MovieChat Forums > Alyce (2013) Discussion > A Downward Spiral in Graphic Form

A Downward Spiral in Graphic Form


This movie sort of tricks you into thinking there's not much happening until the fall scene and then it just gets sicker and weirder and more 'in your face'.
Hopefully, this crazy woman was invented for the movie because it would be a worry if there were more of the same out there. The last 15 or 20 minutes seemed like being a spectator at a Roman gladiator contest with survivors at a minimum. An enthralling movie IMHO.

To tennis players love means nothing!

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Hopefully, this crazy woman was invented for the movie because it would be a worry if there were more of the same out there.



This kind of person does not exist. Sociopaths do not develop because of a few horrid weeks in their adulthood. There are plenty of people, soldiers for example, who go through worse things than Alyce did and never do what she did. Without extreme loss of activity in the frontal lobe in the brain due to physical injury, someone like Alyce can not go from a person full of emotions to a sociopath. There is not one documented psychological case of this ever happening.

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I don't think you know what a sociopath is.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/

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I don't think you know what a sociopath is.


I do. You obviously do not. How about instead of telling me that I don't know what a sociopath is, you provide some documented evidence that shows that I am wrong? And how about you tell me point by point how I am wrong since you are convinced I am?

Sociopath is a term that is used coloqially to describe antisocial personality disorder (http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html). It is an axis II diagnosis that generally forms in adolescence. In order to have a diagnosis, you have to meet specific criteria as outlined in the DSM. These work this way:

First necessary criteria:

Three or more of these traits must be present:

1. Repeated acts that lead to multiple arrests. There was no indication of this in Alyce's life.
2. Conning people and using aliases repeatedly and lying about one's identity (Despite the claims of SWF similarity, there is no evidence that this was done throughout Alyce's life, only after Carroll was hurt).
3. Failure to plan ahead or be compulsive. This was not shown in any manner to be consistent enough to be considered abnormal.
4. Repeated assaults on others. Although this happens after Carroll's injury, there is no indication that this was something that Alyce did before meeting Carroll. Her attacks generally had purpose as well.
5. Reckless when it comes to one's safety or safety of others. Although the rooftop thing was reckless, Alyce and Carroll were on drugs and there was no indication that Alyce experienced these symptoms before the injury.
6. Poor work behavior or failure to honor financial obligations. No indication of this anywhere in the movie.
7. Rationalizing the pain inflicted upon others. Maybe, but she didn't defend her actions.

The second necessary criteria is that they are at least 18 years old. She is.

The third necessary criteria is that she has evidence of conduct disorder before the age of 15. Without this, a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder cannot be made. No indication of this is mentioend in the film. Conduct disorder is not as simple as behavior problems. Rather than explain it, here is a research article (http://www.aacap.org/aacap/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Conduct_Disorder_33.aspx)

The fourth necessary criteria is that the symptoms cannot be due to another mental disorder. The information needed to prove this is not given in the film.

A sociopath would not have been upset when her friend was injured and would not have been upset when she found out Carroll was alive. Their relationships mean nothing more beyond their designation as a friendship. They have no real feelings for people they are involved with. They do not let past events or future events affect their thinking, thereby never planning ahead (Alyce did).

Furthermore, since antisocial personality disorder has to have conduct order present before the age of 15, it is therefore IMPOSSIBLE for someone to develop antisocial personality disorder at the age that Alyce is in the movie.

So how about before you come on this site and tell someone they don't know what they are talking about, you do a little research to show that you do know what you're talking about. I know what a sociopath is, you obviously do not.

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I'm pretty sure I was going by other comments you made, and not this one specifically. We'll find out as I go through them.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/

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Boy they sure got really upset, huh?

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Alice was always insecure and unstable. People like this do exist. Her friend she pushed off the building had hinted that Alice was always different and called her "Single White Female". How do you get she is a sociopath? No one claimed that.

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This kind of person exists. She's not a sociopath, though. Borderline personality and/or bipolar disorder perhaps. My impression of Alyce in the first scenes is she's woman-child. When she was a sophomore she was a full blown alcoholic, sexually confused, not terribly bright, into drugs and partying. Twelve years or so later, nothing's changed. She can't handle an intimate relationship. She's pushed around at work because she has low self-esteem. Her best friend Carroll is the same way, and they still get together for booze, pills, bar-hopping, giggly gossiping, and intoxicated girl-girl fooling around like they did when they were in college. Now they're over thirty and it's all lost its charm, but they don't know what else to do.

When Carroll falls off the roof, Alyce's wafer-thin stability goes kaput and, with the help of booze, pills, and getting raped by the drug dealer, she goes off the deep end. Alyce is already depressed and angry. Look at the people she surrounds herself with. Look at her nasty boss. Life has ripped her off too many times and she wants revenge. A lot of women would kill themselves at this juncture, but Alyce is one of those rare cases who becomes violent and homicidal.

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Just to clarify: Alyce wasn't 'raped' by that guy Rex..she voluntarily consented to have sex with him in exchange for drugs. She may not have been happy about it, and it doesn't make him any less of a skeeze-ball, but he did not force himself on her.

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