Movie Response #3 The Devil And Daniel Johnston

Tony Ive
October 22, 2008
Matt Wappet
Core 122
Movie Response #3 The Devil And Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston is a singer and song writer with manic depression. He grew up in Austin Texas with his very religious family. Many people described him as a genius and a natural artist. The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a documentary about Johnston’s climb to success. It goes into detail describing his many personal obstacles.

The film is depicted using The Rehabilitation or Expert/Professional Model. Daniel Johnston grew up not following directions. He brought reform upon himself by acting in ways his parents disapproved of. He did not agree with his parents’ religious views. He would go to church to get girls. His family felt he needed to live a “well-rounded life” and felt he was living a “self-absorbed life”. As a result, Daniel moved out, and eventually broke free for several years by running away with a carnival.

Several years after Johnston’s escape from his parents he became famous for his music. People began to think he had chemical problems. He smoked a lot of weed and had a mental breakdown. Some people accused his manager of giving him acid. People had always known he was “crazy” but they embraced it because they felt the greatest artists who ever lived were as well.

Johnston attacked his manager with a lead pipe while on acid and gave him a concussion. He became a different person. People blamed his transformation on drug abuse. As time went on his behavior become more erratic. He broke his brother’s arm on Christmas because his brother had tried to remove a Beatles album from the family Christmas tree. Other people felt that they new what was best for Johnston. He believed that culture, the military, coke and snickers were planning a takeover.

His friends felt he had crossed a boundary between crazy and sick. They had Johnston hospitalized. His manager thought Daniel did not need to be in the hospital and got him out. Soon after he was heavily medicated and spent the entire year of 1987 in bed. This is representative of the Rehabilitation or Expert/Professional Model in that other people felt they knew what was best for Johnston. The director of the film constantly showed how much trouble Johnston got into when he was not under supervision.

A lot of Johnston’s art is inspired by his first love Lorie. She was an attractive girl at his college. Johnston would follow her around with a tape recorder and beg her to say I love you. She did not know how obsessed he was. She already had a boy friend who she later married. This event helped his art. He sang songs about her and drew pictures of her. Lorie was only in Johnston’s life for a few weeks but because of his depression it caused him pain. He fed on the pain to create his art. He would not be the artist he is today without the emotions he experienced from his disability.

Johnston’s needs can best be met in a home baste setting for the fallowing reason: When at home his parents can take care of him. He feels comfortable and has the space he needs to create art and stimulate his creative side while not harming himself or others. At an institution He was not comfortable. He was confined to a small room where he lost his ability to create art. The institutions did not help him after he stopped using drugs.