Just a brief post from me as I’m on my way to Nashville to, among other things, meet up with the maestro for a screening of recent cult film ‘The Room’ at the glorious Belcourt Theatre. Meantime, I’d like to recommend the gutsy article at the Huffington Post from Glenn Close on the cinematic portrayal of mental illness. It’s a significant moment when anyone is prepared to criticise their own work, especially when that work is among the most successful and iconic they’ve done, but Close all but disassociates herself from ‘Fatal Attraction’ because the way it turned a human being with a personality disorder who needed help into a monster whom the audience was supposed to consider worthy only of being spectacularly murdered.
There are, as Close writes, notable exceptions (such as ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, above) to the superficiality or demonising portrayals of mental illness; but for the most part, the contours of the mind in the movies are subject to the same kind of over-simplification or plain ignorance that shows up every time the term ‘schizophrenic’ is used to describe ‘split personality’ (an entirely different condition) or, more disturbing, when ‘psychotic’ is used interchangeably with the accurate term given to the extremely rare phenomenon of ‘psychopathy’. According to the Native American scholar Joe Gone, 48% of US Americans have a diagnosable mental illness, and so Close’s points about ignorance not helping any of us are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m not an expert in any of this, although like most of us, have not been untouched by mental illness in my friends, my family, myself; I’d love to have a conversation here about the portrayal of psychological conditions in cinema – any particularly good examples of accuracy, or bad examples of egregious misunderstanding? If mental illness is frequently rooted in conflicted desire and expectation, and if cinema is about desire, is it possible that the movies might actually have the power to make us sick? Or to heal us?
16 responses so far.
1 Posts about Huffington Post as of October 22, 2009 » The Daily Parr // Oct 22, 2009 at 3:43 am
[...] on the Buffy round … still got it. # First place! By half a point! Nice quiz, @backroomcomics. Mental Illness and the Movies – thefilmtalk.com 10/22/2009 Just a brief post from me as I’m on my way to Nashville to, [...]
2 The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies // Oct 22, 2009 at 3:54 am
[...] the original: The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies Share and [...]
3 The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies | Filme Gratis // Oct 22, 2009 at 4:45 am
[...] from: The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the MoviesBookmark to: Tags: art, contours, cuckoo, demonising-portrayals, exceptions, flew, illness, ion, [...]
4 The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies | Gooodfor6-Music|Humor|Movies // Oct 22, 2009 at 4:53 am
[...] The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies Posted in Movies Tags: are-, contours, demonising-portrayals, most, Movies, [...]
5 Movies » The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies // Oct 22, 2009 at 5:16 am
[...] See a rest here: The Film Talk » Mental Illness as well as a Movies [...]
6 Catherine Grant // Oct 22, 2009 at 5:57 am
Thanks for recommending the Glenn Close article. Thought I'd flag up a related blog post of links to discussions about/studies of 'Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology at the Cinema' (http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.com/2009/09/...). Have fun in Nshville!
7 The_Baron // Oct 22, 2009 at 6:28 am
Hey, dudes. Searched the most recent posts and didn't see a mention of Paranormal Activity. Is there a chance there will be a review for this movie?
8 Phil // Oct 22, 2009 at 7:02 am
Not sure if this is the type of mental illness you had in mind, but I have heard “Away From Her” is a touching story dealing with Alzheimer's (one which I have found myself unable to watch due to personal experience w/ the disease).
If you are referring more to “psychosis” in movies, how about “The Fisher King”? Some people cringe just at the mere mention of Robin Williams, but I thought the movie handled the story compassionately.
I'll throw one controversial one out there: “Psycho”. While it could be argued that Norman Bates is the same murderous monster that Close argues against, but Hitchcock does not end his movie with the “villain” meeting his horrific come-uppance so the audience can applaud at his demise, but last seen in a hospital, presumably to get help/treatment (though sequels blow that up by exploiting the Bates' franchise created by the movie's popularity – not Hitchcock's fault, however).
9 Jett Loe // Oct 22, 2009 at 8:52 am
We'll see what we can do :)
10 kiley // Oct 22, 2009 at 9:33 am
not that this has all that much to do with the post, but if you like 'one flew over the cukoo's nest' (and i DO) dont' read the book. please. i beg you. It will change the movie for you and not in a good way…not in a good way at all.
but to further explore the question put before us – movies can make u sick. Especially if you're emotionally immersed and invested in what's happening before you. They can affect ur mood and seeing open displays of 'mental instability' can send u reeling in that direction. But i suppose they can 'heal' too, which is why I think it's good to keep a few back up movies to 'cleanse the mental palate' or act as a chaser after you watch the ones that are…'unstable'…like Quills…sheesh…
11 The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies | www.kotihost.com // Oct 22, 2009 at 12:33 pm
[...] posted here: The Film Talk » Mental Illness and the Movies Share and [...]
12 birgittaf // Oct 22, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Hi. I think “A beautiful mind (2001) about Nobel prize-winner John Nash, who suffered from schizophrenia gives a rather good picture of how the symptoms start. In the beginning you think that everything is actually happening to him, then you get to sense his doubts, his ambivalence…Of course some facts are altered, but you see a loveable, suffering, annoying, complicated genious of a man, struggling with his life as we all do.
13 OneLittleBird // Oct 23, 2009 at 2:50 am
hey dr
i dunno if i ever passed this on, but i've meant to on several occasions over the years – the poor testing and subsequent rewriting of, 'Fatal Attraction' Glenn Close mentions is recounted in some detail (in the context of a feminist critique) in Susan Faludi's book, Backlash. makes for disturbing reading.
the test preview reactions (as i recall) exposed not simply the overt misogynist exploitation of mental illness but of the audience wanting the nuclear family to remain firmly intact and Michael Douglas's character to be, to all intents and purposes, exonerated for his infidelity.
it makes for disturbing reading as she tracks the script changes. absolutely backs up Close's comments. and then some.
and something i didn't know, that a google search just offered,
“One powerful section of Backlash is devoted to the movie Fatal Attraction, which Faludi says both represented and reinforced backlash resentments and fears about women. Faludi paints director Adrian Lyne as a sexist bully who badgered and humiliated actresses, and went to great lengths to transform the originally feminist script for Fatal Attraction into a fable in which the uppity single woman is violently suppressed. In Lyne's most recent movie, Indecent Proposal, he takes a passing shot at Faludi – the camera zooms in on a copy of Backlash in the hands of a blonde and apparently air-headed secretary. In the next scene the secretary is shown vamping in front of the movie's hero. So much for feminist enlightenment.”
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_...)
there was an comment piece by Eliabeth Wurtzel in the Guardian earlier this year on the theme of female stalkers in film,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/fema...
hope you're enjoying Nashville
1LB
14 garethhiggins75 // Oct 23, 2009 at 8:11 am
Thanks for the comment one little bird – that's fascinating stuff. I suppose one of the upsides is that the 'backlash' today would be far more mainstreamed if a film such as 'FA' were to be made again on the same terms.
Nashville is great – am in Bongo East for a bit before heading down to TFT central for a screening.
15 OneLittleBird // Oct 23, 2009 at 9:50 am
hey dr
i dunno if i ever passed this on, but i've meant to on several occasions over the years – the poor testing and subsequent rewriting of, 'Fatal Attraction' Glenn Close mentions is recounted in some detail (in the context of a feminist critique) in Susan Faludi's book, Backlash. makes for disturbing reading.
the test preview reactions (as i recall) exposed not simply the overt misogynist exploitation of mental illness but of the audience wanting the nuclear family to remain firmly intact and Michael Douglas's character to be, to all intents and purposes, exonerated for his infidelity.
it makes for disturbing reading as she tracks the script changes. absolutely backs up Close's comments. and then some.
and something i didn't know, that a google search just offered,
“One powerful section of Backlash is devoted to the movie Fatal Attraction, which Faludi says both represented and reinforced backlash resentments and fears about women. Faludi paints director Adrian Lyne as a sexist bully who badgered and humiliated actresses, and went to great lengths to transform the originally feminist script for Fatal Attraction into a fable in which the uppity single woman is violently suppressed. In Lyne's most recent movie, Indecent Proposal, he takes a passing shot at Faludi – the camera zooms in on a copy of Backlash in the hands of a blonde and apparently air-headed secretary. In the next scene the secretary is shown vamping in front of the movie's hero. So much for feminist enlightenment.”
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_...)
there was an comment piece by Eliabeth Wurtzel in the Guardian earlier this year on the theme of female stalkers in film,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/fema...
hope you're enjoying Nashville
1LB
16 garethhiggins75 // Oct 23, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Thanks for the comment one little bird – that's fascinating stuff. I suppose one of the upsides is that the 'backlash' today would be far more mainstreamed if a film such as 'FA' were to be made again on the same terms.
Nashville is great – am in Bongo East for a bit before heading down to TFT central for a screening.
Leave a Comment