I never saw the movie but I did see scenes from it included in a special about psychopathy. I'm sure if I watched the movie I would understand why they were denial for 18 years, why he attacked the school, etc. what did confuse me though was that at the very end kevin expresses fear of going to adult prison. I thought psycopaths don't experience fear or many other emotions except for rage and sadism.
shareA. That's not really true. If psycopaths didn't experience fear then they wouldn't go to such lengths to conceal their activities so often.
B. I don't think Kevin was a real psycopath. The book indicates that he was likely just putting up a front and pretending to be one in order to upset his mother, and later, after he did the massacre, to impress his fellow inmates.
oh ok thanks. does the book explain then why he was the way he was? from what I read on wiki and the clips I saw it seemed that he was just born disturbed. sane people don't just kill their familes and do a school shooting period much less with a bow and arrow
shareIt's explained better in the book. but even there the question of how Kevin became a killer is purposely left open-ended for the classic "nature vs. nurture" debate. When Kevin was born, Eva suffered from postpartum depression and had trouble being attached to him, and he was a very temperamental baby. As a little kid, Eva had massive trouble getting him to show affection or even passing interest in anything. He was not sociable or playful. This caused frustration in Eva and lead to her saying some things she shouldn't have, which increased Kevin's resentment toward her. In addition, Eva was the founder and CEO of a somewhat prestigious travel publication, and so she was away on international scouting trips a lot, and this may have fueled Kevin's resentment.
His father, Franklin, spoiled Kevin and treated him more nicely on the surface. But deep down Kevin sensed that Franklin was actually less interested in him than Eva, as he really only showed interest in Kevin when Kevin was playing the part of the swell kid who loves his father and everything he does. Franklin was always taking Kevin on local trips to Civil War battlefields and national monuments and baseball games and fishing trips and stuff, and Kevin was never the least bit interested in these "quality father and son time" excursions, but he played along anyway, but when he realized his father was taking his pretend interest in the real thing and really couldn't tell or just didn't want to accept that Kevin didn't find these things interesting, he grew angry about that. The fact that over the years Franklin was either unable or unwilling to see through Kevin's paper-thin front and see that he was a troubled kid rather than the sweet boy Franklin wanted him to be made him end up resenting his father even more than Eva.
When his little sister Celia was born, Kevin sensed that his mother was showing greater affection toward her than she ever had toward him. Like she was the child Eva always wanted and he was just an experiment gone bad and thrown in the discard bin, even though Eva tried to treat them more equally. This caused jealousy and more internal rage for Kevin.
In highschool, he had his one English teacher that wanted to be his mentor. You know, one of those "I see the potential in your boy even if others don't" types. The book doesn't go into much detail over the relationship between her and Kevin, but from what I can gather although she was sincere in her motives, Kevin thought she was a phone and was bugged by her attention (you actually see this type of thing a lot when you look into the bios of real life school and workplace shooters. Often the case isn't that they had no one to turn to, but that they actually turned away and resented everyone who did try to reach out to them). This teacher ended up being one of the massacre victims.
Meanwhile, every few months there was a new report of a school shooting somewhere in the United States, and each time Kevin showed a somewhat disturbing level of interest.
The final thing that sealed the deal was probably walking in on his parents talking about how they were going to get divorced. In the book, Eva (who is the narrator) writes that was when she believes he decided to perpetrate the massacre. According to her, what must have driven him over the edge was the fact that they had decided that Franklin would have custody of Kevin and she would get Celia. As much as he was hostile toward his mother, he could at least deal with her through his constant mind games and cries for attention. But whenever he was with Franklin, he always had to put up that fake happy boy personality, and that took a lot of energy and really took a toll on him. The idea of having to do that all the time for at least the next three to seven years was unbearable for him.
At the end of the book and movie, Eva asks Kevin why he did the massacre. He responds that he used to think he knew, but now he's not so sure. Nevertheless, I can surmise a few motives for him:
1. To traumatize Eva. Sort of a "final prank".
2. To get away from Franklin.
3. To basically relieve his perpetual boredom. In the book, it is made clear that Kevin always had massive trouble finding anything at all interesting. Which is the main reason Eva tolerated his enthusiasm for archery even though she had concerns about it, because he had a passion for so little else in life. He was longing to find something of purpose and consequence to do, and he was perhaps hoping to find a perverse fulfillment in being a mass murderer. It was a thrill killing. But it is implied in the book that even the massacre itself left him a little disappointed.
4. To kill people who annoyed him. In the book, all of Kevin's victims were hand-picked and lured to the gym (but not bullies. Kevin makes it very clear in the book that in contrast to other infamous school shootings, bullying had nothing whatsoever to do with his motives).
5. To make a name for himself in history, which is one of the reasons he used a bow instead of a gun.
But whenever he was with Franklin, he always had to put up that fake happy boy personality, and that took a lot of energy and really took a toll on him. The idea of having to do that all the time for at least the next three to seven years was unbearable for him.
At one point in the book, Franklin had photographed their bathroom and it was published in a magazine. Kevin was faking being impressed and asked if it meant their bathroom was famous. Franklin tells him the only way to be famous nowadays is to kill someone. I think that really resonated with Kevin, even at like age 7.
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My sister shoplifted when she turned 18 simply cause she wanted to try it. She didn't even bat an eye at what she did. She spent the whole time she was in custody of the police cussing them out and running off her mouth about how she's 18 and an adult and she's bad-@ss and they can't handle how cool she is and that she did nothing wrong.
Afterwards, however, as she's being pushed around by the cops cause she won't shut up and told that her mommy and daddy can't help her and being led to a cop car and taken to jail for the weekend, her attitude slowly started changing.
As her bankrupt parents have to somehow figure out how to pull $5k out of their asses to get her a lawyer so she won't spend a month or more in jail and pay tons of fines and as she stands there before the judge, she begins to cry like a little baby; no longer looking like the bad-@ss that she thinks she is.
The same thing is what happens to Kevin at the end of the movie.
They both act scared because the reality of the situation and what they did is finally hitting them. They're no longer doped up on adrenaline and excited for their crime, so they're thinking more clearly. In other words, they're in deep $h!t and they can't get out of it.
My little sister spent a weekend in jail, was banned from the area of town that she shoplifted in for 4 years, owes tons of fines, has a criminal record, can't get a job, and is looked down upon by many. Kevin headed to prison for the remainder of his sentence where things can get really bad, especially if your crime has anything to do with kids. And, sadly, now that he has people helping him cope with his mental issues, he's beginning to realize he doesn't know why he did what he did.
It's funny how most people don't know anything about psychopaths. Not that I blame them, for some reason it's a taboo subject to talk about in today's society. To answer your question, yes psychopaths feel fear. Psychopaths are just like normal people, with the exception that they don't care about other people. They can still experience joy, excitement, and all kinds of emotions. However, because they don't connect fully with other people, those emotions might be rare.
shareHe will do just fine in jail. My nephew went to jail for 18 months, and had no problems, except with the quality of the food. It was not the worst prison, but it had the bloods, the crips, the latin kings, ms13 etc. in it, so it was not the best either. Kevin will join a group like the Aryan brotherhood, or crazy white boys, and be just fine.
The other prisoners should be more afraid of him, than vice versa.