An Incitement to the Psychotic Imagination

The earliest of mental illness portrayal in film is The Maniac Cook (1909) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000956/) by director D. W. Griffith. This film introduces a deranged mental patient who is perilously violent. This film began perpetuating the stigma of a “homicidal maniac” which would soon become a foundation of plot building in horror films (Hyler 2 http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/stigma-continues-hollywood). Popular horror movies use characters with psychosis to create an uncomfortable vibe throughout the movie. While the idea behind a horror movie is to scare the audience, using characters with explicit mental illnesses creates the ideas in the audience that mental illness is inherently violent.

However, horror movies are more likely to use men with psychosis when looking at the homicidal maniac stereotype before they choose a woman with psychosis. In movies such as The Shining (1980) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/), the “homicidal maniac” image is a male. The idea that masculinity is inherently violent shows up in numerous horror movies and is detrimental to how men with mental illness are perceived in real life (Fruhwirth 37). By connecting mental illness, violence, and masculinity all in one place, the stigma becomes that men with mental illness are naturally violent. It becomes a way to justify violence in real life that may just be a product of masculinity. When white men commit a fatal crime such as murder or domestic terrorism, the conversation of his masculinity or his whiteness is not entertained (Fruhwirth 37). The conversation shifts to how he probably has a mental illness where psychosis is a symptom.

Horror movies entertain the idea that horror should be based off mental illness rather than holding men accountable further when they play off psychotic symptoms as focal point of terror rather than the white masculinity, even if the white masculinity is more obvious in the context. The audience of horror movies shun those will mental illness while giving white masculinity a pass even though not all people who have psychosis are white men while 64% of mass shootings are committed by white men (Ford 8 http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/27/us/mass-shootings/). Images of men with mental illness become detrimental to real life when men who are criminals are no longer held accountable for their actions, yet all people with mental illness are treated as though their psychosis is what will make them dangerous (Tartakovsky 7 http://psychcentral.com/lib/medias-damaging-depictions-of-mental-illness/). Movies like The Shining (1980) show a stereotypical masculine, white man with a beard and a husky figure that becomes deranged enough, because of psychotic episodes, to murder his love interest.

Psychosis is constantly the token mental disorder in horror movies to characterize the antagonist of the film. It is easy to make psychosis horrifying when psychosis is defined as “a severe mental disorder characterized by gross impairment in reality testing, typically manifested by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, or disorganized or catatonic behavior (Goodwin 201).” When the definition contains elements that people who are neurotypical do not understand, they categorize people who do deal with psychosis as an “other” and “other” is seen as scary.

The misconception that people with mental illness are violent creates so much tension that when someone walks into a counseling office they are more likely to be asked, “Have you ever thought about harming anyone else?” before they are asked about self-harm. Self-mutilation occurs among 4% of adults, 15% of teenagers, and a risk of 17%-35% among college students (“Self-Injury (Cutting, Self-Harm or Self-Mutilation)” 4 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/self-injury), whereas only 4.3% of all people with mental illness are likely to harm others (Stuart 123 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1525086/). Due to the use of mentally ill characters in horror movies, the public considers the notion that every person with a mental illness is more likely to hurt others, creating a sense of fear among the public that results in the ostracism of those with mental illnesses.

Creators of horror films blatantly disregard the prominent push of stigma in horror films by depicting both people who experience mental illness inaccurately. Stigmatizing content seen in the early days of cinema in horror movies such as The Maniac Cook (1909) continue to persist in modern film. Themes such as a mentally ill character being a homicidal maniac, a mentally ill character being characterized by how pathetic they look, and a mentally ill character being shown as fragile through metaphors are all images that were originally seen in early horror films, when mental illness was less known, that have continued to recur in modern day films.

 

 

Works Cited

Ford, Dana. “Who Commits Mass Shootings?” CNN. Cable News Network, 24 July 2015. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.

Fruhwirth, Jesse. “Male Call: A Conversation About Masculinity and Violence with Byron Hurt and Jackson Katz.” Bitch 2014: 35-39. Print.

Goodwin, John. “The Horror of Stigma: Psychosis and Mental Health Care Environments in Twenty-First-Century Horror Film (Part I).” Perspectives in Psychiatric Care 50.3 (2014): 201-09. Wiley Online Library. Web. 4 Nov. 2016.

Hyler, Steven H. “Stigma Continues in Hollywood.” Psychiatric Times. UBM Medica, LLC., 01 June 2003. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

“Self-injury (Cutting, Self-Harm or Self-Mutilation).” Mental Health America. Mental Health America, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

Stuart, Heather. “Violence and Mental Illness: An Overview.” World Psychiatry 2.2 (2003): 121–124. Print.

Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Media’s Damaging Depictions of Mental Illness.” Psych Central. Psych Central, 17 July 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Manic Pixie Drama Queen

Manic Depressive Disorder, more commonly known as Bipolar Disorder, affects 2.9% of the U.S. population each year. 83% of those cases are classified as severe and affects men and women equally (“Bipolar Disorder” 3 https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Bipolar-Disorder). Bipolar disorder is characterized by dramatic changes in mood and behavior (“Bipolar Disorder” 4). Since that is the most commonly known fact about bipolar disorder, films tend to use characters with bipolar disorder as a catalyst for drama. More so, films use women with bipolar disorder to increase the dramatic mood of the film. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/) is a film that uses a character with manic traits and uses her as the promoter of “crazy,” “impulsive,” and “over-dramatic.”

The most popular symptom of bipolar disorder filmmakers like to use is the myth that people with bipolar disorder experience dramatic mood swings that follow a complete remission of symptoms (Tartakovsky 10 http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/11/07/5-persistent-myths-about-bipolar-disorder/). While dramatic mood swings are a major symptoms of bipolar disorder, individuals that are properly treated have less severe residual symptoms (Tartakovsky 11). Another myth is that people with bipolar disorder are not trying hard enough to fit a societal idea of normal (Tartakovsky 20). There is an implication in this myth that bipolar disorder is a choice rather than an actual disorder (Tartakovsky 22). The idea the any disorder is a choice disillusions people into thinking that mental illness is something that can be turned on and off and has no serious side effects (Tartakovsky 23). Both of these myths are perpetuated to their fullest extent in films.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is a film that portrays a woman with Bipolar Disorder but fails to mention the mental illness by name. Clementine is seen as the impulsive foil to Joel, the blandest character in the film. The film makes Clementine out to be just another “crazy” female even though she has symptoms of bipolar disorder, such as having manic and depressed states, displaying risky behavior, and easy attachment to certain people (“Bipolar Disorder” 5). This is a female character trope that is often used in films, otherwise known as the “manic pixie dream girl” trope. This trope entertains the idea that an impulsive woman is to be saved from her hazardous actions by a flat male character.

There is a scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) where Clementine sees a child on the streets, turns to Joel, and says, “We should have a baby.” This is a line that catches the audience off-guard, since having children is a serious endeavor and should not be a consequence of impulsivity. In this scene, there are underpinnings of gender bias and stigmatization of mental illness through the concept of motherhood. There is already a social misconception that women are solely responsible for reproduction of human life and that women should have a natural impulsivity towards caring for others (Launius and Hassel 52). Not only is this scene pushing that misconception to the audience, but because Clementine demonstrates bipolar disorder symptoms of over-attachment and manic behavior, the audience is forced to think about her character and her mental state as being fit for motherhood. Since the audience would naturally come to the conclusion that she is not fit to be a mother, the audience would then associate all women with mental illness symptoms as unfit parents and therefore, women with mental illnesses are seen as a danger to their designated gender roles.

Gender bias is common in diagnoses and research shows that “gender stereotypes regarding proneness to emotional problems in women and alcohol problems in men, appear to reinforce social stigma and constrain help seeking along stereotypical lines” (“Gender and Women’s Mental Health” 27 http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/). Women are perceived to have mood disorder symptoms just by nature. When women do have bipolar disorder, doctors are likely to misdiagnose women with an anxiety disorder or depression rather than bipolar disorder since mood swings are seen as common in women. Using a character with symptoms of bipolar disorder, but never actually mentioning anything about the disorder, subliminally demonstrates to the audience that these symptoms are just normal traits of women.

A Forgettable Punchline

Amnesia is a condition in which memory is lost. The two types of amnesia are anterograde amnesia, the inability to turn short-term memory into long-term memory, and retrograde amnesia, the loss of pre-existing memories (Mastin 2 http://www.human-memory.net/disorders_amnesia.html). Amnesia is a result of damage to the hippocampus and related areas of the brain that are used for memory processes such as encoding, storage, and retrieval. When a blockage occurs in the pathways of the brain that involve encoding or retrieval, the brain cannot form new memories or retrieve old memories (Mastin 3). Although amnesia is a serious mental disorder that affects people regularly, comedy films turn it into the centerpiece of laughter.

Unlike memory loss disorders such as dementia, amnesia does not affect one’s ability to perform daily tasks or other cognitive functions (“Amnesia” 2). People with amnesia also retain a sense of self. However, those affected by amnesia have difficulty learning new information and encoding new memories (“Amnesia” 4). While amnesia is a rare mental disorder, the person who experienced amnesia often deals with intense post-traumatic stress from the event that caused the amnesia (“Amnesia” 17). America is a culture that rarely makes fun of post-traumatic stresses, yet since that is a symptom of amnesia that is hardly discussed, filmmakers give comedies a green light to make light of amnesia, especially since it is a rare disorder.

50 First Dates (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343660/) is famously recognized as a decent romantic comedy where Adam Sandler, who plays a veterinarian, falls in love with Drew Barrymore, a woman who lacks short-term memory. Barrymore’s character can remember what happened before her car accident, but her short-term memory only lasts one day. The moment she falls asleep, her memories disappear. While this story may be heartwarming in a quirky way, 50 First Dates (2004) is far from an accurate portrayal of amnesia.

While it is accurate that people with anterograde amnesia are unable to encode new memories, anterograde amnesia does not happen to occur in a perfect routine of living and remembering for a day, falling asleep, and then waking back up with the memories gone (Goodfriend 5 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychologist-the-movies/201212/amnesia-in-50-first-dates). 50 First Dates (2004) does a particularly good job using Barrymore’s character as a punch line for most of Sandler’s jokes and daily pick-up lines. Sandler ends up taking on Barrymore’s character as a project to see if he can get her to make out with him every day with no consideration for her amnesia. By exploiting amnesia for the sake of laughs creates a light-hearted atmosphere that is nice for a romantic comedy, but awful for mental illness representation.

The light atmosphere and inaccurate depiction created by comedic filmmakers allow the viewers to delegitimize amnesia as a psychiatric disorder. Sallie Baxendale, a clinical neuropsychologist, writes about misconceptions of amnesic disorders, including how the prevalent myths of amnesia in film are used to increase the comedic traits of movies (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535990/). Baxendale writes in the last paragraph on page 1483, “Since movies both inform and reflect public opinion, the public seems to have very little understanding of amnesic syndromes.” Movie audiences trust movies for accurate exemplifications.

Comedy can be used as a promising platform for social justice. Comedies allow the audience to rearrange social understanding and relationships through means of humor (Clarke 7 https://thesocietypages.org/sociologylens/2012/06/12/the-power-of-comedy/). However, by casting an unfair light on how amnesia is for those who suffer from it, the audience associates amnesia with building up comedy rather than comedy building up amnesia. Unless the audience already knows better, their understanding of amnesia comes from a lack of facts rather than a basis of research (Baxendale 1481). When movies are key to public understanding, filmmakers should be held more responsible for accurate portrayals of mental disorders, especially for those like amnesia that people do not have a high understanding of already.

When the atmosphere of a movie is centered around a mental disorder becomes light and cheesy, the audience is taught that the disorder is nothing to be serious about. Serious mental disorders become nothing more than a punch line. Viewers are dismissive of events that happen in comedy movies because comedy movies give their viewers a reason to be dismissive of it. Comedies give viewers a quick reason to laugh and move on to the next joke. Next to inaccurate representations of how the disorder works, comedies allow viewers to purposefully invalidate the experience of people with amnesia.

 

 

Works Cited

“Amnesia.” New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia, 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Baxendale, Sallie. “Memories Aren’t Made of This: Amnesia at the Movies.” BMJ : British Medical Journal. 329.7480 (2004): 1480–1483. Print.

Clarke, Jack. “The Power of Comedy.” Sociology Lens. Wiley Online Library, 12 June 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Goodfriend, Wind. “Amnesia in ’50 First Dates'” Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC., 4 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Mastin, Luke. “Amnesia – Memory Disorders.” The Human Memory. N.p., 2010. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.

Stigma on the Silver Screen

Mental illness affects an estimated 26.2% of Americans ages 18 and older in a given year. This translates to 57.7 million people in America with a diagnosable mental disorder in a year. In 2004, 32,439 people committed suicide and more than 90% of that number had a diagnosable mental disorder (http://www.thekimfoundation.org/html/about_mental_ill/statistics.html). Statistical analysis indicates a need for accurate portrayals of mental illness in film. However, several stigmas have been displayed throughout film since the early 1900s. Hollywood’s misuse of mental illness is a way to resonate with people who are neurotypical and do not understand the major negative role mental illness plays in people’s lives. Given that watching film is a common pastime that reaches a wide audience, movies should represent mental illness accurately instead of exploiting it for the sake of entertainment.

Though there have been films that have fairly depicted mental illnesses, more popular films do not. Using an explicitly mentally ill character creates tension among the audience when they are faced with a real-life person with mental illness. It is important that in films, people realize horror movies can exist without psychosis as the centerpiece of horror just as comedies can exist without amnesia as the centerpiece of comedy, and dramas can exist without bipolar disorder as the centerpiece of drama.

If presented correctly, mental illnesses in a film can fairly represent those with mental illness and create an equitable playing field of representation that helps those who do not suffer from mental illness understand how it affects many people’s lives. Unfortunately, Hollywood misrepresents mental illness and stigmatizes it heavily. Since films are such a large part of everyone’s lives, the myths about mental illness being propagated in films affect what and how we think about people with mental illness in every harmful way.

Since the 1900s, film has grown into a massive industry. The film industry is so widely appreciated, that even companies use film as a marketing platform. Using film in this way works because fans want to imitate their idols that they see in a film. Fans observe the manner in which their favorite actors consume a product and frequently attempt to mimic the actions of their idols (http://www.academia.edu/1611473/How_Movies_Affect_Peoples_Lives). When fans go so far as to imitate characteristics of portrayals they know are not real, it is not too absurdist to say that the way mental illness is portrayed heavily affects the way people perceive mental illness.

Works Cited

“Mental Disorders in America.” Mental Illness Statistics. The Kim Foundation, 2016. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.

Yuan, Loranne. “How Movies Affect People’s Lives.” Academia.edu. 1-2., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

Edited by: F.T. Moulton and Carla Andersen