Mental health in the entertainment industry has been a taboo topic for quite some time. Most people believe that movies such as Split (2016) and Me, Myself and Irene (2000) completely butcher the reality of mental health in people. However, there are a few movies that did receive praise for depicting mental health problems accurately, such as Black Swan (2010).
The film Black Swan (2010) is a dark and psychological thriller. It portrays the warped and tortured mind of Nina Sayers, who is played by Natalie Portman. Nina suffers from issues, such as obsession with perfection and an eating disorder, due to the immense pressure she goes through as a professional ballerina. Although she tries to create a facade to show everyone that she’s doing alright, the pressure becomes unbearable and leads her to physically harm herself. She continuously scratches her back, stops eating food and even stabs herself in the stomach as part of the performance to kill the White Swan. As we go through the movie, we can really see and begin to understand how striving for perfection can harm one’s mind striving for perfection can lead to immense pressure that harms one's mind. However, for every accurate depiction of mental health issues, there are wildly inaccurate ones.
One of the most infamous movies for having an inaccurate representation on mental health and mental illness is Split (2016). Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the movie’s plot revolves around Kevin, a person who has 23 different personalities, who kidnaps 3 teenage girls. This idea already sounds questionable as it associates people with mental disorders and unstable mental health with nefarious acts like kidnapping teenage girls. The director of Split, Shyamalan, is said to have consulted doctors about the dissociative personality disorder, which can be seen as Kevin switches from one personality to another. However, even if they did portray the disorder accurately, the violent nature shown by Kevin does NOT correctly reflect a mentally ill person. Furthermore, it doesn’t educate its audience on what it’s truly like to be living with a diagnosed person or a loved one. It only promotes fear, making people terrified of those who have a weak mentality and a mental illness.
Another movie that inaccurately represents mental health is Me, Myself and Irene (2000). This movie is directed by the Farelly brothers, Bobby Farelly and Peter Farelly. Although this movie is described as “black comedy”, the National Alliance on Mental Illness protested against 20th Century Fox Film, they erroneously advertised Jim Carrey’s character as a schizophrenic. Instead, his character, the non-confrontational Charlie, develops a dissociative identity disorder and, creates another personality named Hank, a person who is aggressive, mean and short tempered. This entire film misrepresents the two different illnesses as one and the same. Not only that but it also projects a false image that people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia are wild and out of control, and those with dissociative identity disorder can allow their personalities to work together and can simultaneously present themselves, which in reality, they cannot.
Nowadays, Movies and film on the topic of mental health are becoming increasingly well known in the field of entertainment. However, as you now know, there can be both good and bad representations of the subject. So next time you watch a film about mental health, remember to take anything they claim with a grain of salt.
Resources:
https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/movies-about-mental-health/ Retrieved on 13/09/2021
https://www.lehighcenter.com/celebrities/4-movies-that-inaccurately-portray-mental-health/ Retrieved on 13/09/2021
Published by October 10, 2021
Written by Laetitia Natalie ~ Edited by Fiona Xu ~ Graphics by Samridhi Verma
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