www.hollywoodreporter.com: Film and TV have always shaped how audiences see the world. Movies and shows have transformed how people think about mental health, addiction, sexuality, and countless other topics once considered too private for the big screen. But when it comes to one of the most common parts of our daily lives—living with illness—many of today’s most prevalent chronic diseases are still largely missing from popular entertainment.
2 comments:
I think it is extremely necessary for young creators and designers entering the industry to be aware of the lack of representation of health problems and diagnosis. By being aware of what is lacking as far as representation, we as young creators can then lead the way in industrial change. Representation has come a long way, but addressing that not all mental diagnosis, and health issues need to be negative is an important development that must occur in Hollywood. This is especially true, and I agree with the article in this statement, during movies that have cancer involved, it often ends with morality. Although, this is not always the case, and survivor stories are just as important to tell and reflect what individuals go through. The studies that Lilly is leading are very important, and I hope they continue this work to bring light to Hollywood’s complicity, and to push creatives further in their stories to accurately represent America, and the world.
This feels like a bit of the chicken or the eggs situation, where our movies and TV shows don’t have any characters with chronic illness because it's so stigmatized to talk about illness, and then because of that there are no characters to showcase it. I do agree that that cycle can only be broken by media making an effort to portray illness in an authentic way that just isn't done very often. John Green talks about this problem a lot in regards to stigma around illness. Human beings want there to be a reason for someone's suffering, because then we can convince ourselves that said suffering will never happen to us. But illness is never a result of moral failing despite how it is often portrayed. I feel like this is a really big problem in stories because every detail needs to be metaphorically significant, but hopefully stigmatizing illness can be something that can change in the future.
Post a Comment