Nigel 
July 2nd,2009
Winston Churchill (photo by UK Government)
Have you noticed how films now demonise a character?
It used to be easy for them. Just portray the character as black,gay or fat. Thankfully that’s not allowed any more,but even alcohol abuse or rampant gambling doesn’t work now because such characters must be portrayed as good people with a temporary problem. There are two options left. The writer could make the character a paedophile,or he could have another character use the dreaded phrase:‘He has a history of mental illness.’
This is how we’re persuaded that the character is (ring one or more as needed):a lunatic,will not make a credible witness,is entirely unsuited to adopt a child,cannot hold down a job,cannot be trusted,will fail catastrophically in their work,or is clearly the murderer. What have I missed out? If you need to emphasise the problem then use ‘schizophrenic’or ‘bipolar’,but make no effort to find out what these terms mean.
Winston Churchill suffered chronic depression. He was quite a character and must sometimes have been painful to live or work with,but he was talented and followed his work as war-time Prime Minister through to the end. These days if the press caught wind of a senior politician being mentally ill …
Mental illness creates problems,but it doesn’t have to stop us getting on with life and achieving a great deal. It’s just one of many disabilities thriving out there: not caring about other people,being totally obsessed with making money,seeking power for power’s sake,doing the minimum work you can get away with,gossiping maliciously behind people’s backs,and so on.
Hey guys,I suffer chronic depression,friend Ian has schizophrenia,Matt has Asperger’s,Sarah is Down’s syndrome. So what? We’re just people. We have different problems from you,but by and large we’re okay with your problems except when they genuinely have to be taken into account. How about showing us the same courtesy and respect?
And if any stage or screen writers are reading this,there are subtler and more convincing ways to show a character as potentially unfit for some purpose.
