Bhavya Dixit
Warning: Spoilers.
Cinema has been described as the most influential form of
media, responsible for communicating information on a large scale. While trying
to communicate certain kinds of information, the conveyances gets clouded by
stigmas. Stigma is defined as “a sign of disgrace or discredit, which sets a
person apart from others”. It is a serious problem faced by those experiencing
mental health issues. Cinema often aids stigmatization towards this population.
Horror specifically, more than any other genre, has been directly implicated in
this regard. People with mental illnesses are portrayed in an extremely negative
light that is not representative of reality. There are a few films that do
justice when portraying mental health, but the majority of 21st
Century films paint an unfair picture. (Goodwin, 2013) We gather from the
research conducted by Goodwin that out of the 55 movies analysed, horror as a genre
is repeatedly linking psychosis with dangerous behaviours. This blog will take
the movie Black Swan as an example to analyse the kind of
portrayal of mental health concerns. It will briefly compare the movie with
another production; Gothika to contrast the two.
The plot revolves around a production
of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet. To secure her role as the white
swan in the production, Nina (Natalie Portman) gets into character which eventually
leads to her own downfall. The film shows us how Nina gets so mentally and
emotionally engrossed in her character that her mental health is in shambles. Lily,
her rival in the movie constantly poses a threat to her position or so she
assumes. She starts suffering from anorexia as is seen when she stares at a
grapefruit and turns away the slice of cake her mother gives her in order to
celebrate her getting the role, she is also bulimic as she keeps running to the
washroom to throw up. The movie shows Nina in a series of scenes that keep
shifting between reality and Nina’s delusions. She constantly hallucinates, hears
voices. She even visualizes herself developing webbed feet and feathers and
turns into the swan. She shares an unhealthy relationship with her controlling mother
who was a former-ballerina-turned-stage-mom is shares an. They often explode
into fights and violence. Nina, succumbing to all the stressors and lack of
diagnosis is often shown compulsively harming herself to become the Black Swan
she is trying so desperately to perfect. (Black Swan, 2010) Black Swan
paints a non-grotesque, almost vulnerable picture of Nina that does not averse
the audience to her and instead draws sympathy. It shows how Nina’s
schizophrenia which could have been genetically inherited affects her daily
functioning and how its comorbidity with eating disorders affects the
character. The scene where Nina kills herself thinking she is murdering her nemesis
Lily is where her schizophrenia comes into play full-blown.
On the other hand, is Gothika,
that portrays the mental health difficulties faced by Halle Berry’s
character who plays a psychiatrist in a film that flips to accuse her character
of murder. The difficulties are a metaphor for women empowerment which encourage
her portrayal as a hope for sanity in an oppressed world. However, by
intertwining psychosis with supernatural depictions the film is not stigmatizing
to a large extent but, such depictions trivialize the experiences of those with
actual mental health problems. Their extremely real issues are painted in a way
that projects them as supernatural issues. This relates to the faulty viewpoint
of mental health which is obsolete now and should not be used as a background
when depicting mental health concerns. (Gothika, 2003)
The way media can create stigma it also has the power to positively
influence perceptions in challenging stereotypes and stigmas concerning mental
health. Therefore, it is extremely important
for the mental health services to work with media in order to keep the
depictions as sensitive and real as possible. Mental health advocacy groups
should be actively involved to call out productions that create false beliefs
just to add to the element of horror. Further, to tackle problems from the root,
children’s films that deal should be targeted as well to avoid mistaken adult
beliefs.
References
- Black Swan. (2010). [Motion picture]. USA: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Cross Creek Pictures, Protozoa Pictures, Phoenix Pictures, Dune Entertainment
- Goodwin, John. (2013). The Horror of Stigma: Psychosis and Mental Health Care Environments in Twenty-First-Century Horror Film (Part II). Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. 50. 10.1111/ppc.12044.
- Kassovitz, M. (2003). Gothika [Motion picture]. USA: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Warner Bros. Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment.
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