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Romanticism of Mental Illness in Film

Olivia Corby

While mental illness isnt something anyone should be afraid of, it also isnt something

that people should aspire to have. Mental illness is encompassing; its consuming; it hurts. Pain

isnt pretty.

Despite the severity, in film, mental illness is depicted in a mystery man, as a sexy

woman, as a knowledgeable and edgy teenager. We, as a society, arent doing enough to

discourage the incorrect correlation between beauty and tragedy. In fact, by refusing to

acknowledge the problem, perhaps we are encouraging the romanticism.

Film is a great force for challenging norms and inequalities and has always been an

influential platform for encouraging change in society. Its for that reason that the portrayal of

mental illness in film is a critical way of promoting understanding and reducing the stigma that

affects millions of sufferers. Nonetheless, the understanding society has will depend on how the

difficult topic is depicted; while many films have represented mental illness sensitively, many

more seem to glamorize the sufferers of the illness or even the illness itself. Making tragedy into

beauty has disturbing effects on society as a whole but particularly on the young, to such an

extent that even films that do show the illnesses ultimately encourage idolising the disturbed. Of

all the ways mental illness is endorsed, I see romanticism as by far the worst.
 One of the most prominent examples that comes to mind is The Virgin Suicides (1999).

The story is told from the point of view of men looking back to when they were young boys,

infatuated with four suicidally depressed sisters. Always showing the girls in pretty skirts,

twirling their hair. The narrators speak of the beauty and the intrigue of these mysterious sisters

and the boys corresponding desperation to know the girls better. As the film progresses the boys

gather more information about the girls, revealing more of their struggles with school,

psychologists, and their family, yet this only makes the boys long for them more. Other girls at

the school are presented as less interesting because they are not shrouded in the mystery of

secrets and illness. The effects of romanticising mental illness are not cancelled out by the later

harrowing scenes of their suicides. The girls untimely deaths has not stopped the now grown up

boys, the narrators of the film, from obsessing about the girls, from wanting to know more, and

from talking about it years after the matter. Further, the film is a paradigm example of over-

exaggerating the link between mental illness and sexuality, where the vulnerability of the women

is linked heavily with her promiscuity and mental illness is effectively sexualised.

Misery loves company and sometimes a shared sadness can be seen as a way to fit in.

Hitting close to home, teenagers are the most susceptible to these images and messages. These

attributes are in at least one of your favorite shows or movies. It is important for the media to

stop selling mental illness to the public like its a cosmetic; it is equally important for consumers

to be cognizant of the media and take off the rosy-colored glasses that lead to the romanticism of

mental illness.