In a world where mental illness is commonly hushed up, for many people, movies are the sole arena through which we can catch a glimpse into the lives of those with mental illness Unfortunately, many myths and stereotypes are perpetuated through this medium, including the notion that people with mental illness are dangerous, unpredictable, 'different' or incurable.
(Tartakovsky, 2013)
According to a YouTube video entitled How the Media Controls Society (very 'conspiracy-theory', but a lot of good points), movies elicit 'emotive sequences', which allow the reasoning centres of the brain to be bypassed. In this way, new ideas can be 'downloaded' into your mind without their merits and faults being analysed, as they would be in any other form of information gathering. This leaves us susceptible to believing the many false ideas regarding mental illness which pervade our film media.
Not all mental illness portrayals in movies are negative. Some, which have gained popular acclaim, depict a very positive picture of mental illness, which seeks to lessen the stigma associated with mental illness. However, many of these are unrealistic, and tend to either have a very light-hearted approach to mental illness, or are entirely unrealistic (Fawcett, 2015)
The movie I chose to review, Forrest Gump, is one of the more widely acclaimed movies on mental illness, representing a more positive slant on intellectual disability.
Forrest Gump tells the life story of a young man with mild intellectual impairment, at the higher end of the functional spectrum, who has a strange knack of landing himself in fortuitous situations.
The story is told retrospectively, from Forrest's point of view, and, through flashbacks, the strange and wonderful series of events and coincidences that led up to the present is portrayed.
I thoroughly enjoyed Forrest Gump, and it will always remain one of my favourite movies. It ticked all the boxes I look for in a movie: compelling storyline, strong characters, historical basis and happy ending
(unless of course the "virus" Jenny has was HIV, and through transmission of the virus, Forrest and his son were to die soon after the events at the end of the movie... but I'm hoping otherwise... On the topic of Jenny, I have many opinions on her character and life choices, not all of which are flattering, and which could constitute an entire topic by itself...)
At face value, I felt this movie had made great strides in overcoming the stigma of mental illness, through providing a view into the life of someone with intellectual impairment, from his perspective. It portrayed the unique way in which Forrest viewed the world, through a concrete lens, often missing deeper connotations.
It appeared that through the use of Forrest as the narrator, the movie sought to express how people with intellectual disability are viewed by others, how they view themselves and how they understand the world around them. In the movie, Forrest finds himself in a variety of important historic moments, yet does not seem to understand the significance of these events, tending to focus on his own, simpler, agenda.
Through making an intellectually impaired individual more 'human' and highlighting his positive personality traits, such as honesty, loyalty, hard work and kindness, a more positive picture of intellectual disability is painted.
However, I feel that this is where one of the major flaws of the movie lies. In highlighting the positive aspects and glossing over, or ignoring entirely, negative aspects that many intellectually impaired people face, such as low self-esteem, discrimination and impaired social skills, the movie portrayed a wonderful, but inaccurate portrayal of intellectual impairment (Menchetti, Plattos and Carroll, 2011)Although some of these issues were hinted at in the beginning of the film, when Forrest was refused admission to school, was bullied, and when Jenny felt he could not understand the concept of love, by the end of the movie, they had been resolved or had inexplicably disappeared.
In terms of its portrayal of intellectual disability, it demonstrated one of the two errors described by Hannah Lawrence in her YouTube video, "Representations of Mental Illness in the Media":
'Decent mainstream portrayals of mental illness are extremely rare and tend to glamourise the condition of the sufferer" or "underemphasise the suffering".
In Forrest Gump, Forrest's life was unrealistically positive. Through the support of his mother and Lt. Dan, not only did he attend a mainstream school and graduate from college, but through a series of coincidences and miraculous events, established a successful shrimp brand, became a millionaire, married the woman of his dreams and fulfilled the popular American dream of fame and fortune.
Throughout the movie, there were glimpses of the types of difficulties people with intellectual impairment face, such as ridicule, misreading social situations and missing the deeper meanings of events, but they were not explored beyond a superficial level, possibly because this would have undermined the 'happy' or 'feel-good' theme of the movie (no one wants to watch a depressing movie that makes you think about things we like to pretend don't exist... right?) In so doing, the movie presents a skewed depiction of intellectual impairment, which undermines the very real difficulties faced by these individuals and their caregivers.
While it rightly points out that people with mild intellectual impairment are capable of integrating into society and achieving success in many life roles with the right support and opportunities, I feel it presents unrealistic expectations for the majority of those living with intellectual impairment, most of whom are unlikely to reach the levels of (socially-perceived) success as Forrest.
That said, although I would not necessarily recommend this movie for purposes of education on intellectual impairment, unless accompanied by various other resources, I feel the movie was cinematically well-made, had a great storyline, and has secured a spot on my list of movies I'd gladly watch again.
Watching this movie, and being pushed to analyse it, has made me realise the ease by which we accept what we see in film without questioning the effect it has on society. It has taught me to be more aware of subtle stereotypes that are present in our media that influence the way we think, so that I can critically evaluate my own response to these stereotypes.
With film and televised media being one of the most popular and accessible means of information, I feel it is of critical importance that we continue to evaluate the effects of media portrayals of mental illness, and work towards advocating more accurate representations of mental illness. Through this, the stigma of mental illness, largely perpetuated through ignorance and negative media portrayals, can be gradually eliminated.
References:
Tartakovsky, M. (2013). Media’s Damaging Depictions of Mental Illness. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 20, 2015, from
Fawcett, K. (2015). How Mental Illness is Misrepresented in the Media. US News Health. Retrieved on 20 August 2015 from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2015/04/16/how-mental-illness-is-misrepresented-in-the-media
Carrol, S., Menchetti, B., Plattos, G. (2011). The Impact of Fiction on Perceptions of Disability. The Alan Review. Volume 39 (1). Retrieved on 20 August 2015 from https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v39n1/menchetti.html
Turn Off Your Television! (2011, March 29). How the Media Controls Society [Video File] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOQ1jZOj_ho
Hannah Lawrence (2014, July 14). Representations of Mental Illness in the Media [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEJPOSoEeqk
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