The sheer number of portrayals of mental illness in fictional films, television programs and, in this case, literature is substantial and has been primarily responsible for perpetuating certain myths and stereotypes about mental illness. In most cases, people who are portrayed with mental illnesses are commonly exhibited as being violent and/or aggressive, but are also frequently depicted as eccentrics, seductresses (in the case of women), self-obsessives, objects for scientific observation, simpletons and/or failures. One or more of these such labels can be applied to the characters examined in both The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Holy
During the mid-1900`s, mental illnesses were rarely discussed in mainstream media due to negative stigma surrounding mental illnesses. As a result, characters in film rarely had mental disorders because of the directors` worries of audiences` reactions to how the illnesses were portrayed. Director, Edward Dmytryk, however, attempted to diminish the stigma through his film Raintree County (1957) with Susanna Drake Shawnessy`s mental instability. Elizabeth Taylor`s portrayal of Susanna, however, heightened the stigma surrounding mental illness as Susanna constantly acted immature and childlike.
Caleen Sinnette Jennings Queens Girl in the World is an bildungsroman, a coming of age story that takes place in a unique format. Queens Girl in the World is about Jacqueline Marie Butler a 12 year girl who lives on Erickson Street, Queens, New York. It’s summer 1962 and we watch her journey over the next year or so. She experiences love, conflict, ignorance, hatred, violence, and many of the experiences that can happen in the life of a preteen in the sixties as well as to any of us. The many characters depicted, the moments shared made myself and the audience experience laughter, sorrow and everything in between. Queens Girl in the World beautifully blends climatic and episodic structure by using climatic aspects such as a late plot, limited characters scenes and locales and episodic features such as multiple stories that follow a plot of theme.
In 1978, Susan Sheehan took an interest in Sylvia Frumkin, a schizophrenic who spent most of her life in and out of mental hospitals. For more than two years, Sheehan followed Sylvia around, observing when Sylvia talked to herself, sitting in on sessions with Sylvia’s doctors, and at times, sleeping in the same bed as Sylvia during her stay at the psychiatric centers. Through Sheehan’s intensive report on Sylvia’s life, readers are able to obtain useful information on what it’s like to live with this disorder, how impairing it can be for them, and the symptoms and causes to look out for; likewise, readers can get an inside look of how some mental hospitals are run and how a misdiagnosis can negatively impact someone’s life.
Madness: A History, a film by the Films Media Group, is the final installment of a five part series, Kill or Cure: A History of Medical Treatment. It presents a history of the medical science community and it’s relationship with those who suffer from mental illness. The program uses original manuscripts, photos, testimonials, and video footage from medical archives, detailing the historical progression of doctors and scientists’ understanding and treatment of mental illness. The film compares and contrasts the techniques utilized today, with the methods of the past. The film offers an often grim and disturbing recounting of the road we’ve taken from madness to illness.
Journalist, Anna Quindlen in her essay, “The C Word in the Hallways,” argues that the ignorance that surrounds mental health needs to end and the idea of treatment needs to become more conventional. She supports her claim by first illustrating a real life example about two boys that murdered people because of their mental illnesses, then narrating fact and statistics about the trends of mental illness, then defining stereotypes that boys face regarding talk therapy, and finally including details about what could have been the outcome of the two boys if treatment was effective. Quindlen’s purpose is to educate the audience about the pathology of mental illness in order to end the stigma and motivate the audience to take action to help young
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is the story of a woman descending into psychosis in a creepy tale which depicts the harm of an old therapy called “rest cure.” This therapy was used to treat women who had “slight hysterical tendencies” and depression, and basically it consisted of the inhibition of the mental processes. The label “slight hysterical tendency” indicates that it is not seen as a very important issue, and it is taken rather lightly. It is also ironic because her illness is obviously not “slight” by any means, especially towards the end when the images painted of her are reminiscent of a psychotic, maniacal person, while she aggressively tears off wallpaper and confuses the real world with her alternative world she has fabricated that includes a woman trapped in the wallpaper. The narrator of this story grows obsessed with the wallpaper in her room because her husband minimizes her exposure to the outside world and maximizes her rest. Academic essayists such as Susan M. Gilbert, Susan Gubar, and Elaine Showalter have a feminist reading of the story, however, this is not the most important reading. The author experienced the turmoil of the rest cure personally, which means that the story is most likely a comment on the great mistreatment of depression, hysteria and mental disorders in general. Despite the claims of Gilbert, Gubar, and Showalter that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is solely feminist propaganda, their analysis is often unnecessarily deep and their claims are often unwarranted, resulting in an inaccurate description of a story that is most importantly about the general mistreatment of psychosis and the descent into insanity regardless of gender.
Mental illnesses had not been recognized as a medical problem until the late 18th century. They are usually considered “familial disorders” because many people have gone through the experience before with a parent, sibling, or child. In this book, Mark was the only person in his fa...
Redfield Jamison explores the compelling connection between mental disorders and artistic creativity. Artists have long been considered different from the general population, and one often hears tales of authors, painters, and composers who both struggle with and are inspired by their "madness". Jamison's text explores these stereotypes in a medical context, attributing some artists' irrational behaviors to mental disorders, particularly manic-depressive illness. In order to establish this link, Jamison presents an impressive collection of artists who have suffered from mental illness, whether diagnosed correctly during their lifetime or discovered in hindsight. Well organized and interesting, Jamison provides an ideal introduction to this still
In Michael Cunningham’s The Hours Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown and Clarissa Dalloway’s lives have a common undertone. In each story the three women are forced to confront one of society’s most controversial topics: mental illness. Mental illness is such a controversial topic mainly in part from fear. Many people in today’s society fear the unknown, they fear that in which they do not fully understand; mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia. Michael Cunningham shows a different side of mental illnesses using Virginia, Laura and Clarissa to convey his message: Mental illness is something that is not a one dimensional kind of issue.
“I have found it to be seductively complicated, a distillation both of what is finest in our nature, and of what is most dangerous” (Jamison, 1995, p.5). In “An Unquiet Mind”, Kay Redfield Jameson takes the readers through her experience dealing with manic-depression. Kay was happy and well rounded during her childhood. She developed interest for poetry, school plays, science, and medicine, and was strongly encouraged by her parents. She was surrounded with good friends, a close-knit family, and great quantities of laughter. Kay’s sister, who was 13 months older, described her as “the fair haired one” in the family, whom friends and schoolwork came too easily.
...ea. "Film and Mental Illness: Fetishisation, Romanticism or Misinterpretation?"Diorama. Diorama, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
Most people gather what they know about mental illnesses from television and film. Unfortunately these media portrayals are inaccurate and create stigma. They depict people suffering from mental illnesses as different, dangerous and laughable. Characters are often addicted to drugs or alcohol, are violent, dangerous, or out of control. Horror film characters like Norman Bates in Psycho, Jack Torrance in the Shining, or Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs associate the typical 'psycho- killer' with people who suffer from a mental illness. But dramas and horror films are not the only film genres that create stigma. Comedies like What About Bob and many others not only stigmatize, they also make fun of mental illnesses and the people who suffer from them. This paper will discuss how the film Me, Myself & Irene is an inaccurate, offensive and stigmatizing portrayal of an individual suffering from schizophrenia. It also discusses what can be done to counteract the stigma created by these types of films.
Instead, the film cherry-picks frightening or exaggerated elements of a spectrum of disorders, including schizophrenia, delusional disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This makes Laeddis an embodiment of a combination of the most frightening psychological disorders. While there are certain aspects of Laeddis’ psychosis that are accurate in terms of an individual disorder, these elements do not add up to a realistic portrayal of mental illness. This combination of fact and fiction also extends to the film’s treatment of institutionalization, psychological therapy, and the connection between violence and mental illness. The exaggerations and distortions of Shutter Island serve one purpose, they entertain the audience. However, this type of entertainment often comes at the cost of perpetuating the negative stigma and misinformation that surrounds mental illness in modern society. While the film may entertain audiences with its dramatic twists and turns, Shutter Island is a part of a trend of inaccuracies and exaggeration of mental illness in modern
Elizabeth Abel writes in ‘Women and Schizophrenia’ that Antoinette is schizophrenic because of her “obsessive thought and behaviour coupled with the inability to take real initiative”. However we can argue that Antoinette plays a part in actively seeking relief and in actual fact gains control by the acknowledgment of her mother’s madness. Antoinette desperation to avoid her mother’s comparisons in turn gives Antoinette a sense of control and power. I would argue that Antoinette uses her acknowledgment of her madness in order to gain a sense of agency. Rhys uses Antoinette Identity as ‘the woman in the attic’ to incorporate the historic discourse of madness to access power only reserved for men in the 1800’s.Phyllis Chesler who is considered a voice of the modern feminist movement states that madness can be seen as symbolic “acting out of the devalued female roles or the total or partial rejection of one’s sex-role stereotype” It is clear that Antoinette views her mother as devalued………TO BE
Girl Interrupted is a film about a young woman, Susanna Kaysen, who voluntarily enters a psychiatric facility in Massachusetts. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a portrayal of psychiatric care in the 1960’s. The film is based on the memoirs of Susanna Kaysen and her experiences during an 18 month stay at a mental institution. During her visit, Susanna is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The film depicts psychiatric care, diagnoses, and treatments from a different era.