“Psycho” – Callum Quinn, © 2022
Just recently, I was introduced to a movie titled “The Perfect Host,” in which a criminal cons his way into a dinner party that turns out to be anything but ordinary. To be honest, the movie did not meet my expectations. But, from the get-go, the trailer intrigued me. Mainly it was due to the involvement of David Hyde Pierce, one of my favorite actors (probably most famous for his role as Niles Crane in Frasier). But it was also the overall concept of the movie that roped me in. You see, the host of this “dinner party” turns out to be a psychopath. (That’s not a spoiler: the trailer makes that perfectly clear). And the irony of a dangerous criminal attempting to take refuge in the house of a madman was just too good to miss.
And while the movie itself fell short of my expectations, it really got me to thinking: why are we so obsessed with the psychopath? In other words, why is it that the moment I found out David Hyde Pierce was playing a violently insane party host, I immediately jumped onboard?
Let’s first address the obvious question: just what is a psychopath? According to Webster’s, a psychopath is defined as a person having an egocentric and antisocial personality marked by a lack of remorse for one’s actions, an absence of empathy for others, and often criminal tendencies. Apart from our gracious host, Warwick Wilson, some other infamous psychopaths in media include the Joker, Eric Cartman, John Doe, Norman Bates, Annie Wilkes, and Hannibal Lecter.
When we look at the generous selection of individuals above, it is easy to see that the psychopath has been sealed in our memories and even glorified by audiences for decades. But, why? Why do we look at these violent, sadistic, mentally unstable people and like them enough to keep coming back to them in our imaginations?
Well, in honor of the spooky season, I decided to take a closer look at “The Psychopath,” and why we just can’t get enough of this character in our storytelling.
First and foremost, we as the audience are attracted to the psychopath as a character because they have no inhibitions. Basically, they do what makes them feel good, and they revel in that attainment of pleasure. No matter who we are as people, a part of us might enjoy the vicarious living a psychopathic character can offer. True, their methods are way more extreme than the average person would ever consider, but the idea of what the psychopath accomplishes is somewhat intriguing—particularly within the realms of revenge/justice. The character of Warwick Wilson is worth observing because a part of us really wants to see the karmic irony a psychopath will unleash on the hardened criminal who thought he was the one in control. We marvel at the lengths Eric Cartman will go to just to get revenge on a bully (or, do we all secretly imagine serving the bully’s parents to them in a mystery chili?) In the end, it’s the total lack of empathy from a psychopathic character that makes us stare wide-eyed in wonder.
Another thing about the psychopath as a character is that, despite their clear insanity, they have been given power. This either comes in the form of high intelligence and the ability to stay two steps ahead of their victims, such as we see with John Doe or Hannibal Lecter; or that power comes in the simple skill of manipulating other people to follow blindly. Again, some of the escapades of Eric Cartman come to mind, but we can also see this in characters like the Joker. And this is probably the most frightening aspect of the psychopath because it seems the least probable to accomplish, but often turns out to be their first step: this person is clearly mentally imbalanced, and obviously has only bad intentions… but people follow them. And, frankly, this fact says more about the seemingly ordinary people surrounding the psychopath than it does about the psychopath themselves. The major instability of a crowd that follows so obviously unstable a person only further plunges the world we thought we knew into chaos. The psychopath’s chaos. As an audience, we are astounded by this trait because we live on the idea from childhood that good will always triumph; so, when we watch these terrible people getting exactly what they want due to the powers that were just handed to them on a plate, it’s infuriating and mind-boggling. And as the gluttons for punishment that we are, we find ourselves unable to look away.
But even more astounding is the fact that, in spite of everything previously discussed, most psychopaths are charming. Or, at least, they appear to be. Oftentimes they are good-looking, funny, and—as mentioned above—highly intelligent. Hannibal Lecter is a doctor, for crying out loud, who is interested in good food and good wine. I think most of us would go for that, if we didn’t know better. Annie Wilkes first appears as a sweet, welcoming caregiver—an appearance she maintains in-between discomforting glimpses of her instability. Not only does the psychopath’s unpredictability offer us a bit of a high by triggering that fight-or-flight response in our brains, but their charm also makes us doubt. Their wit may make us feel secure; their physical attractiveness may make us distrust our instincts; their manners and intelligence may make us want to believe they’re better than those shmucks out on the street who would be led around by somebody like Eric Cartman. In other words, we like the mask so much that we want to willingly forget what’s behind it.
But I think the biggest reason we are obsessed with the psychopath—at least, from my personal perspective—is curiosity. I am intrigued by psychopathic characters in fiction, and even the psychopaths that haunt our realities, because I just want to know why. I want to understand where their lack of empathy, their hubris, and their ability to hide so well, comes from. I want to understand it because only by understanding it can we possibly stop it—or, at least, avoid it. These traits we see on the big screen or within the pages of a book are fun because we know we’re safe when we encounter them. But unfortunately, the real world is also full of Eric Cartmans, Annie Wilkeses, and even the occasional Dr. Lecter. And, even more frightening, the world is full of seemingly ordinary people willing to follow such individuals to the ends of the earth.
Are you scared yet?
— C.O.
Night Owls, who are your favorite psychopathic characters, and why do you think you like them so much?
