We’re All Mad Here

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was dressed plainly in a blue shirt and jeans. She didn’t look like she belonged in some of the clubs and bars where legends like Lady Gaga and Jay Z started their careers. Not many of us even recall hearing about the album created by Lizzy Grant, this young girl who spoke quietly despite her robust voice.

That’s because fame didn’t happen for Grant, but fame did happen for someone called Lana Del Rey, a name associated with mysterious and seductive sadness. Yet, Grant and Del Rey are the same person. However, Del Rey’s persona is nothing like Grant’s. It isn’t simply Del Rey’s soaring vocals and seedy self-styled videos that set her apart from Grant, but her ability to use depression as a publicity strategy.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Del Rey was quoted saying, “I wish I was dead already,” and this became the headline. This incited discussion about whether Del Rey’s words were simply a reflection of how she felt or a statement that crafted her image.

Regardless of her motivations, her discussion of mental health has become a double-edged sword. Many attribute the new dialogue about mental illness to such media recognition. Yet, at the same time, the media itself is creating the very ignorance and stigmatization we are working to break down.

What is most daunting about the media’s depiction of mental illness is how it is marketed and characterized. Oftentimes, we associate the mentally ill with traits like violence, irrationality, and a blatant disregard of personal space.

“Orange is the New Black” (2013-present) character Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren is a female inmate who lacks social skills and suffers from emotional outbursts. Despite the television series being based on a true story, “Crazy Eyes” is depicted extremely different from her real life inspiration.

Unlike the woman on whom she is based, not only does “Crazy Eyes” have stereotypical traits that we commonly associate with mental illness, but she’s also presented as a black woman, while her real life inspiration is Caucasian.

At first glance, it is very easy to dismiss “Crazy Eyes” as comedic relief within the cutthroat environment of Litchfield Penitentiary, but simultaneously, her name alone portrays the stigmatization of mental illness that has become inherent in pop culture. Reflecting on how she is constantly misunderstood and viewed as inferior, Crazy Eyes says, “I should have answered the questions in the reverse of how I felt. The opposite of me is better.”

All too often, not only do we label the real-life mentally ill with negative characteristics because of the media's portrayal, but we heavily stereotype mental illness by visualizing the mentally ill as disproportionately African American.

This racialization of mental illness, which has been encouraged by the media, historically had profound effects on already oppressed and marginalized communities by delegitimizing protests against oppressive social structures. For example, with the end of slavery, schizophrenia diagnoses increased among the black community, not because the members were at any increased risk for the disease, but because mental illness was used as a weapon to continue to dismiss people of this community. Today’s media must take into account how drastically the racialization of mental illness can affect minority groups.

The media frequently portrays women with mental illnesses as intent and conscious of their choices. Their actions are often portrayed as malicious rather than stemming from an illness in which the audience should sympathize with. However, at the same time, men with almost identical traits are often portrayed as admirable protagonists who are conquering their illness.

In the film “Gone Girl” (2014), when Amy Elliot Dunne marries Nick Dunne, her life seems to be finally shaping up. Yet, when Amy finds that Nick is cheating on her, she puts her grand scheme for retaliation in motion.

Amy’s character represents the skewed social attitudes about mental illness and women because no one can really pinpoint whether she suffers from narcissistic personality disorder or if she is simply a woman scorned. Either way, Amy is presented as a psychopath who remains unconcerned by how her actions affect anyone around her as long as she is still cast in the spotlight. Despite her husband Nick’s infidelity and abuse, the viewer often is sympathetic to his situation, while easily disregarding Amy’s pain and motivation.

When mentally ill white males are depicted in pop culture, their personalities are viewed as relatable to the human condition. White males have been cast for roles from serial killer Dexter to beloved stockbroker Jordan Belfort, and both are highly intelligent and exude charisma.

In another instance, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “Psycho” (1960) presents Norman Bates, a schizophrenic white man who can only be described as creepy and scary. Yet, mentally ill white males who are presented in pop culture with these negative traits are treated as outliers and specified cases, and these traits are viewed as not intrinsic because of their gender or race.

That said, mental illness is not always portrayed in a negative light in pop culture. Lana Del Rey sculpts suicide as a romantic and ethereal experience as she croons in “In the Sun,” “Baby, couldn't stop, it was suicide/ Headed for a cliff, eyes open wide.” Such glamorous lyrics have teens yearning to have a disorder, especially depression.

Yet what the media often fails to present is that depression isn’t solely overwhelming emotions of angst, but can feel like nothing. The media takes the terror out of mental illness. Of course, we shouldn’t regress to a state where mental illness is a taboo, but we do need to become aware of the depth and many faces of mental illness, instead of allowing it to remain behind the pictures of pills that are tagged “#beautiful,” “#softgrunge,” and “#romantic” on our Tumblr dashboards.

The next time we engage with pop culture concerning mental illness, it is important that we take note of how it depicts these circumstances and who it depicts. At the end of the day, our discussion oftentimes reinforces or resists the stereotypes and stigmas surrounding mental illness. We must reject our ideas about mental illness and truly educate ourselves on mental illnesses and the very real effects they have on lives.

Similarly, both casting directors and celebrities alike must think about whether their actions are furthering the romanticization and stereotypes that surround mental illness. Singers like Del Rey need to understand that their audience is comprised of teenagers, who are often blindly trying to emulate the words, choices, and actions of their musical idols, without truly understanding the consequences that follow.