Secret Window

The movie, Secret Window, is a psychological thriller that is based on a novella called Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King. Like most psychological thrillers, the character that has a mental illness is portrayed in a very exaggerated and dramatic way. Some portrayals can be very accurate while others are simply for reeling in the audience. For the purpose of this paper, I will discuss the accuracy of David Koepp’s portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the main character of Secret Window, some symptoms that are clear and maybe not so clear, as well as treatment options for DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as “multiple personality disorder”, is a mental disorder in which a
Every day he spends his time in an isolate cabin feeling worse and worse. One day, a man knocks on his cabin door accusing Mort of plagiarizing his story. The name of this man is John Shooter. Shooter gives his story to Mort to read but Mort rejects the fact that it could be plagiarized because of proof that his story was published in a magazine. John gives Mort three days to prove to him that it was published in a magazine or else he will keep interrupting Mort’s life. Mort realizes that in order to retrieve the magazine that this story is in, he must go to Amy’s house because everything of his is still there. The first warning that Shooter gives Mort is killing his dog; the second is burning Amy’s house. Mort starts to feel uneasy so he hires an investigator to keep an eye out. Soon enough, however, Shooter murders him as well. Once mort finally retrieves the magazine that his story is in, he realizes that “someone” has removed the pages of Secret Window. For the remainder of the movie, the thoughts that Mort is having in his mind are being said out loud. As someone in the audience, pieces start fitting together and you may soon realize that Shooter is an identity that Mort creates. He ends up killing his own wife and the man she cheated on him with. He buries them both in the garden outside of his cabin. The reason Mort creates Shooter was just that; to kill his own wife for being dishonest and