The Representation of Mental Illness Within Film - Dissertation Example

? The Representation of Mental Illnesses within Films of the Visual Arts and Film Studies of the Concerned July 26, The Representation of Mental Illnesses within Films Introduction There is no denying the fact that even in the contemporary times when people tend to be more receptive of and tolerant towards mental illnesses, still the people suffering from the mental illnesses tend to be subject to stereotyping and prejudice to some extent. The popular cinema happens to serve two important purposes that are projecting the salient mass perceptions towards some individuals or groups and on the other hand informing the target audience regarding the factual information pertaining to some sections of the society. In that context, when it comes to people suffering from mental illnesses, the cinema has certainly furnished the masses with the content associated with these two expectations. That is on the one side cinema has served an important role regarding informing the masses about the facts associated with mental illnesses and on the other hand cinema has also played a big role in ossifying the stereotypical notions pertaining to the individuals and groups suffering from mental illnesses (Wahl, 1995, p. 5). It goes without saying that the way mental illnesses get represented and reflected upon in films is an issue of paramount importance as it pertains to the well being and representation of a salient section of the human population (Hinshaw, 2007, p. 202). In that context the role played by cinema in the representation of mental illnesses has been mixed and ambivalent. Mental Illnesses and Expectation from Cinema It is a fact that cinema does play a pivotal role in constructing and shaping the popular mass perceptions (Rafter, 2000, p. 62). Hence, before delving on the larger issue of the representation of mental illnesses in cinema or films, I will be more appropriate to delineate the ideal expectations that an informed individual could have when it comes to the representation of mental illnesses in films. It is a fact that there is a dire need to change and alter the public perceptions about people suffering from mental illnesses, if one goes by the general public attitude towards mentally ill people. Thereby, it is expected from cinema to give way to a salubrious climate in which not only the issues related to mental illnesses get openly discussed, but which also comes heavily on the generalized stereotypes usually associated with people ailing from mental illnesses (Rogers & Pilgrim, 2005. P. 36). For the first appropriate step in this direction will be to enhance public knowledge regarding the mental illnesses. This is because people tend to garner the knowledge and information regarding the issue of mental illnesses from a wide range of sources that could be the first hand experience, news media and print literature and the characters suffering from mental illnesses as they are represented in films or stage presentations. It is also true that it gets really difficult for cinema to facilitate a factual portrayal of the characters suffering from mental illnesses, when the popular perception tends to be so replete with standardized stereotypes. Hence, many a types, the films are in a way pushed into perpetuating the negative stereotypes about mental illnesses, shaped to a large extent by the already existent popular stereotypes and the audience expectations about the way they want to see mentally ill people being depicted in them (Paquette, 2003). Yet, it is also true that all the creative professionals actively associated with film making, are they directors, producers, actors, script writers or editors, could indeed play a positive and realistic role in reframing the way people think and perceive mental illnesses (Chinball & Petley, 2002). By doing so they will not only be setting the scores correct regarding an issue that is of immense public importance, but as have many films shown, the films could still accrue box office records by depicting the mentally ill characters in a realistic and factual way. A Historical Context In a historical context, when it comes to the depiction of mentally ill characters, the films have more than being factual and restrained (Brown, 2003). There is no dearth of movies affiliated to the old school that were stereotypical and unjust in the representation of characters suffering from mental illnesses (Brown, 2003). For instance, the 1901 movie Off to Bloomingdale’s Asylum that was distributed in England as Off to Bedlam had been peculiarly stereotypical and regimented in its depiction of mentally ill people (Gabbard, Gabbard & Gabbard, 1999). The movie Off to Bloomingdale’s Asylum resorted to more than generous amounts of psychological trickery and surrealism in its depiction of mentally ill characters that tended to be abjectly unrealistic and a highly fictionalized account of mental illnesses (Gabbard, Gabbard & Gabbard, 1999). The movie cashes in on the traditional theme of escaped lunatics and ends with the return of the mentally ill characters back to the mental asylum they were earlier confined to. The whole concept that this movie resorts to is to make the target audience laugh over the travails of a few mentally ill characters. It goes without saying that the director of the Off to Bedlam blatantly resorted to a misplaced and stereotypical perception of the mentally ill characters to facilitate the audience with hearty comedy and laugher. Though the intentions of the director associated with this movie may have been benign and unintentional, yet this movie amply testified to the fact that in a historical context, the cinema had been more than loop sided in its depiction of the mental illnesses and in that context the movies like Off to Bedlam in a way concretized and regimented the future of the way mentally ill characters were to be presented in the films. When it comes to the representation of mental illnesses in films, it will be apt to cite one other old time movie that is the 1906 movie Dr. Dippy’s Sanatorium. Dr. Dippy’s Sanatorium is again evincive of a highly ambivalent attitude of the Western cinema towards psychological and psychiatric maladies, which is perceptible in the entire history of the Western cinema (Gabbard, Gabbard & Gabbard, 1999). Though this film tends to be somewhat primitive in its depiction of mental illnesses, yet, it revolves around a theme that gets oft repeated in the films even in contemporary times (Gabbard, Gabbard & Gabbard, 199). In Dr. Dippy’s Sanatorium, the mentally ill characters are presented as being childish and juvenile who are beyond the control of the director of the sanatorium. It also does need to be mentioned that this film tends to be abjectly stereotyped in its depiction of psychiatrically challenged characters. In that sense it would certainly not be wrong to say that the movie Dr. Dippy’s Sanatorium happens to be a factual embodiment of the stereotyped depiction of the mentally ill patients that had been common in many of the 19th century films. The irony is that the tendency to stereotype that was evinced by the old school movies to a large extent impacted the later day cinema. For instance the 1974 Billy Wilder’s remake of the Front Page also resorts to the old formula of contriving readily recognizable mentally characters, adhering to a plot revolving around ridiculous and hilarious action, without depicting any inclination to be factually true or politically correct about the issue of depicting mental illnesses in a realistic and benign manner. The whole purpose of these movies seemed to be to resort to placing the mentally ill characters in a recognizable and stereotyped background to be able to generate a slapstick and comical experience for the eventual audience. The overall premise before these old school movies seemed to be to use the psychologically and psychiatrically challenged people as ridiculous subjects highly suited to a comedy. More Recent Films and the Depiction of Mental Illnesses Consider the fact that the contemporary audience tends to be more informed about the mental illnesses; one does expect the more recently released movies to retain a more benign attitude about the mental illnesses. Yet, the irony is that even the contemporary movies tend to cash on the extreme attitudes usually ascribed to the mentally ill people like ridiculousness, comedy, farce and extreme violence (Pirkis, Blood, Francis & McCallum, 2006). No wonder that the contemporary films do ascribe to a somewhat diluted version of the mental illnesses, yet, below the surface they do tend to depict the mental illnesses in a poor light. It is not that the contemporary film makers do not have a correct perception of the problems and issues faced by the mentally ill people, but, the thing is that they do rely to build on the inherent drama and sensationalism inherent in the films by opting for a stereotypical and misplaced notion of the mentally ill characters (Pirkis, Blood, Francis & McCallum, 2006). The comedy, hilarity, abstruseness and violence so typically associated with the mentally ill characters right from the times of Shakespeare are exploited by the contemporary script writers and directors to eke out a sense of exoticness and entertainment. The 1996 movie Trigger Happy tends to present a glorified version of a convict given to serial killing, who had actually escaped from psychiatric custody (Lichtenfeld, 2004). Thereby the director of this movie could be ascribed the intentions of stereotyping the people suffering from mental illnesses by trying to glamorize the violent attributes of a single character. The 2000 film Myself and Irene tries to extract jest and mirth from the dilemma of a mentally challenged character who has a split personality, one of which is violently aggressive and the other tends to be gentle and humble (Harris, 2004). The central character in this film is shown to be resorting to abjectly repulsive and filthy acts that are no doubt ascribed to his mentally challenged status (Harris, 2004, p. 84). Thereby, in this way the movie tries to consolidate the larger public perception that people suffering from mental illnesses deserve to be ridiculed and laughed at. It is certainly true that many of the modern day movies dealing with mental illnesses do try to be more accurate and realistic about the portrayal of mental illnesses, yet while watching these movies one simply could not help arriving at the conclusion that these films tend to present the mentally ill characters as the ode one out and their plot tends to focus on the one single attribute of a particular character, which is one’s mental illness, to eke out a sense of suspense, drama, engagement and interest. There is hardly any movie based on mentally ill characters that happens to present mental illness as one aspect of a person’s personality and tries to do justice to the larger personality of the character being focused on. However, there do are some movies that are more friendly and realistic in the depiction of mentally ill characters. On such movie is the 2001 release A Beautiful Mind. The depiction of the central figure in the movie that is the mathematician John Nash as an aloof, unfriendly, awkward and obsessive character does confirm to the symptoms particularly evinced by people who eventually tend to develop schizophrenia in the long run. However, instead of debasing and caricaturizing the mental illness of this character, the movies moves ahead to focus on the larger struggle of the character, that involves his talent in the field of mathematics, his efforts to lead a normal family life and his ability to eventually come to terms with his mental illness (Will, 2002). Such movies as the like of A Beautiful Mind could do much to shatter the stereotypes associated with the mentally ill people and could play a pivotal role in making the masses understand that many mentally ill people do happen to retain a sense of personality and talent, irrespective of the medical and psychiatric challenges being faced by them. Conclusion Its high time that the world of cinema should not only try to undo the damage that it has done to the mentally ill people by stereotyping and caricaturizing them, but should also realize that presenting mental illnesses in such manner is indeed inhuman and cruel. The films could play a major role in altering and changing the mass perceptions about the marginalized and sidelined segments of the society. On the other side, the movie goers also need to be watchful about such trends in the contemporary cinema that present the mentally ill people in a faulty and wrong manner and style. References Brown, S. (2003). Crime and Law in Media Culture. Philadelphia: Open University Press. Chinball, S., & Petley, J. (2002). British Horror Cinema. London: Routledge. Gabbard, G.O., Gabbard, K., & Gabbard, G. (1999). Psychiatry and the Cinema. New York: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Harris, R.J. (2004). A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hinshaw, S.P. (2007). The Mark of Shame: Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change. New York: Oxford University Press. Lichtenfeld, E. (2004). Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie. West Port, CT: Praeger. Paquette, M. (2003). Real Life and Reel Life. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 39(2), 47. Pirkis, J., Blood, R.W., Francis, C., & McCallum, K. (2006). On-Screen Portrayals of Mental Illness: Extent, Nature and Impacts. Journal of Community Health, 11(5), 523-541. Rafter, N. (2002). Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rogers, A., & Pilgrim, D. (2005). A Sociology of Mental Health an Illness. Maidenhead: Oxford University Press. Wahl, O.F. (1995). Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Will, G.F. (2002, January 14). John Nash’s Renunciation: The Book and the Movie will Increase Empathy for the Mentally Ill. Newsweek, 68-69. Read More