant and wants to keep the baby in hopes of growing closer to Dan. Alex began stalking Dan, putting acid onto his car even as an act to get him to talk to her, and then continuing to follow him home. Dan’s package that he opened once in the car was a cassette from Alex, which started out sweet

and charming and then ended with her screaming slurs at him and telling him how much she hated him. Dan comes home one night even to find Alex talking to his wife; she had made her way into their home. Alex’s stalker tendencies get worse when she continues to be rejected by Dan. She ends up killing their daughter’s bunny and one day she managed to pick their daughter up from school, ultimately kidnapping her for the day. Alex never shows guilt for the crimes she commits, and doesn’t stop with her cruel intentions. In the end, when Alex sneaks into their home and tries killing Beth, the movie finally concludes with Dan intervening and Beth ultimately ends Alex’s life, putting the drama to rest.

Alex definitely fits the criteria of both Antisocial Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. Her charming, manipulative ways paired with instability and the need for attention got her to the point of harming others, with which she lacked any remorse. If she could have been treated, her prognosis would have been very poor. She didn’t seem to realize that she necessarily had a problem because she continued on with her plans and did not seem to care about any repercussions or pain she was putting onto others. Her lack of empathy would give her a poor prognosis since her chances of recognizing her intrinsic nature and her personality flaws, and wanting to actually consciously change, probably didn’t exist....