Do you ever get the feeling that no one is normal anymore? It seems like everyone you meet these days describes himself as neurodiverse or neurodivergent. It’s hard to believe that terms which didn’t even exist before 1999 could now apply to so many people. Today, it seems that anyone who is slightly different than average is described as neurodivergent. The confusing aspect of this topic is that it is based on a deviance from some standard of normalcy, which is defined as neurotypical. To classify any person as the standard of mental normalcy is a difficult feat.
Today’s moment of movie wisdom is from “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” from 1936. This scene takes place 104 minutes into this 115-minute film. At the movie’s climax, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) is being tried for insanity because he wants to give away his recently inherited fortune. After remaining silent throughout the hearing, he finally decides to defend himself against the multiple accusations and examples given to prove him insane. He does so by reminding the court that every person has funny habits when thinking. By accurately pointing out the idiosyncrasies of everyone in the courtroom, Deeds proves that he is no more insane than the average person.
The Film
Longfellow Deeds is a simple man who lives a peaceful life. He lives in the small town of Mandrake Falls, Vermont, where he co-owns a tallow works, writes poems for greeting cards, and plays the tuba in the local band. His life changes completely when he learns that he has inherited $20 million from an uncle. Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander), the ex-newspaperman assigned to tell him about his good fortune, is amazed by how casually Deeds treats the situation. He agrees to go to New York and assume his position as a millionaire, although he makes light of it.The Scene
Throughout the court case, Longfellow is positively disconsolate. While his mental competency is challenged, he just sits there, not saying a word and barely even looking up. Cedar brings in doctors, witnesses, and even two spinster sisters from Mandrake Falls, who all testify to his abnormal behavior. Through it all, Longfellow won’t say a word.His behavior seemingly proves Mr. Cedar’s case, since he isn’t acting like a falsely accused sane man. However, it is not insanity but despair which is making Longfellow unresponsive. He thinks that the case against him is so strong that no one will believe anything he says. Furthermore, he is so disgusted with the deceit he has encountered in New York that he doesn’t care what happens to him. What changes his mind is Babe’s impassioned plea to the judge to make him speak, in which she explains how she deceived him but admits that she loves him. He realizes he can’t just let himself be put away, since Babe, Cobb, and hundreds of poor farmers care about him.
Its Significance
Longfellow starts his defense by discussing his tuba playing, which his opponents have cited as irrational behavior. He argues that if tuba playing makes a man crazy, there are a lot of tuba players running around loose who need to be put away, too! Growing more serious, he explains that playing the tuba helps him concentrate, adding, “That may sound funny to some people, but everybody does something silly when they’re thinking. For instance, the judge here is an O-filler. ... You fill in all the spaces in the Os with your pencil. ... That may make you look a little crazy, Your Honor, just sitting around filling in Os, but I don’t see anything wrong, ‘cause that helps you think. Other people are doodlers. ... That’s a word we made up back home for people who make foolish designs on paper when they’re thinking: it’s called doodling. Almost everybody’s a doodler; did you ever see a scratchpad in a telephone booth? People draw the most idiotic pictures when they’re thinking.”He drives the point home further by observing that Dr. von Haller (Gustav von Seyffertitz), the psychiatrist who diagnosed him as manic depressive, is an incessant doodler, pointing out the strange face he has drawn during the hearing. “Looks kind of stupid, doesn’t it?” he continues. “But I guess that’s alright; if Dr. von Haller has to doodle to help him think, that’s his business. Everybody does something different: some people are ear-pullers; some are nail-biters; that Mr. Semple over there is a nose-twitcher. ... And the lady next to him is a knuckle-cracker. So you see, everybody does silly things to help them think. Well, I play the tuba.”
Stigmatizing Individualism
This scene from “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” shows that stigmatizing individualism as a mental condition is nothing new. Dr. von Haller uses his best Freudian jargon to argue that Longfellow Deeds is manic depressive, experiencing more dramatic mood swings than average. He and Cedar’s other stooges make a convincing case that, because Deeds has some unusual habits and beliefs, he is not normal.Who’s to say what makes a person’s mind and thought process normal? By what standard is modern psychology measuring people? Obviously, throughout history there have been people who are undeniably insane or mentally ill. However, to say that a person’s brain is wired abnormally because he is a little different than the average is not the American way. It’s a principle of Marxism or communism to expect everyone to measure up to a single standard and be basically the same.
It seems to me that this maniacal labelling of perfectly healthy individuals is part of a plan to dumb down to the lowest common denominator and create group mentality by demeaning creativity and uniqueness. It’s beyond hypocrisy for the same so-called doctors, who claim a person can identify as any gender or species “they” choose, to insist that someone’s brain is wired abnormally because he doesn’t fit in a tiny box. Mr. Deed’s brave defense in this scene is a reminder to never let anyone label what makes us unique as a problem.
