Movie Analysis

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Psychology
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Movie Analysis: The Madness of King George
The Madness of King George is a funny biographical film that tells the story of King George III during his reign in 1788. He was diagnosed with mental illness and had to undergo treatment by doctors using the inadequate methods of treatment available at the time. The movie begins with the king being crowned in his chambers and he later proceeds to open parliament or “the house of peers” as described in the film. Shortly into his reign, the king begins to show the signs of madness through the way the king behaves. It is clearly seen all the way from the start, he talks to himself in the presence of his subjects and gets angry very quickly, harassing and insulting his servants and courtiers which indicate the extent of his madness. His oldest son, Prince George also observes his father’s behavior with a keen eye and begins to internally plan the downfall of his father and his rise to the office of Regent and also marriage to a Catholic mistress he has been keeping (Beard 1117-1117). The prince’s ambitions are encouraged and supported by Charles Fox, another ambitious member of the parliament who has hopes of passing his progressive and radical Agenda in the leadership which are unlikely to pass under the current government. The king’s illness becomes worse to the point where he behaves badly in public and with all his subjects seeing him. Doctor Warren is called upon to attempt to give the king a cure that could help him be well, but he is not able to treat the king since no medicine is good enough.

Dr. Willis is later called to assist the king, and he uses harsh disciplinary methods of treatment to help the king control his behavior. There are three important scenes in the film which carry the main message of the movie: Showing the way human psychology works. The first scene is when the prince, knowing that his father is sick, arranged for a music concert where Handel’s music is played. The king is affected, and he gets furious and rude, he treats Lady Pembroke in an awful manner and the end fighting with his son. This scene shows the evil and dark cleverness of the prince, a man with ambition, studying his father’s character and banking on those weaknesses to be able to make the king look bad before the people. This scene also depicts the way character points to the deep inner issues with the mind. Human character is governed and regulated by the mind, and thus any patterns in nature can also be attributed to mental states of the individual. The second important scene is when Doctor Willis forcefully ties the King to a chair, wrapping his mouth and head down. The doctor then gives strict guidelines that will ensure the king will be controlled whenever he behaved badly or refused to eat his food. Here human psychological response to the unknown also comes out. The doctor uses methods of hard discipline to try and bring the Kings sickness under control, and to some extent, this works since the king is forced to handle his madness on his own hence providing a way for the king to be better (Beard 1117-1117). The last scene is when the king is finally able to control his sickness and behave properly before his subjects. The King gets better just in time to put a stop to the situation in parliament, where the Regency bill is just about be passed into law and allow his son to be regent.

The movie handles the matter of human psychology very well, through various scenes and the evil plans of the wicked prince to become a regent. Though the message is hidden under the comedy and theatrics, the theme can easily be seen and understood by the audience. It is also amusing and enjoyable to watch.
Work Cited
Beard, J. “The Madness Of King George”. BMJ 334.7603 (2007): 1117-1117. Web.