TW: Suicide
If you’ve seen shows or movies like Skins, 13 Reasons Why or Chatroom, then you might have noticed that their depictions of mental illnesses were often romanticised. Take a character, give them a mental illness and suddenly, they’re much more appealing to the audience. Why is that?
Effy Stonem, Skins: Company Pictures
By romanticising something we mean that mental illness is made more aesthetic or more appealing than it really is. Consequences or downsides of an illness are often ignored, which may give the impression that having a mental disorder is interesting to have. If we consider the last episode of season one of 13 Reasons why for example: Hannah Baker, the main character, killed herself on screen. The scene made it seem very peaceful, like it didn’t hurt at all. But that’s not how it is in real life. Even though the scene has now been removed from the show, it had a big impact on its viewers.
Charlotte Armitage is a media psychologist and active in the TV industry. She’s a member of the BPS (Media Ethics Advisory Board for the British Psychological Society), the governing body for psychologists. Charlotte specialises in duty of care: she assesses people on being psychologically sound minded enough to cope with the potential consequences of being in the public eye. Charlotte also works with media outlets, magazines and papers about the impact that the media has on the public.
“In many cases the media’s portrayal of mental illness can be way off the mark. British television is trying to be a lot more accurate and responsible with portraying different mental illnesses than before, though," Armitage says.
Depressed and successful Romanticising mental illness started way before television and the internet existed. In 1818, Lord Byron published a narrative poem entitled Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. This poem introduced a character that quickly started the trend of the ‘Byronic hero’.
A Byronic hero is someone typically rebellious, arrogant, anti-social or in exile, and darkly, enticingly romantic. It’s also always someone exceptionally intelligent.
Katlyn Firkus gave a TED talk on the topic in 2016. In this TED talk, she states that the Byronic hero evolved over time. We got characters like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, who is, according to Firkus, a darker more distasteful hero. The reader may get scared by the character, but is simultaneously being told Heathcliff is desirable.
“We’ve made so many depressed characters that also happen to be gorgeous, talented, successful and everything we want for ourselves that we begin to emulate them.” - Katlyn Firkus in her TED talk
The Byronic hero has a lot of appeal because he/she is realistic, as opposed to unrealistic heroes that are written about lots of the times, like Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, who is kind, handsome, does the right thing and is all-round perfect.
“With each generation taking things to the next extreme, the Byronic hero becomes something much less than heroic. Today we see this character appearing in our favourite TV shows and films. Lord Byron’s vision can be found in Dexter, Sherlock, Batman and Twilight to name very few," Firkus says. “We’ve made so many depressed characters that also happen to be gorgeous, talented, successful and everything we want for ourselves that we begin to emulate them.”
“We’ve made so many characters of this type that we’ve begun to believe that the dark past, the suffering, the depression is a necessary precursor to brilliance," says Firkus.
No wonder shows like to include a Byronic hero, viewers are automatically drawn to them.
Glorifying destructive behaviour Social networking site Tumblr is a good example of glorifying mental illness. Firkus explains in the TED talk: “Amidst communities actively trying to help people with mental illness, this popular internet archetype exists across thousands of accounts. They post black and white photos of beautiful women captioned with phrases like ‘I will never be good enough.’ Their blogs attract the attention of others and soon there are entire communities outwardly glorifying suicide, self-harm and other destructive behaviours.”
“This culture of idealising mental illness causes people, typically teens and young adults, to not seek help for their symptoms, to convince themselves they suffer from these illnesses in the first place, and in the worst case, to act on their emotions in a destructive and irreversible way," Firkus states.
Not always romanticisation Another issue is that sometimes it seems like a mental illness is romanticised, while in fact it’s not: the charm can be part of the disorder. “People with borderline personality disorder, for example, are known for being very charming. They often use that charm as a survival tool and technique," Armitage explains. “People develop certain traits of their personality. It might be that someone develops a highly sexualised aura or energy, which can be quite captivating for others. This can also be the case with other disorders."
Borderline personality disorder is a mental health disorder that impacts the way you think and feel about yourself and others, causing problems functioning in everyday life. It includes self-image issues, difficulty managing emotions and behavior, and a pattern of unstable relationships.
"Sometimes people just have that certain attractiveness because of their disorder. It’s just important that it’s always shown in a correct way." - Charlotte Armitage, media psychologist
“Obviously there’s the horrendous other side of borderline. The charm helps them get what they need and to ultimately have their need met to stay alive, but the downside is the self-sabotage and self-hatred. People with borderline are known to be the hardest on themselves. Nothing they ever do for themselves is ever good enough. That can be very attractive for other people who don’t have borderline personality disorder, because they can’t work out that person."
“So it’s not always romanticisation. Sometimes people just have that certain attractiveness because of their disorder. It’s just important that it’s always shown in a correct way," Charlotte ends.
If you ever think about suicide or self-harm, and are in need of a conversation, then you can always contact the Suicide Hotline on the number 1813 or www.zelfmoord1813.be for Belgium. For international helplines, please click this link.
Text: Janne Schellingen