The most impressionable time in a person’s life is childhood. Childhood is where we learn the basic platform of knowledge that we build off of for the rest of our lives. So what if the stem of stigmatized mental illness starts to be learned at a young age through the movies we watch? What depiction of mental illness are children’s movie creating? Being so impressionable at a young age the presence of these stigmatisms in Walt Disney movies could cause a lasting impact on their views of people with these illnesses. A research project done by Andrea Lawson BA and Gregory Fouts PhD discuss the results from analyzing The Walt Disney Company and calculating the number of times mental illnesses were portrayed or discussed. Of the 34 animated films …show more content…
The negative vocabulary attached to mental illness in the media is one of the reasons the stigma still exists. The exposure to this terminology could be having a major impact on children by feeding them stereotypes and attitudes toward mental illness. It is words commonly found in these films like ‘crazy, ‘nutty’, ‘lunatic’, and ‘mad’ (Lawson, Fouts 2004) that make the reality of mental illness so hard for so many to comprehend, let alone admit that they have one and need help. Especially when these words are used to separate or segregate a certain character from the rest. No one wants to be thought of as ‘insane’, ‘a headcase’, or …show more content…
I grew up hearing these phrases in classic Disney films and I even catch them myself saying them from time to time. The reality is they are insensitive phrase for a very sensitive situation. Reflecting on my childhood I think about movies like Alice in Wonderland, which was discussed in the article, and I see the story in a new way. At a young age the Mad Hatter was just a funny comic relief when in fact even his name is insensitive to his situation. It makes me wonder how many of my childhood Disney movie favorite made fun of mental illnesses. In elementary school I remember always hearing the saying, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’ and I don’t agree with that statement because words are such a powerful tool and if misused they can do so much damage to a person emotionally and sometimes we don’t even realize the destruction or impact our words have caused until it’s too
However, these thoughts are not always true all the time. Sometimes Hollywood makes films to show the audience the truth contained in the movie. In the movie “Girl, Interrupted,” the filmmakers have balanced the grim realism of the book with audience-pleasing elements of entertainment in order to make the film more comfortable. The graphic representation of mental illness makes audiences feel its realities, while the use of attractive actresses captures the attention of the audiences and makes it easier to relate to the story.
It is a problem as real in the 21st Century as it was in the 19th Century and in earlier history, this problem is just presented in a different format i.e. through the media. Now, you may say ok, but what is the point. To you I say we as a society cannot acknowledge the presence of an individual’s “mental illness history” only when tragedies occur. While the past and the present portray mental illness in a negative way, in the past individuals suffering from mental illness were institutionalized. Today, individuals suffering from mental illness are no longer institutionalized; instead they are living in prisons and on the street. How mental illness is portrayed in the media and in education affects how individuals within a given society views mental health. Individuals with a mental illness are what I’m calling “double suffering.” Not only do they suffer from the illness itself, but they also suffer from the stigma of having such an illness. So, why does the negative portrayal of those who are suffering mental illness matter? It matters because we as a society cannot ignore mental illness as if it does not exist. We need to care; no longer can the screaming of their minds be
The sickness of insanity stems from external forces and stimuli, ever-present in our world, weighing heavily on the psychological, neurological, and cognitive parts of our mind. It can drive one to madness through its relentless, biased, and poisoned view of the world, creating a dichotomy between what is real and imagined. It is a defense mechanism that allows one to suffer the harms of injustice, prejudice, and discrimination, all at the expense of one’s physical and mental faculties.
There is an umbrella of different mental disabilities that are not shown on television. Common disorders are usually depression, anxiety, and less often, bipolar disorder (Bastién 12). Even more common, when disorders such as schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and antisocial personality disorder are portrayed on television, they tend to give off a negative connotation on mental disorders. Not all people with mental disorders are “idiosyncratic serial killers” like Hannibal or “grotesquely destructive characters” like Elliot on Mr. Robot (Bastién 13). If society is not developing a stigma of those with mental
...ing horror movies. Stephen King’s “Why We Crave Horror Movies” is a well written essay with convincing analogies, comparisons, and urban humor. With the use of logos, ethos and pathos in unison he easily wins his argument persuading his audience to believe his thesis, convincing normal people they are mentally ill. Kings argument convinces his readers not only that mental illness lies within us all, but that without horror movies we wouldn’t have a way to fix our mental state. If sanity is being normal, and insanity is madness, then how is it that being normal is watching insanity repeatedly?
Mental disorders are a common condition that many people and families have to live with and go through in their lifetime. The disorders are more common than one may think, and in fact they are all around us we just may not know. In the 1993 film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, the movie stars Johnny Depp who takes the role of a small-town man, Gilbert Grape, who takes care of his fatherless family of five. The movie shows many characteristics of autism, depression, and eating disorders. It shows examples of the life that those effected with the disorders have to live with every day.
What is madness? Is madness a brain disorder or a chemical imbalance? On the other hand, is it an expressed behavior that is far different from what society would believe is "normal"? Lawrence Durrell addresses these questions when he explores society's response to madness in his short story pair "Zero and Asylum in the Snow," which resembles the nearly incoherent ramblings of a madman. In these stories, Durrell portrays how sane, or lucid, people cannot grasp and understand the concept of madness. This inability to understand madness leads society to fear behavior that is different from "normal," and subsequently, this fear dictates how they deal with it. These responses include putting a name to what they fear and locking it up in an effort to control it. Underlying all, however, Durrell repeatedly raises the question: who should define what is mad?
...on.(2000,May 15). Negative Media Images of People with Mental Illness Impact America’s Perception: NMHA Survey Focuses on Entertainment and News Media. Retrieved June,16,2002, from http://mhnet.org/articles/nmha3.htm
Once upon a time there was a man named Walt Disney who opened up doors of unbelievable fascination.Fascination so indescribable and so irresistible that everyone especially the children, adored the experience it let them live. Even to this day, Disney is a major part of childhood. Through a princess who is saved by her knight in shining armor, to a girl with magical hair, a singing mermaid with desire to live her own life, and a girl biting a forbidden apple, Disney teaches us to wish upon a star. But what Walt Disney didn’t tell us was the real misconceptions lying underneath all the fantasies. Because Disney portrays whimsical fairytales that lure our heart and mind into a state of complete fascination, children all over the world are trying to live up to the Disney expectation, a false reality that’s impossible to meet.
“A common news account of mental illness, for instance, involves a sensationalized and violent crime in which an innocent person is killed by a mental health patient. The article is laced with graphic descriptions, emotional diction and a glaring headline. It also depicts the mentally ill person as devoid of social identity and dangerous, capricious, aggressive and irrational” (Fawcett, 2015). In prime time television “characters who were identified through behavior or label as having a mental illness were 10 times more likely than other TV characters to commit a violent crime – and between 10 to 20 times more likely to commit a violent crime than someone with a mental illness would be in real life” (Fawcett, 2015). Besides violence, there is also the inaccurate portrayal of mentally ill people never getting better. There is rarely ever a time where the recovery of a mentally ill person is shown. They often are not given any screen time that shows them integrated into society with jobs and friends (Fawcett,
History shows that signs of mental illness and abnormal behavior have been documented as far back as the early Greeks however, it was not viewed the same as it is today. The mentally ill were previously referred to as mad, insane, lunatics, or maniacs. W.B. Maher and B.A. Maher (1985) note how many of the terms use had roots in old English words that meant emotionally deranged, hurt, unhealthy, or diseased. Although early explanations were not accurate, the characteristics of the mentally ill have remained the same and these characteristics are used to diagnose disorders to date. Cultural norms have always been used to assess and define abnormal behavior. Currently, we have a decent understanding of the correlates and influences of mental illness. Although we do not have complete knowledge, psychopathologists have better resources, technology, and overall research skills than those in ancient times.
"Mental Illness Overview." Congressional Digest 81.1 (2002): 3. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Even though the production of Disney’s film The Frog Princess is a huge step forward to show the equality of all culturals and ethnicities, it just shows that racial components which were once overlooked by most parents and children are now a wide spread controversy. Giroux thoroughly explains the effect Disney films has on the youth, “Rather, it points to the need to address in meaningful and rigorous ways the role of fantasy, desire, and innocence in securing particular ideological interests, legitimating specific social relations, and providing the content of public memory” (Giroux 132).
and homophobic stereotypes in film have been noted and addressed, they have been “watered down” (Byrne, 2009). However films that are still showing negative representations of mental illness are still as relevant as ever. He puts these stereotypes into four distinct categories. When the treatment of mental illness is portrayed in a comedic manner it is very often based on inaccurate information, disregarding the honest representation of what's happening for the comedy value, misinforming the viewers. In his opinion more modern day films have intensified the humour. For example Me, Myself and Irene, a Farrelly Brothers film is the exact portrayal of inaccuracy. The main character Charlie, played by Jim Carrey, is diagnosed with ‘advanced delusionary schizophrenia with narcissistic rage’ but the character is represented as someone who has a split personality disorder which the author states is the main misconception about schizophrenia. Similarly to Wahl, Byrne is assertive in the fact that these misrepresentations are what is responsible for normalising the misconception that schizophrenia is the same as a split personality disorder.
Mass media “references to people with mental health problems found more than four in ten articles in the press used derogatory terms about mental health and nearly half of press coverage related mental illness to violence and crime” (Esseler, 244). This is causing for people to look down upon the mention of mental illnesses and many times ignore the importance of confronting this issue. Therefore the importance of removing this stigmatization is crucial. Education allows to make more informed decisions and then changing the perception of mental illness can lead towards policy changes toward the improvement of mental health (Sakellari,