Aradhya Sharma
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder characterized by problems with the regulation of emotions and thoughts, unstable interpersonal relationships and self-image, and impulsive and self-damaging behaviour (Psychology Today, n.d.). While borderline personality disorders have traditionally been the focus of thriller films, very few provide a fresh, realistic view of the life of an average borderline personality disorder patient the way that Welcome to me does. This paper will be analyzing how successful Welcome to Me was at accurately depicting borderline personality disorder and capturing the crux of the disorder.
Welcome to Me is about Alice Klieg, a woman diagnosed with borderline personality disorder living off disability benefits. The movie begins with Alice winning a lottery worth eighty-six million dollars and as a result, no longer needing her disability benefits. Therefore, she decides to discontinue her taking her medication and visiting her psychiatrist; although she does talk to him on the phone every once in a while when she feels the need to unload. In the midst of all of this, she also decides to use her lottery money to produce a television show about herself.
Unlike many Hollywood movies, Welcome to Me is one of the very few movies out there that accurately depicts the symptoms of a mental health disorder. She exhibits severe impulsivity - she spends millions on producing a show about herself, has spontaneous sex with different men, tells a man she loves him after only knowing him for four minutes and eventually ends up briefly in the psychiatric hospital after walking through a casino naked in what seems to be a dissociated state, another symptom of BDP. She also has very unstable interpersonal relationships, her mother, her ex-husband, and even her best friend. One symptom the movie depicts really well is emotional volatility. Alice is always either crying, screaming or throwing tantrums at someone on set. In one of the episodes, we see Alice happily singing one moment and crying the very next. Meanwhile, everyone else just sit, confused, as they watched her navigate through her emotions.
In a way, one could say that Welcome to Me is one of a kind; it is one of the first few films that give a realistic view of BDP, without limiting the disorder to just stalkers or those with criminal tendencies. ““The compelling storyline of the rageful, murderous person, who is presumed to have BPD, finds its way into movies a lot, but people with what we’d call BPD are hardly ever violent, except maybe towards themselves,” says Schlozman, Harvard Psychologist.” (Watkins, 2015).
However, despite the accurate portrayal of the disorder, the film fails in one important way: it never takes Alice or her mental illness seriously. Throughout the movie she is portrayed as stupid and crazy, she dresses in ridiculous, over the top attires, acts recklessly, and mispronounces simple words like “carbohydrates”. Her character is designed to be laughed at, and the movie very clearly aims to be a comedy. This takes away from the important cause of mental health. It may be possible that Welcome to Me was not intended to be a serious movie about mental illness, but then why use borderline personality disorder as the source of all of Alice's problems? Unlike many other films, Welcome to Me wasn't a film where the media or the audience believed that the protagonist had a mental illness, Welcome to Me informs its audience about Alice's condition within the first fifteen minutes and goes out of its way to its present the symptoms of BPD accurately. BPD wasn't just a silly accessory added to the main character, the main plot was intended to be about BDP and its effects, however, it just ended up being an insensitive comedy based on a very serious mental health condition.
Not once does the movie offer the audience a deeper look into Alice's thoughts or pain, some entry to try and understand her world. All we are provided are her outer world, and even that is written with the intent to make people laugh, not empathize. Overall I would say that with the existing stigma around mental health and Borderline Personality Disorder already so misunderstood, Welcome To Me is a very carelessly written plot that does nothing but perpetuate the stigma around mental health.
References:
Psychology Today. (n.d.), Borderline Personality Disorder. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/borderline-personality-disorder.
Watkins, Gwynne. (30 November, 2015). A Psychiatrist Explains What Kristen Wiig's 'Welcome to Me' Gets Right About Mental Illness. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kristen-wiig-welcome-to-me-borderline-120211911692.html.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder characterized by problems with the regulation of emotions and thoughts, unstable interpersonal relationships and self-image, and impulsive and self-damaging behaviour (Psychology Today, n.d.). While borderline personality disorders have traditionally been the focus of thriller films, very few provide a fresh, realistic view of the life of an average borderline personality disorder patient the way that Welcome to me does. This paper will be analyzing how successful Welcome to Me was at accurately depicting borderline personality disorder and capturing the crux of the disorder.
Welcome to Me is about Alice Klieg, a woman diagnosed with borderline personality disorder living off disability benefits. The movie begins with Alice winning a lottery worth eighty-six million dollars and as a result, no longer needing her disability benefits. Therefore, she decides to discontinue her taking her medication and visiting her psychiatrist; although she does talk to him on the phone every once in a while when she feels the need to unload. In the midst of all of this, she also decides to use her lottery money to produce a television show about herself.
Unlike many Hollywood movies, Welcome to Me is one of the very few movies out there that accurately depicts the symptoms of a mental health disorder. She exhibits severe impulsivity - she spends millions on producing a show about herself, has spontaneous sex with different men, tells a man she loves him after only knowing him for four minutes and eventually ends up briefly in the psychiatric hospital after walking through a casino naked in what seems to be a dissociated state, another symptom of BDP. She also has very unstable interpersonal relationships, her mother, her ex-husband, and even her best friend. One symptom the movie depicts really well is emotional volatility. Alice is always either crying, screaming or throwing tantrums at someone on set. In one of the episodes, we see Alice happily singing one moment and crying the very next. Meanwhile, everyone else just sit, confused, as they watched her navigate through her emotions.
In a way, one could say that Welcome to Me is one of a kind; it is one of the first few films that give a realistic view of BDP, without limiting the disorder to just stalkers or those with criminal tendencies. ““The compelling storyline of the rageful, murderous person, who is presumed to have BPD, finds its way into movies a lot, but people with what we’d call BPD are hardly ever violent, except maybe towards themselves,” says Schlozman, Harvard Psychologist.” (Watkins, 2015).
However, despite the accurate portrayal of the disorder, the film fails in one important way: it never takes Alice or her mental illness seriously. Throughout the movie she is portrayed as stupid and crazy, she dresses in ridiculous, over the top attires, acts recklessly, and mispronounces simple words like “carbohydrates”. Her character is designed to be laughed at, and the movie very clearly aims to be a comedy. This takes away from the important cause of mental health. It may be possible that Welcome to Me was not intended to be a serious movie about mental illness, but then why use borderline personality disorder as the source of all of Alice's problems? Unlike many other films, Welcome to Me wasn't a film where the media or the audience believed that the protagonist had a mental illness, Welcome to Me informs its audience about Alice's condition within the first fifteen minutes and goes out of its way to its present the symptoms of BPD accurately. BPD wasn't just a silly accessory added to the main character, the main plot was intended to be about BDP and its effects, however, it just ended up being an insensitive comedy based on a very serious mental health condition.
Not once does the movie offer the audience a deeper look into Alice's thoughts or pain, some entry to try and understand her world. All we are provided are her outer world, and even that is written with the intent to make people laugh, not empathize. Overall I would say that with the existing stigma around mental health and Borderline Personality Disorder already so misunderstood, Welcome To Me is a very carelessly written plot that does nothing but perpetuate the stigma around mental health.
References:
Psychology Today. (n.d.), Borderline Personality Disorder. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/borderline-personality-disorder.
Watkins, Gwynne. (30 November, 2015). A Psychiatrist Explains What Kristen Wiig's 'Welcome to Me' Gets Right About Mental Illness. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kristen-wiig-welcome-to-me-borderline-120211911692.html.
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