Lars And The Real Girl Essay

In the movie Lars and the Real Girl, the protagonist, Lars, struggles to overcome issues within his mind. Due to traumatic events in his childhood, Lars develops several mental disorders which are not mentioned in the movie. Throughout the movie, he receives help from family, friends, the other townspeople, and a psychologist. Lars endured several traumatic events during his childhood. Lars’s mother died when he was born, and his father took on him and his brother. His dad became abusive and his brother eventually left. These were mentioned when Lars was talking to his psychologist, and also when he was talking to his brother. Due to these early childhood experiences, Lars’s personality was affected and he could possibly have developed mental disorders because of it. When looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it is noticed that Lars probably did not meet the Safety and Security Need, the Love and Belongingness Need, or the Self Esteem Need. As a result, he lacked confidence and social skills, and was a loner. He was seen by others as essentially emotionless and did not easily connect with others. These traits could be contributed towards Schizoid Personality Disorder.

The psychologist said that there was no real way to fix it, and that they needed to just play along. Soon, the whole town was playing along. Lars began to be more social and involved as a result of this. This episode was triggered by Karen’s recent announcement that she was pregnant, and Lar’s extreme loneliness. Lars was afraid that Karen would die during childbirth, similar to his mother. He began to project himself through the doll, and slowly began connecting with people. This delusion was his mind’s way of coping with the scenario. Eventually, the doll ‘died’, because Lars no longer needed her to cope. This treatment of playing along with the delusion helped Lars overcome his problems. Some of the symptoms that he experienced could be tied to Delusional