Media representation of

1. Representation of Mental Health
in Media
By Connor Flello

2. Dominant Stereotypes I’ve used
• At the beginning, I’ve made John (the
protagonist) hopeless at the fact he’s losing a
game of chess. However, I’ve changed it so at
the end it’s positive where John overcomes his
problems.

3. Thomas Scheff (1966)
• Negative representations predominate in the
media, while a significant minority of the UK
public appear to possess negative attitudes
towards people with mental health problems
and their care and social participation in the
community.

4. • Much of Scheff’ s work therefore deals with
social perceptions of deviant behavior, public
attitudes towards, and social reactions, to
mental illness (as one form of deviancy) and
the stigmatization of individuals labeled
mentally ill.

5. • Adults are exposed to alternative models of
mental illness, including medical and
psychological models. However, the
stereotypes learned in childhood are
continually reinforced through both the media
and everyday social interaction.

6. How does my film represent mental
health?
• My film is a surreal take of DiD (Dissociative
Identity Disorder, or more commonly known
as Multiple personality disorder). However, it
is more positive as it shows the protagonist
over throwing his problems and winning a
game of chess with another version of himself.

7. Ryan Howes, Ph.D
• “The media’s job is entertainment, not
education. What we see on TV or in the
movies is therefore several times more
dramatic, dangerous, condensed, frightening
and/or bizarre than reality”0

8. Films that portray DiD/MPD
• Hide and Seek
• Fight Club
• Identity
• (Arguably) Inception

9. How it’s revealed to the audience
• It’s not a massive plot twist, the fact that John
has mental health problems is easily dismissed
in the script.
A: Out of any head I could have been in, I have
to call that thick skull of his home, don’t I?