History YMMV / TheGreenMile

** When watching the movie for the first time, a bunch of red flags went up for me and Percy's behaviour. His problem with authority, his brutality, his hatred of Del, his pants wetting, his immaturity, his cowardliness and his catatonia could all be explained as Catatonic Schizophrenia caused by early childhood sexual abuse by an older male. I know this sounds far-fetched but i've worked with adult survivors of sexual abuse as a child. His problem with authority could be explained from the fact that he is scared of people who have power over him. His brutality and hatred towards Del seemed to have started when, in the book, Del accidentally fell on him and grazed his crotch. Now, Del was there for rape and murder. A rapist touching a victim of sexual abuse would throw them into a frenzy of fear and anger, which Percy went into. In the perspective of him being sexually abused, he would have not been able to discriminate his original attacker and Del and he would have the same feelings of hatred and fear, hurting him to 'get back' at his original attack and taking back the control he lost. Pants wetting has been reported in children of sexual abuse that can sometimes carry to adulthood. Imagine a victim of sexual abuse being molested and how they would react. They would be extremely scared and they would have flash backs of the original trama. Now imagine the person they associate the original trauma to laughing at them for it. The amount of rage would be astronomical. His immaturity could be explained by regression of age which is a common side effect of sexual abuse. The cowardliness could be explained by the fact that he probably viewed everyone as a potential threat. Now, the biggest thing for me was his reaction to the 'disease' going inside him. Imagine he had seen what Wild Bill did to those girls. Catatonic Schizophrenia usually has a main trigger or stresser that pushes the person off the edge and the onset of the disease starts in early adulthood. Watching those little girls get hurt would have been enough to make the dormant Catatonic Schizophrenia come to be active, explaining why he went into a catatonic state after he dealt with Wild Bill. Another symptom of Catatonic Schizophrenia is being highly suggestible. Coffey could have given him the idea to punish Wild Bill, which he would have done eagerly. But why would John punish a schizophrenic? Well, before the advancement of medicine and understanding, Schizophrenia was seen as evil possession by the devil. If my theory is correct, not only is what happened to Percy FridgeBrilliance but FridgeHorror, too. Source: [[http://www.schizophrenia.com/history.htm]], [[http://helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm]]

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Delacroix's execution... it can be very difficult to sit through.

** Yes, they're equal. "Wild Bill" raped and killed two little girls after threatening them into to go along with the rape, and Percy finagled a job at the prison simply because he "wants to experience one right up close where he can smell the guy's nuts cooking." And then he purposefully botches Delacroix's execution. A guard and a prisoner, in this case, are NotSoDifferent.

** Although it is ambiguous whether Wharton enjoys a real screw, or just a MindScrew: his goal was not to have sex, but to watch Percy panic, and he's successful-Percy [[BringMyBrownPants pisses himself in fear]], much to Delacroix's amusement. Given one of the many [[http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/12/messages/610.html nicknames]] for sadistic prison guards, one could say that Wharton enjoyed screwing with the screws.

** Dean, getting strangled and everything. Then four months after the story takes place, [[spoiler: he gets stabbed to death. He also has two kids who are going to spend the rest of their adolescence without a father.]]

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Delacroix's execution, as it's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5fQmeY1LtA]], can be very difficult to sit through.

* Tearjerker (Book): The bus crash.

* {{Tearjerker}}: The bus crash.

** When watching the movie for the first time, a bunch of red flags went up for me and Percy's behaviour. His problem with authority, his brutality, his hatred of Del, his pants wetting, his immaturity, his cowardliness and his catatonia could all be explained as Catatonic Schizophrenia caused by early childhood sexual abuse by an older male. I know this sounds far-fetched but i've worked with adult survivors of sexual abuse as a child. His problem with authority could be explained from the fact that he is scared of people who have power over him. His brutality and hatred towards Del seemed to have started when, in the book, Del accidentally fell on him and grazed his crotch. Now, Del was there for rape and murder. A rapist touching a victim of sexual abuse would throw them into a frenzy of fear and anger, which Percy went into. In the perspective of him being sexually abused, he would have not been able to discriminate his original attacker and Del and he would have the same feelings of hatred and fear, hurting him to 'get back' at his original attack and taking back the control he lost. Pants wetting has been reported in children of sexual abuse that can sometimes carry to adulthood. Imagine a victim of sexual abuse being molested and how they would react. They would be extremely scared and they would have flash backs of the original trama. Now imagine the person they associate the original trauma to laughing at them for it. The amount of rage would be astronomical. His immaturity could be explained by regression of age which is a common side effect of sexual abuse. The cowardliness could be explained by the fact that he probably viewed everyone as a potential threat. Now, the biggest thing for me was his reaction to the 'disease' going inside him. Imagine he had seen what Wild Bill did to those girls. Catatonic Schizophrenia usually has a main trigger or stresser that pushes the person off the edge and the onset of the disease starts in early adulthood. Watching those little girls get hurt would have been enough to make the dormant Catatonic Schizophrenia come to be active, explaining why he went into a catatonic state after he dealt with Wild Bill. Another symptom of Catatonic Schizophrenia is being highly suggestible. Coffey could have given him the idea to punish Wild Bill, which he would have done eagerly. But why would John punish a schizophrenic? Well, before the advancement of medicine and understanding, Schizophrenia was seen as evil possession by the devil. Source: [[http://www.schizophrenia.com/history.htm]], [[http://helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm]]

* DracoInLeatherPants: Believe it or not, there are some people who genuinely ''feel sorry'' for Percy and try to explain away his sociopathic and childish actions. [[CompleteMonster Good]] [[DirtyCoward luck]] [[JerkAss with that.]]
** William Wharton also has a rather large amount of fangirls believe it or not.

* William Wharton also has a rather large amount of fangirls believe it or not.

* LawfulEvil: Percy Wetmore.
* LawfulGood: Warden Hal Moores in particular - Paul and the other guards also qualify, though that one scene where they 'punish' Percy for his MoralEventHorizon leans towards ChaoticGood.
** Considering Percy broke a "higher law" by [[LetThemDieHappy mistreating the prisoners]], Paul and his fellow guards could still be considered Lawful.

* ChaoticEvil: William Wharton

--->'''Paul:''' Why didn't they scream, John ? He hurt them enough to make them bleed, their parents were right upstairs, so why didn't they scream?"

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Delacroix's execution, as it's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBTgFkQskQc presented in the film]], can be very difficult to sit through.

** Yes, they're equal. "Wild Bill" raped and killed two little girls after threatening them into to go along with the rape, and Percy finagled a job at the prison simply because he "wants to experience one right up close where he can smell the guy's nuts cooking." And then he purposefully botches Delacroix's execution.

** What Wild Bill did to the two girls. "He kill them with they love."

** Yes, they're equal. "Wild Bill" raped and killed two little girls, and Percy finagled a job at the prison simply because he "wants to experience one right up close where he can smell the guy's nuts cooking." And then he purposefully botches Delacroix's execution.

--->'''Coffey:'''He say to the one, 'If you make noise, it's your sister I kill, not you'. He say that same to the other. You see? He kill them with they love, they love for each other. You see how it was? That's how it is every day, all over the worl'.

*** Rather subverted with Delacroix, as, after all, there was a reason he was sentenced to the chair. But no doubt he regretted what he did.