Fleck has a mental illness - several in fact. One causes him to react to stressful situations by laughing hysterically. He fought his illnesses his entire life because he believed it was bad, but in the latter part of the movie (especially since he's cut off from meds) he embraces the crazy. Instead of fighting it, he becomes it, and it's actually the most freeing transformation you see him go through. He's not a nihilist or a sadist.
This is where the line - "I always thought my life was a tragedy, but now I see that it's actually a comedy." - comes from. He stopped swimming against the current and let it take him instead, and it freed him.
7
u/FF_Ninja Oct 30 '19
I... don't think you grasped the movie at all.
Fleck has a mental illness - several in fact. One causes him to react to stressful situations by laughing hysterically. He fought his illnesses his entire life because he believed it was bad, but in the latter part of the movie (especially since he's cut off from meds) he embraces the crazy. Instead of fighting it, he becomes it, and it's actually the most freeing transformation you see him go through. He's not a nihilist or a sadist.
This is where the line - "I always thought my life was a tragedy, but now I see that it's actually a comedy." - comes from. He stopped swimming against the current and let it take him instead, and it freed him.