Posted by Noa on January 28, 2000, at 20:36:25
In reply to Re: Movies--girl, interrupted, posted by Abby on January 28, 2000, at 19:57:48
It seems somewhat plausible that the ward would be inhabited by young women who are not suffering with severe mental illness, complete with odd behaviors and all, because at that time, that type of hospital tended to admit people who would not be hospitalized today, as Abby said, and would keep them there for a very long time.
What is unsettling for me, as a consumer of mental health services, is that the practices portrayed in the film go unchallenged by the film. If mental illness and mental health care were really the topic of interest, you would think that somewhere in her voiceover narration at the end of the film, she would say something about the revolution in biological psychiatry and how this episode appears from a current vantage point. That is why I think that the psychiatry and mental illness is just a backdrop, not an important motif. But maybe I am being too generous. If it is a real motif, then all the film is saying, as eko points out, is that to treat your illness, all you need to do is stop being an immature spoiled brat.
Being in a generous spirit, I like to think the mental illness is just part of the setting, and the movie is about coming of age, coming to terms with your own humanity, owning all aspects of your self, warts and all, and bringing the opposing aspects of self together, which means accepting a fundamental compromise, which we all know is one of the hard things about growing up.
poster:Noa
thread:18272
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000128/msgs/19937.html