So overused in these type of movies. And it perpetuates the stereotype that the mentally ill are all dangerous. They are actually no more prone to violence than, you or I.
sharePlease cite your reference article or study that supports your premise that escaped mental patients are no more dangerous than you or me.
Night
Geez, only one comes to mind immediately.
I'm sure there's plenty, but apparently not enough to make me reel off a dozen of them.
The one that pops in immediately is Michael Meyers and of course The Dream Team is my favorite.
"Let me just recap this for you real quick. We start off in a blender, now we're saving lives!"
Agreed. What a weak, cliche twist
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Long ago men competed on a show to date a woman who competed on a show to date Flava Flav.
Tired of the escaped mental patient cliche
I understand you're tired of that and I am tired of similar complaints in the quote below.it perpetuates the stereotype that the mentally ill are all dangerous. They are actually no more prone to violence than, you or I.
Oh,well.
While I agree with you that I would have far preferred something weird/supernatural going on, versus "oh some crazy people killed and replaced our grandparents", I have the dispute the rest.
Not ALL mental illnesses are violent or cause violence, that is very true. And people with simple issues don't deserve to be demonized. But this white knight-ism that is pervading the internet these days, about mental illness, as if it's a uniform thing, needs to stop. On the same token that not all people with mentally ill people are violent, it is also 100% true, that EVERY person who is violent and/or dangerous in this world, IS psychologically speaking, mentally ill.
That isn't really disputable fact. If you are prone to outbursts of violence, if you have extreme anti-social behavior or tendencies, if you carry out extreme and harmful behavior towards others, that means you are in some form or fashion mentally ill. Period. Meaning that ALL killers, rapists, molesters, abductors, abusers, etc., ARE mentally ill or unstable. Mentally and emotionally unstable people, ARE far more prone to violent or anti-social behavior than "you or I".
Those aren't opinions, they are clinical facts. That is why people who are severely disturbed or mentally ill, NEED tons of help, need medication, need therapy, and in cases like these two old people, constant supervision and likely needing to be kept away from the general population for their own and everyone else's safety.
This idea that having stories about crazy people doing crazy things, is somehow "demonizing mental illness", is absurd. No one with mental illness of any kind deserves to be demonized SIMPLY for that. However, it is perfectly right or understandable to demonize the evil ACTIONS that many disturbed or unstable people commit. Again, pretty much every single act of murder, abuse and/or extreme domestic violence that you've ever heard of, is committed by people who are NOT stable, mentally or emotionally "healthy" people. People who don't have those kinds of "issues", don't just randomly act out in that way. Those kinds of actions, that kind of acting out, is a direct result of building mental or emotional trauma, tension, and instability.
So people complaining about movies or other fiction depicting "crazy" people committing violence, atrocity or murder? It's pointless and silly, because historically speaking, clinically speaking, those actions are direct results of mental illness, IE "being crazy". Everyone can get there, everyone has their limits. Everyone can be pushed far enough that they "break". That doesn't mean everyone is secretly "crazy" (or are they?). But it DOES mean that everyone who "breaks", and commits such awful, evil acts, IS "crazy". End of story.
I'm not sure what you're basing that on Godzilla1981 as you seem to say it with some certainty, but that is absolutely not the case at all. I do work in the field of mental health and quite simply bad does not equal mad. I've heard many a lay person question why we do not Section an individual for certain behaviours and it is because there is no clinical diagnosis. We're all somewhere on the spectrum of mental health, but absolutely must not use clinical illness to minimise bad behaviour. Just because something is abhorrent to you, does not mean the person is mentally unwell or unstable as you put it. I'm not saying that I have an understanding of what causes such awful behaviour such as murder, extreme violence and rape etc but its not mental illness.
shareI'm sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but it is. If you ask most psychologists, they would likely agree. It takes a disturbed mind to commit acts like premeditated murder, or continued child abuse (meaning not an isolated incident out of frustration or anger), or rape. You can't commit to doing that to another person, and not have something seriously broken inside.
I'm not trying to "blame mental illness", if you will. I'm simply stating practical fact, that you have to beyond a certain point in your head, to cross those kinds of "lines". Yes, it's bad behavior, you're right. But there's "bad behavior", as in acting out or acting up as a child does. There's small time criminal activity like stealing, drug dealing, etc. And then there's "crossing the line", and committing yourself, mentally and physically, to hurting other people, or worse. That isn't something that people with "good" mental health, really will, or even can, bring themselves to do.
Don't get me wrong. I think most people, if pushed far enough, can get there, sadly. GOOD people. But that still doesn't mean that once they HAVE been pushed that far, once they HAVE gotten to that place, that they aren't in a very BAD place in their head, in their heart. It doesn't mean they AREN'T broken inside, with serious mental health issues.
That is all I was saying. Portraying crazy people committing horrific acts isn't demonizing ALL people with mental health issues, because as has been pointing out, many, or even arguably most who have some kind of issue, are not violent. But, that doesn't mean they couldn't be, if pushed. And the point is, while not ALL "crazy" people commit horrific acts (obviously), all people who commit horrific acts ARE, by definition, "crazy". They may well "get better", later, and regret. But in the moment those lines are crossed, and they commit themselves to evil actions, they are absolute in the realm of "crazy".
Mental illness comes up in horror movies so often because it is legitimately scary to most people, for multiple reasons. Seeing someone you love like a parent or grandparent fade away to dementia and Alzheimers is very traumatic and disconcerting. People don't fully understand most mental illnesses either, which makes them seem much scarier than they are.
Regardless of how realistic it actually is, having a horror villain driven by mental instability is very believable and scary to most audience members.
There is absolutely nothing in this movie that suggests the mentally ill are all dangerous.
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