The Use of Cinematic Devices to Portray Mental Illness

Abstract

Creative practices that deal with the representation of mental illness potentially have significant social value and relevance; one of these practices is filmmaking and narrative cinema. A film that has recently increased awareness of mental health issues is Silver Linings Playbook (2012). It deals with a family coping with the return of their son, who is being treated for bipolar disorder. “The film gave a fresh face and voice to this issue,” said Patrick Kennedy, cofounder of the brain-research organization One Mind for Research (Levin). It garnered multiple awards with the lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence receiving an Oscar for her performance. She used this opportunity to speak out on issues around mental health, “It's just so bizarre how in this world if you have asthma, you take asthma medication. If you have diabetes, you take diabetes medication. But as soon as you have to take medicine for your mind, it's such a stigma behind it" (Paine). As a media form, ‘conventional’ cinema bears the weight of narrative and genre conventions, both inherent in audience expectations and the filmmakers’ desire to ‘entertain,’ whilst breaking even at the box office. Media critics of the anti-stigma discourse are increasingly bringing our attention to stigmatizing portrayals. However, there are few resources available for filmmakers regarding ‘how’ to approach faithfully portraying mental illness in the dramatic format of narrative cinema. This research therefore sets out to explore the representation of symptoms associated with mental illness in film, by citing research and commentary relevant to a body of existing films and including specific filmic devices. The findings reveal the fact that there is a significant need for further research into how filmmakers might more faithfully portray symptoms of mental illness in conventional cinema.

It Is Represented in the Media, So it Exists: Anxiety in the Movies ‘Eighth Grade’ and ‘Silver Linings Playbook’

“…But the results did not support the authors' hypothesis: they found that participants used more adjectives with positive connotations to describe the character Charlie than they had used to describe someone with anxiety and depression. Analysing fiction films and television programs, Middleton (2013) explores the symptoms that best represent mental illness (p. 180). In the study she conducted, she notes that one film that promoted increased awareness of mental health problems was Silver Linings Playbook (2012) -a film that will be analysed in this study-and concludes that there is a significant need on the part of filmmakers to create films that represent mental illness (p. 180).…”

“…Rössler (2016), in this line of thought, advocates that "media coverage of mental illness has been consistently negative and inaccurate" (p. 1251) and that "there is no country, society or culture in which people suffering any mental illness have the same social value as people without mental illness" (p. 1250). Middleton (2013) concluded that media representations have a strong impact and social relevance and that most filmic representations, being negative, strongly contribute to the increased stigmatization of illness (p. 180). However, he notes that representations can be positive if they suggest and show that mental health problems can be easily treated, thus contributing to decrease stigma (p. 180).…”

Cinema and Psychiatry’s relationship through time and its role in current medical education

“…Fortunately, times are changing from the films being criticized for the negative portrayal of psychiatrics and psychiatric conditions to the current times when an increasing number of them are able to provide realistic depictions of character styles and psychopathologic disorders, as well as personal and family dynamics, being reasonably accurate and therefore suitable for psychiatric teaching purposes. Cinema constitutes not only an important source of entertainment, but also an educational tool and a significant influence on people's attitude towards mental illness 7,8,16 .…”

“…Psychiatry practice requires skills such as critical and reflective thinking, clinical ethical reasoning, values-based practice and narrative skills, which can be aided by cinemeducation since it offers trainees a vicarious experience of mental illness and the opportunity for reflective observation, thus a deeper understanding of the subject 8,9,[14][15][16] .…”

Psychiatrische Kliniken als totale Institutionen in digitalen Spielen

“…Die Fixation auf ›realistische Reprä-sentationen‹ hat zweifelsohne ihre Berechtigung; letztlich sind es oftmals Missin den Medien finden sich bei Otto Wahl (1995) und der Glasgow Media Group (1996). Neuere Auseinandersetzungen von Klein und Lemish (2008), Middleton (2016) und Stollfuß (2018) knüpfen an jene Ergebnisse an.…”