# Depicting crazy ala A Beautiful Mind

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 26, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870 "2022-06-26T00:36:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870/1 "2022-06-26T00:36:29Z")

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A Beautiful Mind was the first time I’d ever seen crazy depicted like [this](https://i.imgflip.com/2fg4dr.jpg?a459720). However, since then, I’ve seen multiple examples of crazy being signaled by the discovery of some room where a huge tangle of strings connects a bunch of news clippings, etc. I’ve also seen numerous examples of the non-crazy version – someone trying to solve a complex problem with a huge board where strings are used to show connections between various elements.

My question is this: Is A Beautiful Mind the first time that particular way of visually representing craziness was used???

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870/2 "2022-06-26T01:18:22Z")

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I didn’t go through it completely to find the first incarnation, but there are some before A Beautiful Mind.

> **[String Theory - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StringTheory)**
>
> Somebody's conducting an investigation — and every little bit of information could be the break they need. Red Herrings are flying left and right, and they need to get everything organized. What better way to do it than with a pegboard (or …

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**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870/3 "2022-06-27T03:43:00Z")

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Here’s a whole, entertaining article on the crazy wall.

> **[Decoding The Detective's 'Crazy Wall'](https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/news/a7703/detective-show-crazy-walls/)**
>
> Why is no crime show complete without a wall of clues to puzzle over?

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**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870/4 "2022-06-27T12:53:14Z")

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Great article! Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depicting-crazy-ala-a-beautiful-mind/966870/5 "2022-06-27T13:07:23Z")

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I can’t point to a particular movie or TV show using it prior to “A Beautiful Mind”, but charts connecting-the-dots or using lines and arrows to link disparate events and people into what the unbalanced see as a coherent whole, have been around for quite awhile.

[![](https://www.dailydot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/qanon-conspiracy-theory-map.jpg) ](https://www.dailydot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/qanon-conspiracy-theory-map.jpg)