In a cross-section of Hollywood films and television shows that include psychiatrists as characters there is a clear division between two categories; the psychiatrist character is either trustworthy and professional or untrustworthy and out of touch. This division shows how psychiatrists, as fictional characters, are defined by their profession more than most. Like athletes, firefighters, and other doctors, psychiatrists are usually included only if their profession impacts the rest of the story. How their career impacts the story is contingent on their trustworthiness, which makes them dependent on other characters to show which category they are in. Considered in terms of the story genres in which they appear, the two primary genres for psychiatrists are character drama and screwball comedy. From The Fugitive (1993) to Frasier, the psychiatrist is a curiously divided archetype.
Films like Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Psycho (1960), or Woody Allen’s Zelig (1983), include psychiatrist characters for narrative clarity. In Ordinary People (1980), Maurice (1987), and Good Will Hunting (1997) the psychiatrists are guiding hands for characters who are lost or considered troubled. In these cases the psychiatrists are positive forces that are completely trusted, and their absence would limit the progress of the film’s narrative. On the other side, films like Shutter Island (2010) and Raising Cain (1992) present psychiatrists as untrustworthy or dangerous characters. In Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), His Girl Friday (1940), and Charlie Bartlett (2007) the psychiatrists are useless, clueless characters that are presented for ridicule or comic relief. A psychiatrist’s presence as an untrustworthy character becomes a source of tension or terror, and his clueless incarnation becomes a prop for comedy.
It is along these lines of presentation that the genres split. Because of the serious nature of the private matters psychiatrists deal with, and their doctoral authority, the dramatic stories tend to be focused on dire issues like drug abuse, depression, or suicide. But the same professionalism that lends such weight to dramatic stories allows for psychiatrist comedies to be particularly farcical. At the center of Arsenic and Old Lace is the desire of Cary Grant’s character to have his murderous aunts placed in an asylum, and to achieve this he has to deceive the pompous Mr. Witherspoon, who is the psychiatrist in charge.
One of the best thrillers of recent years, and one of the darkest presentations of psychiatrists, is Shutter Island. US Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes steadily more suspicious of the doctors working on the island asylum as he searches for a missing patient. In this context the psychiatrists’ professional behavior appears suspicious, their advice appears untrustworthy, and their medicine appears poisonous. Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow) is suggested to be a Nazi, Dr. Sheehan is suggested to be out-of-touch by leaving on vacation, and Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) seems to be poisoning Teddy Daniels with false medication. Each of these insidious assumptions is proven wrong when Daniels is revealed to be the missing patient suffering from delusions, but until the truth is revealed the presence of evil psychiatrists fits perfectly with one version of the Hollywood shrink.
The comical version of the Hollywood psychiatrist, of course, is the one showcased by the award-winning TV sitcom, Frasier. Kelsey Grammer played the part of Frasier Crane, a supporting character, on Cheers from 1984 to 1993, and he continued the role in 263 episodes of Frasier, which ran 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004 (IMDb). More than most sitcoms of the 90s, Frasier refused to reduce its humor and sophistication to a lowest common denominator. The result was a quick-witted, often farcical show that played the professionalism and respectability of Frasier and Niles Crane against the screwball antics that their pompous natures created. Miscommunication, mistaken identities, and bruised egos made for numerous episodes that achieved comedy previously only seen in classic Hollywood films like The Philadelphia Story (1940) or It Happened One Night (1934).
A good example of the show’s screwball antics is the season two episode “The Innkeepers”. Frasier and Niles have dinner at a soon-to-be-closed restaurant and decide to buy the establishment to run together. On opening night, with all the restaurant critics in attendance, the Crane brothers walk in and out of the kitchen giving the head chef conflicting orders. When the cross-talk becomes too much the chef quits and the rest of the staff soon follows when they learn an immigration agent is in the building. Frasier and Niles co-opt Daphne, Roz, and Martin to help, but continued miscommunication only leads to an explosion, a fire alarm, sprinklers, and a car being driven through the restaurant’s wall.
Other episodes, such as “The Ski Lodge” (Season 5, Episode 14) and “The Matchmaker” (Season 2, Episode 3), are equally far-reaching in their use of screwball comedy and farce. The extent to which an episode could stretch some gags was dependent on how Frasier and Niles saw themselves to be respectable professionals. Pride in their credentials and accomplishments regularly led the characters to make poor decisions, which only caused further problems.
The fact that Frasier remained on the air for 11 seasons, and that Kelsey Grammer was able to negotiate $700,000 per-episode salary (TV Guide), is a testament to how popular the show and its characters were. For representations of psychiatrist on TV or in films, Frasier and Niles are among the best-known, and therefore have set a standard to which all other representations aim.
The psychiatrist, like any regularly-portrayed professional or authority figure, has developed an archetypal screen persona. Because authority can be portrayed in both serious and comical ways, there are two types of screen psychiatrists, which can be divided along the line of trustworthiness. When a shrink cannot be trusted he is a source of tension, suspense, and as a result appears in thrillers and mysteries. When a shrink can be trusted completely he appears in dramas and comedies. In unique films like Shutter Island this dichotomy is bridged by the transition of a character from distrustful to trusting. In all cases the screen presentation of a psychiatrist is dependent on the views of the other characters, and on how much they are trusted by them.
Works Cited
Arsenic and Old Lace. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Peter Lorre, and Raymond Massey. Warner Brothers, 1944. DVD.
Charlie Bartlett. Dir. Jon Poll. Perf. Anton Yelchin, Robert Downy Jr, Kat Dennings, and Hope Davis. MGM, 2007. DVD.
Fugitive. Dir. Andrew Davis. Perf. Harrison Ford. Warner Brothers, 1993. DVD.
Frasier. By David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee. Perf. Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, and John Mahoney. CBS, 1993. Web.
Good Will Hunting. Dir. Gus Van Sant. Perf. Robin Williams, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. Miramax, 1997. DVD.
His Girl Friday. Dir. Howard Hawks. Perf. Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy. Columbia, 1940. DVD.
It Happened One Night. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Columbia, 1934. DVD.
IMDb. The Internet Movie Database. Frasier (TV Series 1993-2004). 1990. Web. 9 April 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106004/>.
Maurice. Dir. James Ivory. Perf. James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Denholm Elliot, and Ben Kingsley. Merchant Ivory, 1987. DVD.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Dir. Doug Liman. Perf. Brad Pitt. 20th Century Fox, 2005. DVD.
Ordinary People. Dir. Robert Redford. Perf. Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton. Paramound, 1980. DVD.
Philadelphia Story, The. Dir. George Cukor. Perf. Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart. MGM, 1940. DVD.
Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, and Simon Oakland. Paramount, 1960. DVD.
Raising Cain. Dir. Brian De Palma. Perf. John Lithgow. Universal, 1992. DVD.
Shutter Island. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, and Ted Levine. Paramount, 2010. DVD.
TV Guide. “Kelsey Grammer”. 2012. 9 April 2012. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/kelsey-grammer/160338
Zelig. Dir. Woody Allen. Perf. Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, and Patrick Horgan. Warner Brothers, 1983. DVD.
