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TV & Mental Illness, continued
Oct. 3rd, 2013 08:33 pmSo I finally watched Perception.
I really do appreciate the show's attempts to destigmatize mental illness. I think it's been pretty successful when it comes to schizophrenia and OCD. I also really like the fact that it highlights various neurological disorders, some of which are really not well known, and the fact that it portrays the protagonist's ongoing struggle with whether to take his medications, learn to live with his condition, or find a cure.
** some spoilers below **
A few weeks ago, I got into a Tumblr debate about the video game 999 & its portrayal of prosopagnosia. I took issue with the game's portrayal of the antagonist as being driven to do terrible things in order to find a cure for his prosopagnosia. Other people argued that my interpretation was wrong because the villain was just an evil douchebag who would've done terrible things with or without prosopagnosia.
I became kind of frustrated because I disagreed, but couldn't really articulate why. As it turns out, episode 2 of season 1 of Perception has a pretty good portrayal of a villain who has prosopagnosia, but whose prosopagnosia isn't blamed for his evil doings. He isn't driven to be a douchebag because of his prosopagnosia in any way (he's a douchebag because he mistreats his wife). That is how you write a villain with a neurological condition, if you want to do so; if you ever frame the villain's motives in terms of his/her disability, then yes, that will be problematic.
** end of spoilers **
In terms of other intersectional stuff, Kate Moretti is an awesome badass lady. I do wish the main cast were a bit more diverse. Also, as with most other TV shows, I wish the series in general was less heterosexual-normative (which I guess is not a word, but I don't know a word that encompasses both heteronormativity and sexual-normativity).
I really do appreciate the show's attempts to destigmatize mental illness. I think it's been pretty successful when it comes to schizophrenia and OCD. I also really like the fact that it highlights various neurological disorders, some of which are really not well known, and the fact that it portrays the protagonist's ongoing struggle with whether to take his medications, learn to live with his condition, or find a cure.
** some spoilers below **
A few weeks ago, I got into a Tumblr debate about the video game 999 & its portrayal of prosopagnosia. I took issue with the game's portrayal of the antagonist as being driven to do terrible things in order to find a cure for his prosopagnosia. Other people argued that my interpretation was wrong because the villain was just an evil douchebag who would've done terrible things with or without prosopagnosia.
I became kind of frustrated because I disagreed, but couldn't really articulate why. As it turns out, episode 2 of season 1 of Perception has a pretty good portrayal of a villain who has prosopagnosia, but whose prosopagnosia isn't blamed for his evil doings. He isn't driven to be a douchebag because of his prosopagnosia in any way (he's a douchebag because he mistreats his wife). That is how you write a villain with a neurological condition, if you want to do so; if you ever frame the villain's motives in terms of his/her disability, then yes, that will be problematic.
** end of spoilers **
In terms of other intersectional stuff, Kate Moretti is an awesome badass lady. I do wish the main cast were a bit more diverse. Also, as with most other TV shows, I wish the series in general was less heterosexual-normative (which I guess is not a word, but I don't know a word that encompasses both heteronormativity and sexual-normativity).
