Skip to main content

I Hate Being Stigmatized, It’s Awesome

Samarth Menon

Kanye West has been one of the most prominent figures in pop culture in the 21st century, with his antics quite well known and well covered by the media. His erratic actions made him the center of media attention for quite a while, with his mental health being a topic of speculation for years. Earlier this year, Kanye finally spoke publicly about his mental health issues, talking about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Since then, representation of bipolar disorder and mental health in general by the media and the reception by audiences culturally has come under the scanner.

Since his publicized diagnosis, Kanye has been looked at as a figurehead for bipolar disorder. For his last album, he had the words “I hate being bipolar, It’s awesome” written on the cover as part of the artwork. Kanye’s actions have then become highly scrutinized, with his comments about racism and his political views often becoming the battleground for conversations centering around his mental health disorder. While many associated his comments with his disorder, many people with bipolar disavowed his behavior as standing in for the larger community; all in all, it has forced many to have an uncomfortable conversation about representation of real-life figures suffering from mental health disorders in the media.

It is well known that representation matters when it comes to normalizing these disorders. There has been a big push in TV, movies, music, and art to help humanize and understand mental health for the general population. However, for real-life figures like Kanye, or Kurt Cobain in the past, the pressures of representation are even more important. Kanye was often represented in the media as ‘crazy’ or a ‘lunatic,’ terms which have subsequently led to stigma around such disorders. His political comments after his diagnosis added to this association, clearly leading to even more pointed stigma as his personal behavior became even more tied to bipolar disorder. For many, Kanye’s behavior is now being perceived as the archetype for bipolar disorder. This is something which bipolar people have pushed back against, fighting back against the narrative that bipolar people are ‘racist’ because of their condition or prone to having problematic points of view.

Media representation can be important for people suffering from mental illnesses because it often helps them seek help and form support systems. Negative media attention can lead to people not being able to seek help, and further discrimination as well. Kanye himself spoke out about mental health concerns in the US, and how hard it can be to go through the entire process. This conversation about mental health can be seen as largely positive because coming from a public pop-culture icon, it helps reduce stigma. With the push for this conversation, Kanye has certainly helped many people reevaluate how they look at individuals with disorders, and how they let these diagnoses completely define the identity of the person.

Another complication which he has brought with this public diagnosis is whether or not an individual suffering from a disorder should be burdened with the pressure of being an ideal figurehead for all individuals with the condition. Mental health is a highly personal subject for many people. Should a person like Kanye be forced to stick to a particular image just to make sure he doesn’t bring a bad reputation to the larger bipolar image? It is difficult enough to deal with bipolar disorder, let alone being forced to consider these pressures as well. The media representing these individuals as representatives of the disorder do a disservice to all bipolar people by scrutinizing their every action through the lens of their illness. In a way, they dehumanize these individuals by reducing their entire identity to just the disorder.

Thus, the peculiar case of Kanye has forced many to rethink how representation should work in the media. How can one reduce stigma when representatives of mental illnesses for the media don’t always follow ideal behaviors which the general population should be comfortable with? Projecting Kanye as crazy seems like an easy way out for many, while actually treating him like the complicated figurehead he is seems like exactly the conversation which mental health specialists need to have now. 

References

Stuart, H. (n.d.). Media portrayal of mental illness and its treatments: What effect does it have on people with mental illness? Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16478286

Mental Health Representation Matters. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-real-superheroes/201809/mental-health-representation-matters

Iasimone, A. (2018, June 03). Kanye West Opens Up About Making 'Ye,' Being Diagnosed With a 'Mental Condition'. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8459006/kanye-west-mental-health-ye-album-interview

Fitzgerald, K. (2018, October 19). I'm Bipolar, and I'm Finally Done With Kanye West. Retrieved from https://www.complex.com/music/2018/10/im-bipolar-im-finally-done-with-kanye-west
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hardin's trauma

“After”, is a 2019 teen romantic drama directed by jenny gage that revolves around the love of  Tessa, an inexperienced teenage girl, with Hardin, a mysterious ‘bad boy’ . Hardin, the main male character, never had a secure relationship with his father. When Hardin was young, his father used to be an alcoholic with a lot of debt. When he was just eight years old, intruders broke into his home looking for his father for money, however, there was only Hardin and his mother. The intruders forced themselves on Hardin’s mother, and Hardin, who was sleeping then, came downstairs to see what was wrong. To Hardin’s shock, his mother was being raped by three men, one by one. Hardin’s mother told him to leave, however, one man forced him to watch everything.  I would assume that Hardin has PTSD as a result of this incident, and in this paper I will try to prove it. Symptoms of PTSD and scenes that prove Hardin had it: The person subsequently re-experiences the event through both intrusi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Analysing “Anniyan”: Dissociative Identity Disorder meets Personality Disorders

Pranaya Prakash In the movie “Anniyan” (Shankar, 2005), the protagonist Ramanujam Iyengar, also known as Ambi, is the host of his alters: Remo and Anniyan. While the focus of the movie is only on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), the host, Ambi, and the alter, Anniyan, show symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), respectively. In this blog post, I attempt to critically analyse the portrayal of DID and the possibility of the protagonist having comorbid Personality Disorders. While it is highly unlikely for individuals with DID to have comorbidities with Personality Disorders ( Antisocial Personality Disorder ), especially with OCPD and ASPD (Fink, 1991), it is interesting to think of the possibility and analyse the developmental trajectory of these individuals.  The movie starts with the character development of Ambi, a lawyer who is meticulous and very particular ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Psychological Depth of Good Will Hunting

Shorya Sehgal Good Will Hunting revolves around the interaction of two rebellious characters, Sean Maguire and Will Hunting, who, to a certain extent, help each other to conform slightly. Will is a brilliant but troubled, young adult. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), inferiority complex, defence mechanisms and attachment disorder. A mathematical genius, Will had a complete disrespect for authority and for his own considerable talents. As the story progressed, I was able to see Will’s personal growth as he developed an extremely strong relationship with his therapist, Sean. Sean had fought his own battles in life which had made him tough. This significantly helped Will and Sean to connect to each other on a deep, emotional level. What struck me the most in the movie is how coherently Will's journey is tied together. His transition from an inexpressive, troubled young guy to a mature and responsible one is shown very exquisitely. By the end, he was able to be...
Post a Comment
Read more