Page 63 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

The film opens to a scene of Melvin Udall trying to coax Verdell, the neighbor’s small
dog, into the elevator before he urinates on the apartment floor on which Udall lives. Upon
picking up Verdell, who begins to urinate, Udall, in a fit of anger, throws the poor helpless pup
down the garbage chute. Following this inhumane act, Udall revels in smug gratification of
taking care of this problem, this annoying nuisance that has caused him such irritation. While
being questioned by his neighbor, Simon, about Verdell’s whereabouts, Udall evades Simon’s
questions by verbally attacking him. After making racist and bigoted insinuations to Simon about
his lifestyle, Udall lies unscrupulously, saying “Hope you find him. Love that dog” (4:04).
Repulsed, Simon replies, “You don’t love anything, Mr. Udall” (4:08). By avoiding the use of
the first-person tense “I,” Udall evades any personal responsibility or conviction in his statement.

The audience is left with a less-than-appealing first impression of Melvin Udall. He
comes across as an abhorrent, narcissistic, and potentially sociopathic individual. As he enters
his apartment, specific characteristics become apparent: he turns each lock on his door (there are
several) five times (counting), flicks the light five times, throws away the gloves he touched
Verdell with, and uses two bars of soap to wash his hands, discarding each bar after a single use.
These types of behaviors—excessive hand-washing or germophobic tendencies, repetitive
rituals, and excessive orderliness—are some, but not a fully inclusive list of all the defining
characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This stereotypical behavior is often how the disorder is portrayed in the media. There is a
“disjunctive irony” that perpetuates this disorder, which undeniably elicits a humorous response
(47). The excruciating reality, however, is that obsessives are tormented by their unrelenting
condition, a condition of perpetuating compulsions and behaviors that they are not able to halt,
even if they so desire. Many obsessives are acutely self-aware and firmly desire normalcy. Ever

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