Hello good people of SS.

I'm currently writing a script where I planned to have one of my characters not be able to feel pain, and I was wondering if any of you guys know anything about people who can't feel pain?

From the research I've done so far the only condition I can find is called 'Congenital analgesia', a condition which people are born with.

However, there are two things I can't seem to find out through google that I was hoping some of you may be able to help me with...

Firstly, I can't seem to find out if someone who can't feel pain can feel pleasure. From what I've found out, people with CA have a sense of feeling, as in they know when they're holding something, but I can't find any definitive answer as to whether that means they can feel pleasure.

Secondly, can someone develop a sense of no pain? The reason I ask this is because I used to work in a late night takeaway shop selling hot food. One night we were holding a competition to see who could eat a hot pasty (for those who don't know what that is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty) the quickest. Most people who tried were taking close to ten minutes, until this one chap came in. A drunk Geordie. Now, most people who came in were drunk, and Geordies are known for being quite tough, but he destroyed the pasty in just over a minute. Straight from the oven too. He won the competition easily, and afterwards confessed he had a car accident a few years before which had caused him to lose feeling in certain parts of his body.

Now, you may think I've answered the second question myself with that little anecdote, but the thing is, can you really trust what a drunk man says at 3am in the morning? He may have just been really committed to winning.

I suppose I could just wing it and write what I like, but I'd like to give it my best shot of knowing what I write is accurate. And I'm sure I could ask a doctor, but I have that very British attitude of not wanting to disturb my doctor when I'm ill, so to disturb him with this is just unthinkable.

Maybe you can help?

Maybe I need to hire the A-Team.

Cheers.

Arty.

Robert Car lyle's character in The World is Not Enough has that problem. Not the best film but would show you what the Bond lot did with a character like that.

As for not bothering your doctor, I used to live near a hospital. The local pub was full of doctors and nurses. They liked a drink.

R

Coincidentally, a fellow SS member by the name of spesh2k, has a script up here that deals with such a character.  

It's called Morphine and it's a pretty good read.  Check it.


--Steve

I remember hearing that those with this condition are emotionally detached.  IIRC, the Newtown shooter may have had this condition.


Phil

Here's a couple good articles that describe what these people experience.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/case-girl-who-couldnt-feel-pain
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v45/n11/full/ng.2767.html



It sounds like a shitty life of broken bones and irritable bowel syndrome.

Jordan

I believe people can learn to control the feeling of pain to some degree.

Yeah, I agree with Mr. Poe.

There have been numerous characters in films over the years that have this quality or ability.  It really doesn't have to be a "real" scenario, because you can set it up any way you want to, cuz it's your story.

For instance, look at Unbreakable.  It was played for reals and that's why it worked (for those who liked it), but in reality, it was far from real.

You make your world, Arty.  If you do it properly, we go along with it.  Take something that is somehow grounded in reality, and make it your own to move your story where you want it to go.

Thank you all for the input.

I guess the Robert Carlyle Bond villain, Renard, is similar in some ways to what I'm going for. His injury is killing him though, whereas my character, also the antagonist, received the injury and now just can't feel pain.

It's the subject of whether someone like that can feel pleasure that really fascinates me. In my head it doesn't seem logical that you could feel one and not the other.

But then again, like Dreamscale says, it's my world so I can do what I want in it. If I go the way I plan, I think it adds something to the antagonist. A bad guy that will hopefully be more rounded and maybe even more memorable. Essentially it makes him a better character, and that's what we all want.

Cheers.

No quotes necessary, but you're right on.  It's your world...do with it as you see.  There's no wrong when you create your own mythos,

Why is it important that your antagonist feels pleasure? Who cares if a bad guy can't feel it when he's pHucking?

If I were you I'd introduce a drug or something that he can use to make himself feel pleasure... if it really is that important.

It's not that it's important he feels pleasure, it's just the way I see the character at the moment. The way he is with women is part of what makes him who he is. I don't want him to be a one dimensional, cliched bad guy. Also, I wanted to make sure it's as real as it could be, if someone who can't feel pain can feel pleasure then it works, but as I can't seem to find out I'm just going to go with it.

As for the drug thing, it's a western so I'm not too sure that's a good way to go.

Cheers.