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 21 st 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...

In 1997, Billy Milligan was arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbing and raping multiple women in Ohio, USA. He was the first person to successfully use multiple personality disorder as an insanity defence in the courtroom. The policemen reported evidence of him 'talking to different people at different times' when he was arrested. One of the rape victims even told the lead investigator that Milligan had a German accent, even though he was born and raised in the United States. Another victim commented that 'He was sometimes so nice to me, that I would consider dating him in a different circumstance." All of these supporting evidence which pointed to his dissociative identity led the judge to resolve the plea to insanity in his favour. Even though this was a rare instance, the case of Billy Milligan raised an essential question regarding the 'alter-in-control' insanity plea raised by people with multiple personalities. They claim tha...