When will filmmakers stop romanticizing mental illness?
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MovieChat Forums > Touched with Fire (2016) Discussion > When will filmmakers stop romanticizing ...
The creator of this movie has bipolar disorder. So, it is from a perspective of someone who has been there and not just some outsider.
~*~Butterflies In My Eyes~*~
I think the creator/writer is trying to shed light on this and not make anything romantic. What it is, people are uncomfortable with mental illness, let alone thinking that people struggling with this might fall in love and try to get better or at least have the right to know love. Meanwhile when someone shoots down people at a mall or kills themselves for a short while we all agree that mental illness needs to be talked about and not hid away, then time fades and people do not want to know about it or deal with it. This film is trying to shed light on this.
shareWhen you stop whining.
shareTo me, there's an implied meaning to 'romanticizing', which is to essentially try to win people over to something, to be part of, to support.
As there is no Bipolar Disorder Association that's trying to increase its membership, I'm going to go with my final suggestion: to support the understanding of mental health issues.
So if you're using the word to imply that filmmakers are endeavouring to increase empathy and general understanding of mental illness, then I hope these efforts never end.
Though dialogue surrounding mental illness is much better than it used to be, there is still an enormous stigma attached to it. Mostly because it scares the crap out of people; to lose control, to not be in control of oneself's faculties is the worst thing for many to consider.
It bears saying that there is a mental health continuum on which we all sit. At one end, the 'perfectly healthy', who are absolutely and positively without any mental health ailment, not even the equivalents to the physical hangnail or headache or bruise. At the other end are those who are entirely 'gone'. In the common parlance, 'insane'. Along this continuum sit everyone else. That is, ALL of us are contending with some mental health ailment. Great and small. And most of us who need attention do not get it...pretty near entirely due to the aforementioned stigma.
And the lack of resources.
A situation that films such as this one attempt to shine lights on.
Long live these 'romanticizing' efforts.
Well said...
shareYou said it in a nut shell. The stats I checked there were only 15-20% getting help with mental illness and out of that stat only 10% get help for Bipolar due to the stigma of the the word which translates to "normal" people as "crazy"; they will always be crazy or they will have their mental breakdown anytime.
Thank heavens the mental association and help with meds and therapy people with Bipolar can lead a "normal" life. What ever normal is?
tjš
ī¼ Peace is with Jesusī¼
Um. Have you even watched the trailer? This film does not romanticize mental illness. It portrays it very true to what it is and it ain't pretty.
shareRomanticized - deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is.
IMO, none of this takes place in TwF. There are ups and downs and good times and bad, just like in anyone's life. That doesn't change bc someone has a mental illness.
*spoilerish*
There is a romantic relationship depicted in the film but there is nothing romanticized about mental illness. In fact, bipolar disorder only wreaks havoc on the relationship in the film.
I enjoy watching movies where the main characters have mental illnesses bc I can relate. It's a natural thing. But at the end of the day, it's still a movie. It's to tell a story and entertain. It would be impossible to capture every facet of the illness in the characters in a completely realistic fashion in 110mins.
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