inspirational

According to Nash (played by Russell Crowe) in A Beautiful Mind, Adam Smith is wrong. The concept of "the best results comes from everyone in the group doing what's best for himself" is, according to Nash, incomplete. The best results is only achieved when everyone in the group does what's best for himself AND the group. And then, he illustrates this with the example of how everyone can get laid. Basically, the most intereting thing in the movie.

The scenario was that there was this stunning blonde, with a few brunettes, just entered a bar/student lounge where Nash and his fellow students were, and everyone wanted the blonde.

So Nash came up with the following, which is entirely true in real life:
"If we all go for the blonde, we'll be in each other's way, and none of us will get her. So we turn to her friends, but they'll all give us the cold shoulder because no one wants to be second choice...". And he concludes that, for all of them to get laid, none of them should go for the blonde.

That, basically, sums up a lot of the success techniques of the first move in picking up women (or girls, if you'd prefer), in a bar/club. Always go for the second best, unless the best has an eye for you and only you. :)

OK, back to the movie. I actually find it kinda inspiring, the way that Nash dealt with his schizophrenia without taking medication. He probably wouldn't have done it without the support from his wife and friends though. It's basically your typically inspirational success story with a twist. The twist being success not in achieving something widely recognised or would revolutionalize something, Nash did that when he was much younger. The success here is overcoming personal difficulties in the face of overwhelming despair.

One other thing that had me thinking about this movie, and all biographical movies in general, is how true or how romanticised the story on screen is, compared to what really happened. I usually think of this point since I'd read Neil Gaiman's Reboot a few years ago.

Reboot is a short story included in Neil Gaiman's short story collection, Smoke and Mirrors. It's about a drug that cures cancer, but has certain non-lethal nor destructive side effects. One of these side effects, changing one's gender overnight, led the drug, Reboot, to be a hit. The story told of the inventor of the drug's real life and his counter part in a biographical movie of him. Two totally different versions of the "same" person, with the movie romanticised to suit the market.

Somehow, this takes the fun out of most "real-life" adapted, inpirational movies.