There were a various few movies that I would have chosen for this paper, but I assumed they would be ones that many have already seen. For this very reason I have chosen a book it not particularly well known, but a hilarious and enjoyable novel chock full with psychological aspects that you may not even pick up on. The book is titled Going Bovine by Libba Bray, 2009. The story is centered around the main character, Cameron Smith, a pot head high school junior from Texas who is on a slow track to nowhere. His father is a college physics teacher and mother a community college English teacher; and his lack of motivation is defined by his sisters perfectionist.
One of the first scenes in the novel is of Cam having what he thinks is a marijuana-induced hallucination of flames during his English class. This public hallucination gets Cameron sent to multiple drug counselors, all while his hallucinations continue. Cameron’s life starts to spiral out of control when he is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob variant BSE (also known as mad cow disease), possibly contracted from the cafeteria at his school or his minimum-wage job at the fast food joint Buddha Burger.
While Cameron is hospitalized, he is introduced to his rock start guardian angel, Dulcie, through a hallucination induced vision. She then goes on to describe to Cameron a mission to save the world from a dark unknown character, named the Wizard of Reckoning. From here, Cameron escapes from the hospital and partakes on a wild adventure with his roommate and classmate, a dwarf named Gonzo. Together, along with Dulcie, the threesome partake on a hilarious and thrilling journey to find Dr. X, a time traveling physicists who can supposedly save Cameron’s life; and along the way Cameron meets a garden gnome who is explained to actually be a Norse god named Balder, who was trapped in garden gnome form before the plot of the novel started by the god Loki, the Norse trickster who is not mentioned or explained about any more in the novel. Balder joins them on their road trip.
When reading the novel I did not pick up on any psychological aspects, as I was captivated by the humor and adventure. But as I considered a book for this project, Going Bovine seemed to match perfectly.
To begin with, the story is based around the deterioration of a teenage boys mind, which is a breeding ground for psychological applications. Cameron experience hallucinations from mad cow disease. Cameron is experiencing visual, auditory, and olfactory hallucinations, which mean his visual cortex, olfactory system, and
