Many of the most famously renowned and successful contemporary films take a particular interest in different facets and takes on describing mental illness. Whether this takes form in the ever-increasingly popular slew of true crime documentaries, or in a ritual re-watching of “Fight Club,” something you’re watching deals with stigmas and presentations of mental illness. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s healthy for all involved; curiosity is the beginning of forming an understanding. Understanding is becoming more and more crucial in the age of escalating development of treatments and progressions of various mental illnesses.
As sad as it is, reality dictates that the legitimacy of many forms of mental illness must still be proven to the masses. Mental illness carries severe side-effects that impact lives in unimaginable ways, and the scariest part is that there is no “typical” case of mental illness to establish standards. The unpredictability of mental illness is a great part of what makes it such a serious and relevant issue. It’s important that mental illness is legitimized, and if we’ve learned anything from recent national events, it’s that media attention is solidly the most effectual way to draw notice. Rather than focusing on whether mental illness as depicted as a negative or a positive is not nearly as important as focusing on whether it is depicted in the media accurately. Accuracy in depiction leads to a furthered understanding of the ramifications of physical conditions, and thus needs to work towards doing this for mental illness as well.
Just to stress the point again, there is no garden-variety mental illness, no typical case of depression, no run of the mill anxiety, no average eating disorder. The experience is different for each and every individual consumed in mental illness. So, how exactly can media portray accuracy? By expressing the sheer moments of chaos that certainly all of these cause.
Often times, I admittedly find my writings here to be shameless plugs of works of pop-culture that I adore in a moment. But this is anything but simply an advertisement, or even a statement of appreciation, though I suppose it could be considered to have those as elements. But this being said, in the struggle for depicting accuracy in mental illness, Don Hertzfeldt’s 2000 film, “It’s Such a Beautiful Day,” hits the nail on the head with a powerful and resonant zeal, and says so much more about the experience of chaotic effects of mental illness than I ever could in these 500 words. Go forth, watch, and be educated. Someone in your life appreciates the small effort more than you’ll know.
