Help me find examples of obsessive wall collages in film.

November 3, 2011 11:18 AM

You know how movie shorthand for obsession is often a collection of pictures and newspaper clippings on a wall? I need some examples!

As a way to get students to think about obsession in literature I'd like to get them to create their own "stalker shrine," that movie cliche of the visualization of a character's obsession. A character is shown to be obsessed by revealing that they've pasted photos and newspaper clippings all over a wall, often connected to one another in crazy if sometimes useful ways. I'd love to provide the students with some examples, so if you guys can think of some I'd be seriously grateful. Bonus grateful points if anyone knows of a supercut of such scenes, though I haven't been able to find one.

posted by Doug to society & culture (38 answers total)

One Hour Photo
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:20 AM on November 3, 2011

The Incredibles
posted by lewedswiver at 11:21 AM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Two Russell Crowe movies spring to mind:

The Next Three Days

A Beautiful Mind
posted by Ginesthoi at 11:21 AM on November 3, 2011

The Justice League Unlimited episode "Question Authority" (or the one directly before or after it; it's a two-parter) shows off The Question's pinboard-photo wall.
posted by griphus at 11:21 AM on November 3, 2011

Conspiracy Theory with Mel Gibson
posted by Gucky at 11:24 AM on November 3, 2011

Stalker Shrine on TVTropes. I'm also certain this showed up several times in the original Law & Order but can't pinpoint episodes. (I can just kind of picture Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt cracking wise about them.)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:26 AM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's something of a sendup of this in Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.
posted by gurple at 11:31 AM on November 3, 2011

John Malkovich's character has one in In the Line of Fire.

It's a running theme in the now-cancelled (but great) NBC series Life; the protagonist makes one in his closet and adds to it each episode.
posted by argonauta at 11:32 AM on November 3, 2011

FlashForward and Homeland both had/have these - although the "good guys" are the ones who have them. There's certainly a bit of obsession involved, though.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:32 AM on November 3, 2011

Wall of Elaine photos on Seinfeld (at 1:40).
posted by marimeko at 11:35 AM on November 3, 2011

I believe "the crazy brother" (don't want to spoil) has tons of news clippings about the Hand of God killer above his desk in "Frailty." Can't find a clip.
posted by Sayuri. at 11:35 AM on November 3, 2011

I seem to recall one in The Silence of the Lambs... (BILL SKINS FIFTH headline).
posted by heyho at 11:41 AM on November 3, 2011

In Better Off Dead, Lane (John Cusack) opens his walk-in closet to reveal that every clothes hanger is topped off with a life-sized cutout of his girlfriend's head.
posted by Beardman at 11:49 AM on November 3, 2011

Fuckin TV Tropes.
posted by Beardman at 11:50 AM on November 3, 2011

http://crazywalls.tumblr.com/

You're welcome.
posted by Su at 11:51 AM on November 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

The first episode of Castle has one of these! There is a dude who is obsessed with Castle who has a creepy shrine in his house.
posted by zoetrope at 11:59 AM on November 3, 2011

Session 9
Se7en (Haven't seen it in a while, but I believe the antagonist's apartment has some of this going on.)
posted by usonian at 12:04 PM on November 3, 2011

Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Arwen had a wall-shrine of the mom. (I know, right?)
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 12:37 PM on November 3, 2011

In a Michael Wong movie called "Fei hu xiong xin" the main villain wanted to go up against the Hong Kong SDU. For some backstory, he's a rich kid who leads a gang of thieves and actively tries to get into shootouts with the police.
posted by CancerMan at 12:52 PM on November 3, 2011

The film Prick Up Your Ears shows this, as the less successful lover becomes more and more jealous and unhinged.
posted by Sublimity at 12:58 PM on November 3, 2011

The Fan.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 1:02 PM on November 3, 2011

Gossip
posted by jayder at 1:19 PM on November 3, 2011

The Bodyguard
posted by yawper at 1:32 PM on November 3, 2011

The Fisher King
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:39 PM on November 3, 2011

Memento
posted by shiny shoes at 1:48 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

IIRC, Mulder's home office in the 2nd X-Files movie has a wall like this.
posted by puritycontrol at 2:54 PM on November 3, 2011

Billy Madison. Steve Buscemi's character has one.
posted by Fister Roboto at 3:06 PM on November 3, 2011

TV Tropes
posted by Artw at 3:38 PM on November 3, 2011

And if it spreads from one wall...
posted by Artw at 3:39 PM on November 3, 2011

Eminem's "Mosh," :24-:50.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:41 PM on November 3, 2011

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish version at least) I think qualifies.
posted by Fortnight Bender at 4:00 PM on November 3, 2011

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
posted by hmo at 4:39 PM on November 3, 2011

Cherish - I'm guessing it's about 3/4 of the way through the movie, when Zoe finds her stalker's home and sees all the pictures of herself.
posted by kristi at 9:12 PM on November 3, 2011

The Comfort of Strangers
posted by parkerama at 9:33 PM on November 3, 2011

Children of Men had one that told the backstory of the decline of civilization. (Starting with the Iraq war, for an extra dash of plausibility.) Since it was in an activist's home, it didn't seem contrived.

Neat question.
posted by gentian at 9:42 PM on November 3, 2011

Can't confirm, but I think Jim Carrey's character had one in The Dead Pool.

In Heroes, Drs. Suresh pere and fils utilize a world map with photographs, flags, pins, and string connecting everything, and in one timeline's version of Isaac Mendez's studio, all his paintings are connected by a 3-D string time "tree".
posted by dhartung at 12:59 AM on November 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Community has a recent episode titled "Competitive Ecology" where Chang has a pathetic board of random stuff. I think the episode is still up on Hulu.
posted by hooray at 7:08 AM on November 4, 2011

In Kick-Ass, Big Daddy has one of these. It's shown about 20min, though it's never addressed in any way, just scenery.
posted by Su at 2:26 AM on November 7, 2011