Bipolar I Disorder
If I had to diagnose Allie Fox, I would diagnose him with Bipolar I disorder.
During the movie, Allie suffers from multiple episodes of Mania. Mania is an
intense high where the person feels euphoric. The audience is first exposed to
this mania in act one, when Charlie wakes up to find that, him and his whole
family, are moving to Mosquita. The event is turned into a celebration that no
sane person would find worth celebrating. Allie is able to “convince” the
family that they were leaving a rotten country for a paradise jungle. From the
way the family acts to the news, the plan would appear bullet proof until
finances, food, housing, all the things a person needs to survive come into
question.
Once in Jeronimo, the Foxes get to work on transforming their newly
bought village into home. Allie on the other hand has bigger plans in mind and
sets the natives to work on his bigger and improved Fat Boy. The manic high
reaches its peak when the construction of Fat Boy is complete. Once it is
built, Allie loses grip on the high and quickly plunges into a depression as he
struggles to induce another episode of mania. The high that sounded appealing once,
leads to difficulty in areas of personal decisions. Allie, his sons and a group
of natives, make a tiring trip across the jungle to bring ice to the other
natives. His plan has two major flaws. One, the trip takes one and a half day
by foot and two, ice melts. Allie’s need for the high, clouds his judgment and
opens the door for misfortune. The trip damages his relationship with his sons
and leaves a trail for intruders.
After his futile trip to the other natives, Allie remains in a deep depression.
He attempts to rebuild the paradise he destroyed but every time he tries, the
consequences of his past actions are apparent. Allie is both physically and
mentally at loss. He loses the villagers of Jeronimo and he loses the respect
of his family. In a frantic attempt to recover the high, Allie sets fire on
Reverend Spellgood’s church. Allie blames the Reverend for the colonization of
the natives when all he wanted to do was free them. Unfortunately for Allie,
his actions toward euphoria end up being his final actions. His depressive episode
is exacerbated when he is shot by the reverend, and uses his physical condition
as an excuse for his family to remain with him. Allie Fox is a “monster, a
clown, a fool and a genius” (Pfeiffer 157) but most importantly he is bipolar,
who literally cannot help himself but over exaggerate his emotions to the point
of destruction.
I would agree with you with the diagnoses of Allie problem could be bipolar disorder, his sudden mood swings and changes in happiness through the movie is a show of support of this. I also this narcissistic would work to as everything he did was surrounded by his actions and what he felt like doing at the moment. One prime example is him carrying his family out the country and creating civilization on Geronimo, he showed no interest on how his family felt about the situation. I also agree that the ice box was the downfall in the second act, I think its ironic that he preached a "What is only necessary" lifestyle but ended up creating an invention that wasn't necessary for them to live. This is the same invention that ultimately led to his downfall and the destruction of his family. Allie emotions do get the best of him throughout the movie and lead him to attempting some dumb ideas but his intelligence cannot be overlooked, this personally was my favorite movie thus far and looking forward to more.
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