Analysis of Psychopathology in Film: Safety Not Guaranteed
Genesis Romero
Florida International University
Abstract
Safety Not Guaranteed, a romantic drama, follows three journalists – Jeff, Darius and Arnau – and their adventures and investigation of a classified ad reading: "Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed." The film is replete with troubled and conflicted characters, however protagonist Kenneth Calloway, the later found author of the ad in question, easily holds the most complex of psychological problems present throughout the film. As evidenced by various symptoms, all which follow the criteria presented by the Diagnosis and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, Kenneth can ultimately be considered for diagnosis of a Cluster A personality disorder: schizotypal personality disorder. As a result of its slight factitious nature, aside from occasional derogatory comments questioning Kenneth’s sanity, the film fails to appropriately acknowledge any form of psychopathology despite its effective characterization of the symptoms.
Description of Schizotypal Personality Disorder
The classification of personality disorders, amongst the vast range of psychopathologies, is characterized mainly by continued patterns of cognition and behavior that are unlike those of the individual’s surroundings or environment, thus compromising various components of their functionality. Individuals with schizotypal personality disorder are often perceived as “out of the norm”, exhibit odd, paranoid and antisocial behaviors and often carry on beliefs of imagined, aberrant and/or supernatural abilities.
The criteria delineated by the DSM-5 for diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder states that individuals must present at least five of the following symptoms:
(1) Ideas of reference
(2) Odd...