Movie Essay Mental Illnesses

Assignment:

Choose one of the following movies that deals significantly with a psychiatric or mental illness:

• A Beautiful Mind,
• Touched with Fire,
• Girl Interrupted,
• The Soloist,
• Silver Linings Playbook,
• Side Effects,
• The Joker,
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975),
• Rain Man (1988),
• It’s Kind of A Funny Story (2010),
• The Perks of Being A Wallflower (2012),
• Brain on Fire

Other movies may be accepted at the instructor’s discretion but must be approved by instructor prior to submission.

After viewing the movie, write a 1,000-1,200-word essay that describes the mental illness or illnesses that were portrayed and if the illness was appropriately based on signs and symptoms of the condition. Discuss how this portrayal influences society’s view of psychiatric and mental illnesses. Use scenes from the movie to support your statements. Basically, the paper will answer the following questions:

• Summarize the movie including what mental illnesses are portrayed by the actors.
• Were the illness or illnesses portrayed accurately? Why and/or why not? Discuss scenes in the movie that support your answer.
• How does the movie influence society’s view of mental illness?