Hollywood and The Bigger Picture

[Summer Rose]

My daughter asked me to watch a film with her the other day. It was one of her favourite movies that I had somehow missed called Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was a well scripted, touching, coming of age story that in my opinion dealt sensitively and fairly accurately with mental health and other tricky adolescent issues. My daughter said she loved the film because one of the main characters " is like me".

Like me. The words rolled around in my mind. It occurred to me that there are few film or TV characters that are actually like my beautiful girl, who suffers from anxiety and OCD. It also dawned on me that some of the characters currently on the screen who do have OCD are almost insulting. Take Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, for example. He is a walking, talking billboard for the lighter side of autism and OCD but, in my opinion, his character does nothing to contribute to the community's greater understanding of what these conditions are really like to live with.

I think it's fair to estimate that the global television and movie industry makes billions of dollars annually telling stories about characters with mental health conditions. Oscar winning blockbusters such as, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ordinary People, Silver Linings Playbook and a Beautiful Mind have certainly played a role in raising awareness, but is that enough?

Given that inaccurate film representations of mental illness can profoundly contribute to stigma and the reinforcement of unhelpful stereotypes, does the industry have a community obligation to inform? Or is just entertainment? Or does anything designed to raise awareness do some good? Love to hear what you think.

[Summer Rose]

Welcome back romantic_thi3f!

I thought we had lost you for awhile there. I am so glad you popped back in, after all it was you who kicked it all off! Thank you for contributing to this discussion, particularly as you bring the perspective of a Youth Champion.

The black and white portrayals of people with mental health conditions is a concern I share. Real life experience is much more nuanced and complicated that what we tend to see on our screens. I think Parks and Recreation actually does it well with one of it's characters named Chris. He is a happy go lucky guy that can spiral into depression. The way his character's depression is depicted is atypical, meaning he's not always sad. I like it that he's different.

I think the "black and white" issue you raise also affects the way the stories of fictional characters' mental health journeys and lives are told. I would like to see a fictional character with mental health issues fall in love and successfully maintain a relationship. Or see a character that seeks treatment and actually reaches recovery. Perhaps these shows exist. You mentioned you're binge watching a lot of shows relevant to our topic, maybe you can enlighten us?

I can't thank you enough for sharing your story about how you and your friend interact and can see the funny side of bipolar. I think there's a spin-off thread for you or anyone else who's game, When is it okay to laugh at mental illness?

I'd take it on but I'm flat out with our discussion about all things film/TV and mental health and acutely aware there are people waiting for replies. I'm having trouble keeping up but will be coming back soon x

[White_Rose]

Thanks Sez. I knew it as soon as you told me.

Mary

[White_Rose]

Hello Pepper

I was trying to say, obviously very poorly, that the people who teach our children are the same as the rest of the population. I know there are great exceptions and absolutely wonderful teachers. If you are brought up to believe various stereotypes and attitudes and you are the teacher of the next generation, how do you make that leap from one mindset to another, especially if no one has has challenged you or you have not had contact with someone with a MI or had a MI yourself?

How do you recognise inconsistency in your own behaviour towards disadvantaged groups when 'everyone' else is ignoring the problem, blaming the victim mentality, too afraid to speak out, or actually enjoy the feeling of superiority when they consider others. And of course literature, the press, all the avenues of making a difference are swamped by entertainment and selected news stories which reinforce the belief that MI is almost a crime and certainly the source of violence. OK that may be an exaggeration but you get the idea.

The films we have talked about portray MI in many different ways so how does anyone make an informed decision about the accuracy of the content. It's very hard because swimming against the tide is exhausting. So we give up. We are the lived experience group but who wants to talk to us? How many posts do we get where one parent ignores the needs of the spouse or children's needs are ignored. The children are not abused in the conventional meaning but they are certainly neglected. How many people write in about how they were taught to keep their difficulties to themselves, especially men who never, ever cry.

What can we do? Well I am a member of a writers group. We all have mental illnesses and we write about those illnesses. Together we wrote a journal article about being in a public psychiatric hospital. The main character related her experiences and those of others in the hospital and these are all our experiences. It's not all gloom and doom and it does acknowledge the good work, but it does ask the hard questions. I am extremely proud to say it has been accepted for publication in a prestigious journal. That's one avenue of sending the message. I am certain there are heaps more.

Mary

[Summer Rose]

Hi Mary

Thank you for explaining how telling the stories of people with intellectual disabilities in films and on TV is similar to the challenges of portraying the stories of fictional characters experiencing a mental health condition.

The episode of Blue Heelers that you describe was so sad and even worse because I imagine that type of fear is not so uncommon in real life. Thank you also for recalling Rainman. If I'm not mistaken, this film triggered a watershed moment in the battle to raise awareness of autism. If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me.

Legislative changes often drag people to the party when it comes to cultural change. But when it comes to film and TV it seems to be all about "community standards".

Television broadcasters have the primary responsibility for ensuring their content reflects community standards. Although the Australian Communications and Media Authority provides some regulatory oversight. Their website says, "The areas covered by ACMA’s free-to-air television regulation address minimum levels of Australian content, children’s programming, local content, Australian content in advertising and the anti-siphoning of sport, which are summarised below, as well as additional schemes covering sponsorship of community television, political material and anti-terrorism." Don't see anything about mental health in there. And I have no idea how ordinary people get to have a say in the drafting of "community standards".

Screen Australia is our Federal Government agency charged with supporting Australian screen development, production and promotion. Had a look on their website and couldn't see any kind of Code of Practice or guidelines for dealing with mental health depictions either. The only place I could find mention of any type of attempt to govern this area was at the Australian Press Council site. The Press Council issued specific standards for the coverage of suicide in 2011.

Could be that some Codes of Practice, guidelines or even legislation could help the industry. Thoughts? Too close to censorship?

[Just Sara]

Great work Mary! On'ya!

Hey Pepper;

I think critical analysis is there for a lot of kids, they just use it to criticise themselves and each other instead of the hard hitting issues of the day. (Don't know whether to laugh at that or not. It started out as a joke, but it's sort of true and sad. I thought I was dumb in my teens come to think of it)

🙂 Sez xo

[Summer Rose]

Hi Sez

Wow! You weren't wrong. Boys Don't Cry is "truly an outstanding representation of teen boys with depression". Like you, I encourage everyone to take the time to watch this powerful short film.

There was something very moving, almost spiritual, about the film and it was tied up in both the imagery and writing. A line from the film that touched me heart: Some people wear their sadness in their eyes. How true is that? How often do we miss it? We need to really open our eyes to see it, especially when it comes to young boys.

After all this time that I've been looking for films with a mental health conscience, could be that I've been looking in all the wrong places. Thank you for introducing me (and others) to Tropfest and the film's producer, Nick Ward. He is film maker to watch.

[Summer Rose]

Hello Birdy

Thank you for your heartfelt review of The Black Balloon. You said you "loved the compassion". Me too. I wish more film makers understood what some of us are looking for. BTW: your comments about your family friends warmed my heart. Bless you for honouring them x

[Summer Rose]

Hi Peppermintbach

I think your observations about film critics have a lot of merit. Agree, it's just one piece of the puzzle.

I hope that Mary's further post helped clear up what she was saying about teachers for you. Of course, Sez helped make it crystal clear! LOL

[Peppermintbach]

Hi Summer Rose and all,

Mary: thank you so much for elaborating 🙂

I feel you made a great point about how it can be hard for some (not all) teachers to step away from deeply entrenched views that stereotype, discriminate, etc when it comes to mental illness. Very true.

I must confess that looked at it from another angle as my thoughts were less about teachers but more about each state’s syllabi. I feel regardless of teachers’ personal biases and opinions about mental health, to the best of my knowledge, they still have to teach based on their state’s syllabus for each year.

So I feel, to am exgent, it doesn’t really matter what a teacher personally thinks because if it’s in the state syllabus, they have to teach it (even if they don’t want to). For example, if a teacher doesn’t believe in the Big Bang theory (but is required to teach it as per a state’s requirements), s(he) will have to teach it anyway.

Similarly, regardless of a teacher’s personal views on mental illness and critical thinking, if it’s in the syllabus, she or he will have to teach it too. Granted, the teaching quality will vary between individual teachers but at least it will still be taught.

So if it were me, and I’m not saying it would be easy, I would probably target the education department for each state rather than individual teachers from schools. Granted, the education department may or may not be filled with staff/teachers with their own prejudices about mental illness, etc...so that’s another issue itself.

But if we can get an education department on board, that can have an enormous effect because they have a direct say on what students learn, and to a more consistent extent than individual teachers...because they write the syllabi for each state.

That being said, I do hear where you’re coming from about teachers’ personal prejudices impacting upon how well content (and injecting personal biases) is taught in schools. Very valid point 🙂

I admire your commitment to putting together this academic/lived experience piece with your fellow writers. Congratulations on getting it accepted in a prestigious journal. That’s very impressive and I’m pleased for you. Well done! I hope a lot of people read it.

Kind thoughts,

Pepper xo

[Peppermintbach]

Hi Summer Rose and all,

Sez: Lol. I appreciate your sense of humour. Thank you 😉 But to state the obvious, I feel critical thinking skills and being self critical are 2 different things. Lol though.

When I was taught to think critically at school, we were taught to unpack what we were presented. To look for an unbalanced presentation of material, possible motivation/agenda, wording, the content creator’s background, who the content creator is representing and why, the platform that the content is released (e.g. a Hollywood film company headed by people with more conservative views would be likely to present the same issue very differently to another media outlet headed by people with more liberal views), etc, etc.

To this day, I keep it all in mind when viewing media including hollywood films on mental health. Personally, this is a life skill that I try to use in my daily life...long after my high school graduation. H x H’s xoxo

Thanks Summer Rose: yes, so many elements help create a bigger picture. I agree with you there 🙂

Thank you all for letting me share my thoughts.

Pepper xo