Julie Refsdal
000801-0061
Independent Study
“How Does the Portrayal of Mental Illness in Film Differ in America
and the UK?”
Films mentioned:
Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
Sybil (1976) Daniel Petrie
A Dangerous Method (2011) David Cronenberg
The Phonebooth Trio (2007) Bo Fan
IB FILM HIGHER LEVEL
SESSION: MAY 2014
Julie Refsdal
(000801-0061)
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF LUXEMBOURG
Mr. SETH RUEF, INSTRUCTOR
Documentary Rational: Pg 2
Documentary Script: Pg 3 - 18
Sources: Pg 19
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Julie Refsdal
000801-0061
Documentary RATIONALE:
For my documentary script I am aiming to look into two different
perspectives on mental illness within film. North America and England
are two competitors within the film industry yet they differ,
particularly in this area. My goal is to raise awareness as to how
mentally ill people are portrayed in different cultures I will use
short clips from the films researched to make my points clearer to the
viewer. I chose this topic as it is something many people overlook. I
felt that the target age was appropriate as to avoid the stigma being
carried on in the future.
WORDS: 100
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Video
Title screen appears in white
text on a black background. The
words “How does the portrayal of
mental illness in film differ in
America and the UK?” appear on
screen.
Title screen fades and we fade in
to a person walking and talking
in front of the Bates hotel used
on the set of the film Psycho
(1960). He
walks
slowly
from
right to left in front of the
cabins.
Audio
VO:
Have you ever seen a film and felt
as though you could really relate to
one of the characters? If you can
relate to a character they might be
acting in a way that you would, or a
way you would expect them to in a
certain situation. This way you
suspend your disbelief and engage
more with the film you are watching.
NARRATOR:
The
film
industry
is
full
of
misconceptions and clichés, these
can all be a part of making a
successful film, as much as a
filmmaker might want to surprise the
audience, the viewer needs to feel
as though what the characters are
doing is believable to suspend their
disbelief.
The camera pans from the hotel to
the house where Norman Bates
lived in the film Psycho, fade to
black.
(with ambient sound)
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Video
Audio
NARRATOR:
Fade from black, the narrator However, when these clichés become a
walking up the stairs towards the part of our everyday misconceptions
house where Norman Bates lived in about people we face the challenge
Psycho (1960)
of what we expect of people, not
just in films, but in real life. If
you have seen a horror movie, or
almost any film with a “bad guy”,
chances
are
you
have
some
preconceived ideas about how that
person functioned.
Narrator stops and turns outside
the house.
Cut to Marion from Psycho sitting
in the car, it’s raining and she
is struggling to see through the
windshields.
NARRATOR:
Mental illness has for a long time
been a taboo subject, not just in
the film industry but in general. If
you take the film Psycho (1960,
Hitchcock) for instance, in short it
is a film about "A Phoenix secretary
who
steals
$40,000
from
her
employer's client, goes on the run
and checks into a remote motel run
by a young man under the domination
of his mother."
(The sound of the clip is turned
down but can be heard faintly.)
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Video
Audio
Cut to narrator walking around in
the police station where Norman
Bates was detained
NARRATOR:
It is a classic and a very well
known film for reasons such as the
memorable character of Norman Bates
who plays the young man.
Fade into the real scene where
Dr. Fred Richmond is explaining
Mr. Bates’ mental illness.
Fade into narrator walking around
in the police station where
Norman Bates was detained
Fade into Dr. Fred Richmond
explaining Mr. Bates’ mental
illness (real clip from the
NARRATOR:
During the final scene of the film
Dr. Fred Richmond, played by Simon
Oakland, provides an explanation of
the mental illness that Mr Bates
had. He states that Bates is not
just a murderer but a "dangerously
disturbed" man with a personality
disorder.
(The sound of the clip is turned
down but can be heard faintly.)
NARRATOR:
The audience is told that after the
death of his father, Norman's mother
became a "clinging, demanding woman"
that relied heavily on Norman and as
she became completely dependent on
him
so
Norman
became
equally
dependent on her.
DR. FRED RICHMOND:
The death of Norma Bates, especially
at his hands, is too much for his
psyche to bear therefore it results
in
a
mental
conflict.
As
Dr.
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Video
movie, Psycho(1960))
Fade to black
Fade in from black, Psychologist
Steven Pinker sitting down
speaking to an interviewer who
can not be seen.
(a bar on the screen for 3
seconds says:
Steven Pinker
Psychologist)
Fade to Norman Bates sitting in a
cell where his face turns into a
skull (real clip from the film)
Fade to shower scene, where
Marion is stabbed, with the POV
of Marion seeing the “mother”
(real clip from the film)
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Audio
Richmond puts it, Norman's "mind
housed two personalities and the
dominant
personality
won
the
conflict."
Norman steals his mother's remains
and preserves them like the stuffed
animals in his rooms. He begins to
think and speak for her, eventually,
he completely transforms into his
mother by dressing in her clothes
and dawning a wig similar to her
hairstyle. Norman was never all
Norman but often only Mother.
STEVEN PINKER:
Norman Bates has what is known as
multiple personality disorder. This
illness is identified as:
The presence of two or more distance
identities of personality states
(The sound of the clip is turned
down but can be heard faintly.)
At
least
two
of
these
identities/personalities
states
recurrently
take
control
o
the
person's behavior.
(The sound of the clip is turned
down but can be heard faintly.)
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Video
Fade to Norman Bates finding
Marion in the shower, fade out to
black screen.
Fade in from black, Psychologist
Steven Pinker sitting down
speaking to an interviewer who
can not be seen.
Cut to a black and white montage
of old news paper articles of the
story Psycho was based on; the
serial killer Ed Gein
Black and white montage changes
to a montage of news paper
articles dealing with mental
illness, criticizing such as the
guardian’s: “Medicine's big new
battleground: does mental illness
really exist?”
Cut to an old news recording from
1976 where the reporter has an
over the shoulder of the Sybil
advertisement poster. (news
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Audio
Inability
to
recall
important
information, that is too extensive
to
be
explained
by
ordinary
forgetfulness.
STEVEN PINKER:
The disturbance is not due to direct
physiological
effects
of
a
substance. Throughout the film we
see these features in Norman Bates.
As he is such an evil character, it
seems like the "safe" thing for the
audience to do is to classify him as
ill,
which
in
this
characters
instance is correct.
NARRATOR:
As the film psycho is based on a
book based on a true story, it shows
that these grotesque actions are
possible,
however,
what
psychologists
and
health
professionals are scared of is that
people will attach the characters in
films
with
people
with
mental
illnesses in real life.
If people have assumptions about the
people dealing with these issues, it
will continue to build up the
stigma, and therefore make those who
need help reluctant to seek it.
Another
featuring a
personality
mini series
American
production
character with multiple
disorder is Sybil, a TV
from 1976. It is about a
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Video
recording muted)
Cut to an old news recording from
1986 where the news reporter has
an over the shoulder image of the
character of Sybil.
Cut to a wide shot of a person
sitting in a psychologist office
facing a psychologist taking
notes, looking concerned, the
patient is crying and attempting
to explain herself. (Sound is
faint but not muted)
Cut to the book Sybil being
passed out in a classroom.
Zoom in on the book being picked
up by a student.
Cut to POV of the student, the
title sequence for Sybil is
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Audio
young woman whose childhood was so
harrowing to her that she developed
at least 13 different personalities.
NEWS REPORTER:
The film and the attention around
Sybil generated a lot of discussion
about
her
disorder.
Multiple
personality
disorder
had
been
extremely rare with only 200 cases
over a period of centuries, however
after the book and film, now 10
years after the release there are
40,000 cases diagnosed in the US
alone.
NARRATOR:
This shows that films can both
contribute to stigma, and help the
cases. The fact that so many people
were diagnosed after the film also
shows the magic of cinema, it can
influence so many people. It is a
way for people to understand and
learn new things. People could have
related to the character of Sybil,
or even several of her personalities
and finally understood what was
happening to him or herself.
VOICE OVER OF TEACHER:
Cinema can reach out to a wide
audience and therefore help a lot of
people. Sybil has even become a
teaching tool used in psychology
classrooms all over the world, which
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Video
projected on a large screen.
Fade into a medium shot of
psychology teacher John Preston
sitting down speaking to an
interviewer who can not be seen.
(A bar on the screen for 3
seconds says:
John Preston
Psychology teacher)
Fade to black
Fade in from black:
Split screen Psycho and Sybil
Norman Bates standing behind the
counter talking to Marion and
Sybil sitting in the doctors
office.
Cut to a medium shot Daniel
Petrie, director of
Sybil, sitting down speaking to
an interviewer who can not be
seen.
(A bar on the screen for 3
seconds says:
Daniel Petrie
Director of Sybil)
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Audio
shows how useful cinema and the film
industry can be. Therefore we must
learn from this and realize how
damaging it can also be. films such
as psycho reach an equally wide, if
not much wider, audience as sybil.
This means that so many people can
be influenced and develop prejudice
against people after seeing such
films. when entertainment becomes a
teaching tool people must be careful
with what they put out for people to
learn from.
NARRATOR:
The first film, Psycho, uses mental
illness
as
a
prompt
for
the
character whilst Sybil, also based
on a true story, helped people
accept the illness.
DANIEL PETRIE:
In Sybil the lighting is quite
natural. This was intentional to
show people that this is a part of
people’s
everyday
life.
It
is
something that affects more people
than we think. Darker shadows are
shown around Sybil, and there are
slight
lighting
changes
as
her
personality changes as to better set
a tone for the different characters
as each of them were so different.
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Video
Cut to sequence of Sybil in the
Park, she hears a swing and the
sound reminds her of something in
her past, which triggers another
personality and she is found
standing in a dark pond where the
light is clearly darker than
before.
Cut to the narrator standing in
Marion’s bathroom in the Bates
Hotel. He pulls the bathroom
curtain open. The camera is
standing in the shower so until
the narrator pulls the shower
curtain open we only see his
shadow behind the curtain.
Cut to a medium shot of
psychologist Steven Pinker
sitting down talking to an
interviewer who can not be seen.
Fade to black
Audio
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
For instance with her more dark
characters
the
lighting
is
in
general slightly darker, to make the
changes more obvious. Sybil told
another side of the story where the
mentally ill character was shown as
the victim, rather than simply as a
villain.
NARRATOR:
Something we have to keep in mind is
that the main theme of many horror
movies is murder, and for someone to
conduct
these
murders
there
is
likely to be some form of illness
present.
STEVEN PINKER:
However, what we are talking about
in this documentary is how these
people have direct symptoms of for
instance
multiple
personality
disorder. These disorders are being
used as en excuse for wreck less
behavior. Many of the films created
are incredible films, but the side
we do not see is how they affect the
lives of those who suffer from
similar illnesses, but whom would
never act in a similar manner.
(psychologist
speaking
very
passionately, using hand gestures.)
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Video
Four white animated people appear
on a black background.
One of the animated people turn
red to represent the ill person.
The person then turns black and
blends in with the background so
you can no longer see the fourth
person to represent the stigma.
Cut to a child, approximately 5
years old, sitting on the floor
in front of a television watching
cartoons. The child seems
mesmerized by what is happening
on the screen.
Suddenly the channel changes from
a cartoon to the film Psycho, the
scene where Norman Bates is
sitting in a cell and his face
slowly fades to a skull.
The child does not seem to have a
reaction and still seems
mesmerized by what is happening
on screen.
Cut to a graph on a black
background showing the statistics
39% violent, 35% weird and 30%
likely to kill violently.
Graph remains on screen for 6
seconds for effect.
Cut to a medium shot of
psychologist Steven Pinker
Audio
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
Statistics say that one in four of
us has or will develop a mental
health problem in our lifetime, be
it something minor or major. But few
will openly disclose their mental
health problems, and stigma drives
discussion underground.
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
Research has identified prejudice
against people with mental health
problems in children as young as
five. Studies of children's cartoons
show the same negative stereotypes
as adult TV and feature films: once
a character is identified as "mad",
children expect them to be violent.
A survey with over 2000 people was
conducted to assess their attitudes
to film and mental health. When
asked what characteristics define
film
characters
with
mental
illnesses, the top three answers
were violent (39%), weird (35%), and
likely to kill violently (30%). Film
needs drama and conflict to keep
audiences engaged, this means the
behaviors of people with mental
health problems are more likely to
be extreme.
STEVEN PINKER:
If a central character has a mental
illness, the story will most likely
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Video
sitting down talking to an
interviewer who can not be seen.
Cut to a time lapse of the
Hollywood sign with the sun going
down behind it.
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Audio
highlight his or her relapses. If
the drama is resolved, this happens
quickly and in an idealized way
often cured by falling in love and
dark
secrets
revealed.
Film
historians have documented racist
and homophobic stereotypes in films
right up to the 1970s. Today's
releases
contain
watered
down
versions of these, but mental health
stereotypes have not changed much
over a century of cinema.
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
In Hollywood particularly, mental
illness is still a subtle topic in
many films, which has in later years
caused a lot of criticism to the
film industry.
Cut to an over the shoulder shot
of someone scrolling down on a
website featuring a festival
promoting films dealing with
mental illnesses.
In the UK however, there have been
measures taken to avoid the stigma
which is raised due to how people
are portrayed in film. For instance,
there are film festivals promoting
films about mental illness, but
shining light on the truth and how
people
are
affected
by
the
illnesses.
Cut to footage from the premiere
of A Dangerous Method. Shots of
both the actors on the red carpet
and of the paparazzi taking
pictures of them.
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
This is a major difference in the
film industry. The criticism towards
the contribution to stigma may be
hurting certain films in the UK,
such as the horror industry, however
Cut to a time lapse of sundown in
London, Oxford Circus.
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Video
Cut to footage from A Dangerous
Method where Siegfried and Freud
are arguing in an office.
Audio
it
is
opening
up
for
more
independent films and perhaps films
that would not do as well in
Hollywood. This allows for more
creativity.
Cut to split screen of A
dangerous method, continuing the
scene and Psycho where Norman
bates is standing behind the
counter talking to Marion.
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
The English film a dangerous method
is more informative and analytical
as opposed to Psycho's thriller
format.
The
colors
used
in
A
dangerous Method can be linked to
that of a comedy or drama, with a
use
of
ambient
lighting
and
saturated colors.
Cut to the title sequence of the
film. The text appears in black
and white “The Phonebooth Trio”
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
Another film about mental illness
from the UK is the short film The
Phonebooth Trio. This short deals
with depression. The film has an
incredibly gloomy look and tone
overall.
Film continues, show the first 26
seconds of the film where the
main character cleans his
trumpet, looks at his wife and
then walks out of the kitchen. We
see him standing in the doorway
This comes from the use of dark
colors and shades such as black,
dark greens and greys. There is rain
throughout which contributes to the
dismal tone. This film is a good
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Video
giving his wife a last glance. It
is dark and gloomy. The animated
characters are clearly very sad
and the mood is gloomy.
Cut to the narrator walking back
down the stairs from Norman
Bates’ house towards the Bates
Motel.
Cut to a scene from Shutter
Island where Leonardo DiCaprio is
lying down on a sick bed in a
hospital having migraines.
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Audio
indication of depression as it deals
with
portraying
the
emotions
a
depressed person might go through
instead of making the main character
appear as a villain.
(raindrops from the film in the
background)
NARRATOR:
Studies
have
found
that
dangerousness and crime is the most
common theme of stories on mental
illnesses but research shows that
mentally ill people are more likely
to be victims than perpetrators of
violence.
If you take the specific illness
multiple personality disorder you
can see how characters are portrayed
in films related to the symptoms in
real life.
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
For instance in Shutter Island, it
is
set
in
Boston
1954.
Teddy
Daniels,
played
by
Leonardo
DiCaprio, is a US Marshall. He has
two
distinct
personalities;
institutionalized mental patient who
murdered his wife, and a US Marshall
investigating a mental illness. In
addition to this he has reoccurring
dreams
along
with
intrusive
delusions and hallucinations.
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Video
Cut to DiCaprio running through
the prison on the island. The
long dark hallways appear as a
labyrinth and set a gloomy,
freighting mood.
Cut to a medium shot of
psychologist Steven Pinker
sitting down talking to an
interviewer who can not be seen.
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Audio
His illness is portrayed through
cinematography such as the dreams
showed in slow motion, the colors
used are washed out. A lot of gray
tones and a lot of bright white,
which represent his migraines, going
as for as completely white screens.
There is also a lot of darkness to
build suspense.
STEVEN PINKER:
In
this
film
the
illness
is
portrayed as incredibly dangerous
and the victim seems very unstable.
The whole film makes the viewer
uneasy, rightfully so as the main
character is dangerous, but this
builds to the stigma around mental
illness and the assumption that all
mentally ill people are dangerous.
American large production films tend
to be cliché as they are made for a
mass market. This also contributes
to the assumption people have.
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Video
Cut to narrator at the bottom of
the stairs where Norman Bates
lived in the film Psycho, he is
slowly making his way over to the
Bates Motel.
Cut to a medium shot of John
Preston sitting down speaking to
an interviewer who can not be
seen.
Cut to the sequence in Sybil
where she locks herself away in
her room and speaks to herself
and we hear her changing
personality.
Audio
NARRATOR:
After this criticism the UK has
really put in an effort to change
the way people see mentally ill
people, throughout the industry. We
see that in both a dangerous method
and The Phonebooth trio. Neither of
them attempt to alienate ill people
or create a captivating story based
on overdone character traits.
VOICE OVER: JOHN PRESTON:
Cinema has for a long time been a
challenge for mentally ill people,
often being represented as Norman
Bates, crazy, dangerous and in need
of harsh restraint. Filmmakers have
used
them
as
conveniently
dehumanized and as useful monsters,
inviting viewers to assume they
should
be
feared,
shunned
and
confined.
(The sound from the film clip is
lowered but not mute, we hear it
faintly.)
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Video
Cut to narrator walking in front
of the Bates Motel where Marion
walked.
Cut to an interview with
Hitchcock. (no sound from it)
Cut to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
nest movie poster followed by the
sequence with all the characters
on the boat.
Audio
VOICE OVER: NARRATOR:
You may feel that people can tell
the difference between fiction and
fact. Unfortunately, such research
as
has
been
conducted
suggests
otherwise. It has shown the mass
media shapes people's ideas about
mental
illness,
and
that
entertainment plays a bigger role in
this process than factual output. In
focus groups, people with hostile
attitudes have cited films like
Psycho
as
influences
on
their
outlook.
To be fair, in Hitchcock's day harsh
attitudes to mental illness pervaded
not just films but society as a
whole. Since then, public thinking
has been changing, and so has filmmakers'. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest marked a turning point. Before
it appeared in 1975, few would have
believed that a film sympathetic to
the mentally ill could win all five
of the Academy's top awards. Though
it cost only $3m to make, it brought
in $108m at the US box-office.
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Video
Cut to a medium shot of an
interview with Alfred Hitchcock.
Cut to the narrator entering the
room Marion stayed in.
The narrator turns in the door.
Audio
ALFRED HITCHCOCK:
In the end, movies are drawn to
madness because it's scary, however
kindly they try to treat it. Their
chilling images are bound to leave
more of an impression than their
worthy explanations.
Looking back at the films discussed,
I hope you can think once or twice
extra about how people are portrayed
and how you see people who are
dealing
with
something
you
are
perhaps not. however, we do seem to
be moving in the right direction
when it comes to raising awareness.
He closes the door behind him and
there is a vertigo effect on the
door number saying 1.
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Sources Used:
A Dangerous Method. Dir. David Cronenberg. Perf. Keira Knightly.
Sony Pictures Classics, 2011. DVD.
I used t he film A dangerous Method as one of the films
analyzed, I used the film throughout as clips to highlight my
arguments and to convey my points further as well as make the
documentary more interesting with a variety of shots.
"Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder):
Signs, Symptoms, Treatment." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 02 Mar.
2014. <http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identitydisorder-multiple-personality-disorder>.
This website helped me find the symptoms of Multiple Personality
Disorder. It was a source for me to compare to characters in the
films and find the precise symptoms of the disorder.
Fan, Bo. "The Phonebooth Trio." YouTube. YouTube, 24 June 2007.
Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pRuP_ABpnQ>.
I used t he film The Phonebooth Trio as one of the films
analyzed, I used the film throughout as clips to highlight my
arguments and to convey my points further as well as make the
documentary more interesting with a variety of shots.
"Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences
Among Youths." Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web.
10 Jan. 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pubres/pdf/YV/YV_Compendium.pdf>.
This informative promotional article had a variety of statistics
I used throughout to highlight my arguments. The statistics were
useful when trying to convince the audience of something.
"Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences
Among Youths." Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web.
<http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/pdf/YV/YV_Compendium.pdf>.
This article also contained several statistics about mental
illness. I used to show the audience as much as I could about
the illnesses. The compendium contained a lot of information
used about mental illnesses throughout.
The Phonebooth Trio. Dir. Bo Fan. BBC - Film Network. BBC, 2007.
Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004tqhm>.
The film The Phonebooth Trio was originally posted on a BBC film
website which is where I got the directors name and the fact
that it dealt with depression.
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Julie Refsdal
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Psycho. Dir. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock. Perf. Anthony Perkins and
Janet Leigh. Universal Studios, 1960. DVD.
I used the film Psycho in my analysis. A lot of my arguments
deal with how Norman Bates acted and therefore the film was a
natural places to find examples of his illness and how the
audience may have reacted. It was also an inspiration to a lot
of the setting of my documentary.
"Screening Madness." Time to Change. Time to Change, 2009. Web.
15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.time-tochange.org.uk/sites/default/files/film-report-screening-madnesstime-to-change.pdf>.
Screening Madness also contained statistics used throughout the
documentary, which helped me highlight my points. The report was
informative about mental illness in film and about how it
effects the audience.
Sybil. Dir. Daniel Petrie. Perf. Sally Field. Lorimar
Productions, 1976. DVD.
I used the film Sybil in my analysis and therefore it was used
for a lot of the details about the character as well as an
inspiration for shots used in the video aspect of my
documentary.
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