Why was he evil?
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fallen_anakin — 15 years ago(January 04, 2011 05:25 PM)
Hate to tell you but I think the point of the movie is that there was no(at least environmental)reason that he was the way he was. The movie The Bad Seed had a little girl who was like him and it was because of heredity. The idea that someone can inherit sociopathy if someone in the family is also a sociopath. So maybe Henry was born evil but it was because it was in his genes. He obviously was loved and looked like he was spoiled. There was no outside reason for him to be mean.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed. -
cosmic_quest — 15 years ago(January 06, 2011 01:41 PM)
The other poster was quite right. Henry was this way because he was just evil. To put it another way, he was born without the capacity to feel the emotions that make someone a decent human being such as empathy, love and guilt. He was a sociopath in psychological terms. It's the old 'nature versus nurture debate' where the argument is whether people like Henry are raised to be this way or whether they are born this way. In this film, it seems Henry was born this way because he certainly seemed to come from a loving family.
"I always pretend to root for Gryffindors but, secretly, I love my Slytherin boys."~ Karen, W&G -
whitespirit26 — 15 years ago(January 07, 2011 10:45 PM)
Truth is, there are plenty of people who turn out either rotten or amazing regardless of how they were raised; nature is ultimately more powerful. Look at Tyler Perry, who was abused. Look at Scott Peterson, who was spoiled rotten and became absolutely heartless.
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fallen_anakin — 15 years ago(January 12, 2011 03:53 PM)
Actually a lot of times people that come from a bad background usually go through a difficult phase. However they seem to eventually get it together if things get better or they find some good human connections. I watched an interview with Tyler Perry and he indicated he went through behavior problems when he was young. I think he said at one point he tried to burn the house down even. However his life came together and he seems like he is a good individual with a conscience. I don't know about someone from a decent background who seems to lack a conscience. Since they seem to be born that way I don't know if there is as much hope for them to change.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed. -
Lost_Woods87 — 11 years ago(May 16, 2014 09:01 PM)
I personally disagree. In my opinion sociopaths are made, not born. I don't believe any person is born evil without the capacity to love and be a good person. There is good and bad in everyone. Sociopaths are not evil, they can feel emotions but only the minimal necessary ones and they only feel empathy and love for the very few that they actually care about. They are not all violent and without morals.
I do agree though that most sociopaths tend to come from dysfunctional homes and probably developed RAD as a child which progressed into sociopathy in adulthood.
I think they were trying to make him a mix of a jealous child who doesnt want to share his parents affection with siblings and a typical serial killer and not all serial killers come from bad homes so its kinda open to the viewer's imagination -
Samuraibro — 11 years ago(May 24, 2014 02:18 AM)
Sociopaths do NOT feel empathy for other people. At all. There are no "few people" that they care about because they are mentally incapable of feeling empathy.
People are born with mental illnesses, and not being able to empathize with people is part of a mental illness. Sociopathy. Why is that so hard for people to believe?
SIND SIE DAS ESSEN NEIN WIR SIND DER JGER -
jonathanc_91 — 10 years ago(May 17, 2015 07:08 PM)
Samuraibro is actually correct in a psychological sense I'm studying to become a psychologist in school and although you are partially correct that environment and experience are important in determining our psychology it's also true that biology plays a role as well. In scientific terms the word evil isn't often used but the idea that some people are born incapable of feeling emotions is true. A variety of things are believed to possibly contribute to this but the two most common biological aspects are genetics passed down from parent to child or genetic mutations or deficiencies. Although in this movie it is possible that you are correct in assuming that there is some explanation and the writers simply didn't mention it, but it is also possible that there really isn't one either. Some people really are just what some may call "evil" but in most cases we use words like emotionally irrational or a sociopath.
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lrdcharlton — 10 years ago(September 25, 2015 01:41 AM)
Henry was not a sociopath he was a psychopath. A sociopaths are made while psycopaths are born without empathy, love or any emotions like fear. Sociopatths can feel empathy, but that is usually directed at babies and animals.
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kmbsk80 — 15 years ago(January 12, 2011 10:02 PM)
the scene in the shed with Henry and his mother where she finds the 'rubber duckie' - Henry says : "It was mine before it was his" shows that he's deeply jealous of his baby brother; and could be the 'inspiration' or motivation for his psychotic actions.
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fallen_anakin — 15 years ago(January 16, 2011 08:56 PM)
I doubt Henry had any real reason to be jealous of his little brother. By that I mean I doubt that his parents made him feel he was less special than his brother. I think because he was just mean he didn't like the idea of his brother taking any attention away from him. He wanted it all for himself. He did not really care about the rubber duck he just wanted to keep it away from her because it reminded him of his mom's love for Richard. He did not want her to have it because he knew the connection she would make with it(that she would think of Richard and how much she loved him). He felt the same jealousy about his sister and wanted her out of the way especially when Mark came around. Who knows why he had not already killed his sister a long time ago. Its hard to accept but basically Henry was a little bastard in this movie for no other reason than HE WAS JUST THAT WAY. In the novel of this there is a good scene where Susan is talking to the therapist. She was wondering and asking about the possibility of a child being born with something missing. What she means by this is missing a conscience. Also in the novel(because they can get into people's heads) Mark is wondering to himself about why Henry is the way he is. It was something like "Henry was lucky he had two parents that were alive and loved him. He should be grateful" Obviously in reality there are not many people like Henry(mean for no reason).
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed. -
jason005-1 — 15 years ago(January 25, 2011 04:06 PM)
I know the the OP said don't write he's just evil but I think that is the answer. No concience, brazen, no empathy, it's like he's a kid version of the terminator. He enjoy's people suffering, creating misery, bedeviling people, and being deplorable.
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fallen_anakin — 15 years ago(January 26, 2011 09:03 AM)
If you can stand seeing a black and white movie from the 1950's I would recommend finding one called The Bad Seed. The movie does not show her committing the murders on screen(unfortunately) but the girl in the movie is the female version of Henry. The idea behind it is that she lives in a nice family with all kinds of advantages but she is still a sociopath. In her case the inborn sociopathy is thought to be inherited. Maybe in Henry's case too he could have had some relative that was a psycho. Clearly his parents were not. Anyway I would check out The Bad Seed. However parts are slow but you can always skim forward to the good stuff.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed. -
fallen_anakin — 15 years ago(January 30, 2011 06:51 PM)
I remembered something about this movie when it was on HBO. You know how when they are announcing a movie coming on in the next half hour or so they kind of give a description or tagline? I remember for The Good Son it was something like "you love and cook for him and he is still a sociopath". Thats probably not exactly what was said but similar. Anyway its kind of summing up that he is like a bad seed. Internally bad.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.