Pop Culture and its Socially-Inept Genius

Prakriti Sharma

For several years now, the entertainment industry has heavily relied upon the cliché plot story of a protagonist with a brilliant mind but irritating/arrogant personality. This article looks at the effects of this representation on society and, subsequently, on the general understanding of different clinical disorders.

Protagonists such as Tony Stark, Adrian Monk, Walter O’Brien, Sheldon Cooper, Sherlock Holmes (in the TV series ‘Sherlock´), and Dr. House all represent a character with brilliant, above-average minds.
   

Image Sources: (Marvel Wiki, IMDb, BBC UK, respectively)



Their brains work on a level much different than that of an average human being, which allows them to view the world in a different way and, subsequently, excel in their respective fields. This gives rise to the main plot points of each of their respective stories, i.e. the way they use their genius to develop technology/solve crime/help others. The entertainment industry, however, is not sufficiently happy with providing us these larger-than-life characters; there is an inherent need in the industry to ensure that each of these characters has a blatant flaw to counteract the awe of their genius. Unfortunately for the industry, most creators tend to come back down to the same character flaw: an unlikable, social-inept personality.

Each of the aforementioned protagonists is, for the most part, heavily disliked by the people they interact with. This is usually because they (the protagonists) are condescending, rude, or simply unable to have positive interactions with others. This goes on to create an environment of jealousy and hostility that most of the people who watch any of these movies/series must be familiar with.

The issue with this pervasive anti-social-genius trope is that it is responsible for cementing a certain kind of perspective on geniuses in our society. The artistic liberty that the creators take with their protagonists has led to the pervasion of this trope. Due to this, a person with high intelligence is, by default, bound to be anti-social and unlikable. The implication of comorbidity between these two factors is something that should not be so easily propagated.

Mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder have not yet directly been linked to intelligence, but there has been some research that shows a lot of these illnesses are present in individuals on the autistic spectrum (which would then indirectly link to intelligence). Sheldon Cooper would be a good example of a case study where a person on the autism spectrum with a high IQ meets social impairment (Taite, Psychology Today).

While it is true that a lot of high-IQ individuals have suffered from depression and other disorders, pop culture cannot take it upon itself to spread the word of these occurrences with the proper evidence. Often in these shows, e.g. House M.D., it is implied that since the protagonist has a higher IQ, they understand the world a lot better and view it from a realist’s perspective. This has them see the world for ‘what it really is’, i.e. a terrible place full of negative things. A lot of the genius protagonists have also been shown to be envious of their ‘dumber’ counterparts because the latter can live their lives in blissful ignorance. However, there have been no conclusive studies on the same so using this line of reasoning in order to establish why having a higher IQ might make you more prone to certain mental illness would not be accurate.

Despite the common use of this plot line in movies and shows, there is one good thing that can come out of its overuse: the understanding that it is possible to develop the same kind of mental disorder and/or social impairment despite having lived through different experiences. Tony Stark’s background provides a major contrast to that of Sheldon Cooper, but they have both landed in similar predicaments with a similar set of skills and, of course, the socially-unlikable-genius personality. Allowing the audience to understand the differences and similarities between the various narratives provides a broader understanding and perspective on the abilities and disabilities of a genius mind.

References

Taite, R. (2015, March 10). Is There a Link Between Intelligence and Mental Illness?