Obvious Mental Disability. (Spoiler?) - Waiting for Forever (2011) Discussion

[–] Screen_Queen 13 years ago

Personally, I don't think Will had a mental disorder at all. He just saw the world in a different way. His heart was his home and he followed it everywhere. Some people are unusual like that, but that doesn't mean they're mentally ill. Most would approach Will like Jim did, assuming he was mentally sick just because he acted differently. But that's because this world is so full of ordinary people that they automatically assume anyone who's remotely different must have something wrong with them. What I loved about the ending and Will's joke, "Are you stalking me?" was that he didn't seem delusional to anyone any more, because they were seeing the world like he did and realising why he acted the way he did. People always think unusual people are weird until they understand them.

Dreamers like Will are fine living in their own world, but people insist on making reality crash down upon them. Well guess what? Reality's nothing if you don't believe in it. Will believed in his, even when everyone around him thought he was mental; and in the end his reality was more real than most other people's. I think the world needs more people like Will. So many people have such dull, common worldviews. It makes the world such a lifeless place to live in.

I only do it with superheroes.

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[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] anasgpais 13 years ago

It almost looks like Asperger, if it wasnt for all the amount of social skills and all. Maybe Schizophrenia? I dont know

Please note that Im not a doctor and I am not completely familiar with this problems. Im just guessing from the ones I know which might be.

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[–] skylab00 12 years ago

it was Schizophrenia. maybe a mild case but still enough where he could functions normally but have manic periods where flips out. I don't know why I watched this on netflix, it was on in the background while I was doing something else and paying attention every now.

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[–] queenoftheuniverse1 10 years ago

His condition is no where near what schizophrenia is. Just because he talks to imaginary people (who were his dead parents by the way I think but I could be wrong on that point) that does not signal schizophrenia and he wasn't having manic periods where he "flips out". As a general rule schizophrenics HEAR voices that are almost always negative and have a myriad list of other symptoms that simply do not jive with Will's general demeanor and behavior.

Nice armchair analysis though. It is very dangerous to try to diagnose mental health conditions based on what you read through as a list of symptoms and attempt to apply them to someone's behavior. I hope you don't go around trying to diagnose people you know in real life as that could be disastrous.

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[–] lulupalooza 10 years ago

Early stages of schizophrenia - which generally occurs anywhere from ages 16-28 - can appear very much like this character's outward behaviors. We also had no way of hearing any voices in Willy's head, because the filmmaker chose to not narrate them. We only saw a couple of times when he responded to voices in front of Emma. If the writer did not intend schizophrenia, some other form of mental illness was clearly alluded to.

It's too bad Willy was portrayed as a creepy stalker for most of the film, because that doesn't sit well with many viewers when it comes to sympathizing with a character of a supposed romantic story. As an adult, he was a man-boy that was severely stunted both socially and emotionally. While Emma was sympathetic to his plight in the end, he would need medical services to help determine what could be done to maximize his potential for mental stability. I am hopeful the girl assisted him with this process, since his family had resigned to his situation.

For a superior take on mental illness and romance, I recommend Benny & Joon (1993) with Johnny Depp in the lead role. The main character, who has mental issues, is portrayed more sympathetically and realistically while an actual romance develops throughout the film. That film is successful in showing a damaged person finding another one, and together they learn to better cope and heal. In fact, this film was likely inspired by that classic. Benny (Depp) even wears a hat, dresses oddly, and can perform tricks.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106387

"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

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[–] Againstthetide 12 years ago

I dont know if he has anything. No one is normal, I know I'm not. Not many people I know come on boards and talk about movies they have seen with total strangers.

If he has anything its Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. You dont have to go to war to end up having it. If you've gone through anything a person can start shutting down. Whether its a bad crash, getting robbed, raped, losing a loved one, losing everything. If they dont get help right away it can get worse, but that doesn't mean they cant function. Sometimes those people see things in a different way, can figure things out in a different way.

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[–] disturbedlove 12 years ago

this.

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[–] modelajb 12 years ago

to me, his behavior seemed to go beyond just being quirky and different. he seemed sort of unstable and obsessive to me. he also seemed like someone with a sort of peter pan complex, unable to grow up and face the real world.

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[–] dfiguero 12 years ago

Exactly, he was a boy trapped in a man's body, as someone had mentioned in the movie, I think it was Joe. He was obsessive, but also insisting of the idea of going back to the way things were. If he had matured the way a "normal" man would, he would have been interested in taking Emma out on a real date, not reliving all the kiddie things they used to do. He lived in a child's world. Notice how he could relate so well to the children shown in the movie, like when he first meets with old friends, he immediately starts playing with their child and becomes so engaged in play. Also, when Nikki Blonsky's character, and Jim's wife talk to him, they talk to him with simple words and softly like they would to a child. If he was mentally mature and capable, the two leads would've ended up together, not just like friends which I assumed is how they ended the movie.

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[–] equivoque 12 years ago

I think Aaron was the sick one.

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[–] ekwynn 12 years ago

modelajb, I think you're on the money with this. He had multiple problems which the screenwriters obviously meant us to see as just quirks.

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[–] discostu2214 11 years ago

So he was kind of like what Andy Sandburg was in Hot Rod?

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[–] The_Klimt 10 years ago

He is creepy. Totally unstable and mentally challenged without a doubt. He seems like he's all the time on the verge of having a mental break. Just horrible to watch.

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