Films versus Cinematic Representations of Mental Illness - Assignment Example

Films versus Cinematic Representations of Mental Illness It can be extremely amazing the discussions that can emanate from the movie and film casts. It is very rare hearing discussions about the depictions of movies and their significance to various aspects of social life and the realities of life such as mental illness among other issues and conditions humans may be undergoing or battling with in their lives. Some of these debates can be very delicate thus explaining why they are often not in the limelight as subjects of discourse in the social circles. However, as much as these issues may not be in the limelight as subjects of discussion, in some quarters are perturbed people on the depictions of these movies of the conditions they have to contend with in their daily lives either as victims or as the people trying to control these conditions. The playbook Silver Linings has some interesting depictions about the issue of mental illness and has provisions for some unusual criticisms. With respect to film making and psychology there is a big difference especially between the filmmakers and the psychiatrics. The filmmakers have a compelling responsibility of creating catchy and theatrical stories that may be full of inaccuracies and distortions of the real situations of events for the accomplishment of the end goals. This paper seeks to explain how the film and the playbook by Russell provide a challenge to the traditional cinematic depictions of mental illness. The playbook by Russell has a bit by bit explanation with fair accuracy several elements that have connections to mental illness without prejudice against the mental illness victims, in an intricate and truly, in the artistic spirit and manner, which benefited the audience as well (Nadel & Negra, 2014). Traditionally, mental illness in the films and cinemas has been subject to depiction as a social evil. According to Forman (2013), this description of social evil comes from the portrayal of the mental illness patients as prospective criminals and causes of disturbance of the social peace and cohesiveness. These traditional depictions of mental illness have been creating a very grim picture of the mental illness and seemingly an attitude of looking down upon the mental illness patients. Mental illness patients have long been associated with extreme levels of violence an insensitive perspective that Russell’s play has disengaged from the viewpoints of people. Facio and Lara (2014) assert that the depictions of mental illness in the movies have caused the emergence of stigma against the mental illness patients and thus caused a difficulty in having a discourse on the menace of mental discourse in a free manner devoid of fear and prejudice. The popular mental illness in the traditional movies has not helped in dealing with the situation. The traditional stereotypes, which are still very widespread even in the modern day films have continued portraying the mentally ill people as violent individuals and perilous (Beck, 2013). The situation that has forced the victims of this illness has the fear of talking about the challenges they face for fear of falling out of favour of other people in the social circles where they belong. According to Wong, Stanton & Sands (2014), the play by Russell has created a fresh point of view of the mental illness depicting the mental ill people as humans that face some challenges and it has create a more human and kinder depiction of the mentally ill people. The depiction of Russell’s play has given an indication that mental illness is a different phenomenon from the personalities of the people who are suffering the illness. There is the human side of the victims and there is the mental condition and this acts as a point of raising awareness about the realities of mental illness as a distinction between the person who suffers the condition and the stereotypes people hold against them (Mirin, 2000). Therefore, the depiction of the mental illness as the author of the playbook puts it across shows that people are independent of their psychological status. This illumination has the potential of starting up a healthy debate on the mental illnesses and also show a progression from the traditional depictions of mental ill people to be perpetrators and symbols of aggression. According to The Guardian (2012), the Playbook Silver lining defies the traditional ways of filming trends that have depicted mental illness in a negative manner by providing educational insights on the issue of mental illness. It provides by example, the treatment the mentally ill people are supposed to get, which in a surprising way from the traditional ways is a depiction of a very good treatment of the mental illness patients. The playbook offers the real picture of how the mentally ill need to be treated and it does so in a very accurate and sensitive in a positive away from the degrading ways, which the mentally ill have been treated. The playbook humanizes the mentally ill departing from the traditional movie ways of demonizing the people within the social circles who suffer mental illness. In essence, the playbook shows that the mentally ill people have feelings of affection, humanity and sympathy just like any other normal humans. PR Newswire (2000), states that the traditional movies have treated the mentally ill as abnormal people with some kind of abnormal superpowers with high affinity to extreme aggression. However, in the playbook they are given the treatment of normal people with a lot of potential to live subject to proper diagnosis and management of their conditions. The playbook therefore offers a fresh breath of the mentally ill individuals depicting them as people of love needing care and humanity against the hostile prejudices labeled against them. Despite the imperfections of the playbook, it has several good lessons that are extensively helpful to people in deciphering the realities of mental illness against the hostilities it has been accorded in the traditional movies. The playbook therefore has extremely insightful lessons applicable in the real life situation for individuals in understanding the mental illness and its real effects in the real world away from the negativity and discrimination it has been accorded in the traditional cinemas and movies. Lopez (2013) asserts that in the traditional movies, mental illness has widely been treated as an exceptional condition that affects a very few select people in the society. This is far from the real world truth as depicted in the playbook. The playbook depicts mental illness as a condition affecting several people, which is a true position of the real situations that people contend with in the real world as mental illnesses are widely spread. The widespread nature of mental illness is because of the conditions people go through in life such as tragedies and the genetic passage of the mental illness, which form the realities of this condition in the real world. It is however not easy for many people to realize that they actually suffer mental illness while in real sense, very many people suffer mental illnesses. According to an excerpt from Sunday Times (2012), in the traditional movies, mental illness is not depicted as a treatable illness thus making many people to forego treatment for the mental illness. This is because of the misinformation among the people about mental illness and the stigma the people who are mentally ill are accorded. In the traditional society, mental illness is subject to ridicule, fear, marginalization and dismissal. However, the playbook offers an alternative view to this misinformed view and perspective of mental illness thus creating awareness and the need for people to have a paradigm shift in viewing and treating the mentally ill people differently from the seemingly disrespectful ways. The movie therefore stands apart from the majority of the traditional depictions of mental illness. However, it makes some mental illness aspects somehow romantic, which could be a distorted view of the realities and eventualities of mental illness but it helps in bringing out the possibility of a brighter side that may be existent despite the menace of mental illness. Mirin (2000) asserts that the most important factor depicted by the movie is that the mentally ill people are capable of being very resilient especially when two mentally unstable people fall in love. Love needs resilience and intricate understanding and for mentally ill people to fall in love, it is a show of extreme resilience that they are capable of just as the people who are mentally stable. The play and movie show a side of mental illness that is unusual which shows that despite the several struggles people grapple with in dealing with mental illness. According to Nadel & Negra (2014), the patients of mental illness are capable of going on with other aspects of life as ordinary people do such as contemplating about the future and having healthy interactions with other people in normal ways. Despite the depictions in movies that the mentally ill people are incapable of recovering from their condition, the movie and the playbook shows that the mentally ill people are not lunatics as perceived but capable of recovering from the condition. The diagnosis of a person with mental illness therefore does not mean the end of the prospective and the hopes of the person to recover and have productive lives. Therefore, the depiction given to the mental illness is that of a treatable condition with success levels to a high percentage of full recovery cases than the cases that fail to recover fully as long as there is early intervention. Facio & Lara (2014) suggest that in the film Me, Myself & Irene mental illness is used to create humor and in the comedy disguise of the comic nature of the film, the film addresses sensitive and critical societal issues. This film has confronted the realities of mental illness in a manner that uncomfortably brings out the truth about how people perceive mental illness and how they ought to view mental illness. Some of the great things about this film are that it brings to the fore the realities about madness and tries to bring out a connotation about the joy people experience about madness sometimes. In essence, it shows that from the cases of madness, unlike how they are depicted in the traditional films that those suffering these conditions have their fates sealed, it shows that there can be a better ending to madness. This better ending is specifically healing where the victims of madness get better and completely heal from madness. The film also indicates how in real life people have discriminatory tendencies and attitudes against mad people. People can be frustrated at the sight of mad people while some would find happiness in the depictions of madness exhibited by people having this condition. The film also indicates that the empathy suffered because of madness has some meaning and this shows that mental illness or madness is containable. Getting close to madness has the benefit of having to learn how to deal with social extremities that are depicted in different behaviors in which shows that it madness is not supposed to be a source of stigma against the mentally ill. Both the movies give a different notion about how mental illness has been used in movies in the traditional setting. In the traditional setting of the movies, mental illness has been used as an enriching factor to the plots of the movies and thus no consideration has been given to the image created of this problem and the victims of mental illness. The resultant effect of these casts has been a grim outlook of mental illness that gives inaccurate information and perspective of mental illness. Forman (2013) says that people draw a lot of information from the media, the movie casts, and this has made the perspectives of people become full of stereotypes drawn from these sources. This grim depiction of mental illness has been in the stigmatization of the mentally ill against people who suffer this condition and this has caused discrimination against the victims. The two movies dispel the misconstrued notions that mental illness victims cannot get better even after administration of treatment. This notion from the traditional movies has made people blind to the progresses made by the mentally ill people even when there is actual progress in their mental status, thus propagating false notions of treatment of mental illness being ineffective. In effect, the mentally ill are dissuaded from seeking medical intervention and making the cases of stigma to be on the rise. These two films have had a great impact of dispelling the long-term traditional views of mental illness in films and created fresh perspectives of the ability for successful treatment of mental illness and redressed the falsehood perpetuating views that mentally ill people are perennially violent. In both the films and the playbook, mental illness id depicted in the views that are relevant to the contemporary world in a ways that fosters a reshaping on the perspectives and ideologies of people with respect to mental illness. The movies, the playbook focus on the traditional, and the modern day views of the issue of mental illness with respect to the correct manner in which the mentally ill people should be viewed contrary to the stereotypes labeled against them. These perspectives offer refreshing points of view that illuminate on the realities about mental illness and create avenues for helpful and productive discourses about the mentally ill people in helpful ways rather than the condescending ways. There are several madness and mental illness issues and important lessons for people to learn from them against the overly critical and unforgiving stereotypes that have been perpetrated against the mentally ill especially in the movies. The playbook and the movies also offer a different perspective against the people perceived as normal and shows that it is not all the time that the normal people rational in their dealings in daily life. Therefore, the movies shed light into the issues of human rationality and morality, which differ from different films and real life circumstances. Mental illness in this light when looked at positively can bring forth positive changes in human perspectives and the societal interactions. Bibliography Antony I. Ginnane, “Where are we Now?: The Australian Film Industry in Mid 2009,” Metro Magazine 161 (2009): 130‐131. Beck, B 2013, Into the Cuckoos Nest: Silver Linings Playbook and Movies About Odd People, Multicultural Perspectives, 15, 4, pp. 209-212, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 May 2015. Bradley Cooper Finds Silver Linings Everywhere 2013, n.p.: National Public Radio, Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 May 2015. 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