One popular cultural myth about the mentally ill is the archetype of the "Sexy Crazy Girl", which we've seen in movies, comic books, and music. Losing your grip with reality is not a glamorous subject, but that's not what you get from Girl, Interrupted. It is apparent that all the girls in the movie had some type of dysfunctional personality, and bad things happen to some of them, but it just did not seem realistic. First off, most of the patients prtrayed were young, which made the care facility look like a youth home rather than a mental institution. but only the main (well known) stars, (Jolie and Ryder) were focal piont. I'll also note that about half the young girls in the movie, Ryder and Jolie included, simply don't look …show more content…
The movie seems to pay heavy homage to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in using a character like Lisa, as she seems at first glance like the young female version of Randall McMurphy. Farther in, however, we discover that Girl, Interrupted is more aptly described as being completely the opposite... Lisa really is probably more messed up than anyone else in the ward. Jolie has gotten plenty of acclaim for her performance here, but I was never really taken in. It seems she's playing nearly the same sexy-vixen she's played in a few other films already; just this time, she's in a t-shirt, and occasionally gets tied to a bed. It'd be interesting to see Jolie really stretch beyond her type; maybe in a Jane Austen movie or playing a nun.
Overall, Girl, Interrupted feels like a movie that could've been rawer, more intense, and more confrontational... ie, a lot less Hollywood. I found myself wondering what this adaptation of Kaysen's book would've been like if it had been done on a shoestring budget with unknown young actresses and a fledgling director. Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade, the short film by Billy Bob Thornton that led to the film Sling Blade came to mind. I'm also noticing that that's the 2nd time I referenced another film that is primarly about men, not women. Maybe we need an excellent film about mentally ill young women, and
The film “Girl, Interrupted” is a true story adapted from the original memoir by Susanna Kaysen. Set in the 1960s, it relates her experiences during her stay in a mental institution after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder following a suicide attempt. Many films include characters with a mental illness; the actors who play these characters have the immense challenge of staying true to the illness they portray.
Susanna Kaysen’s “Girl Interrupted,” is an autobiography in relation to Kaysen’s two-year stay at a mental hospital as she battles borderline personality disorder. Although in denial, Susanna Kaysen is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder but is unable to come to terms with her illness as she reassures herself she is fine. The reader learns that Kaysen is an unreliable narrator that is unable to discover the truth behind her illness. Through the exploration of her relationships, actions, and opinions, enhances the fact that Kaysen is mentally ill. Through her past and present relationship’s, Susanna demonstrates her self-destructive tendencies. Kaysen’s impulsivity in the novel is another indication that her diagnosis is fitting. Finally, Kaysen’s thought process and anxious behavior further prove her as a candidate for BPD.
In the book Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Susanna Kaysen was only 18 years old when she agreed to enter a medium security psychiatric facility in Boston, McLean hospital in April 1967, after a failed suicide attempt. She insisted that her over dose on aspirin was not a suicide attempt, but after a 20 minute interview the doctor decided she needed to be admitted to a hospital. During her prolonged two-year stay at the hospital Kaysen describes the issues that most of the patients in her ward have to deal with and how they all differently deal with the amount of time they must stay in the hospital for. While in the hospital Kaysen experienced a case of depersonalization where she tried to pull the skin of her hands to see if there were bones underneath, after a failed escape attempt. Soon, after going to therapy and analysis she was labeled as having recovered from borderline personality disorder. After her release she realizes that McLean Hospital provided patients with more freedom than the outside world, by being free responsibility of parental pressure, free from school and job responsibilities, and being free from the “social norms” that society comes up with. Ultimately, being in captivity gave the patients more freedom then in society and created a safe environment in which patients wanted to stay in.
In the short story “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaid is told from the perspective of two different people. There is a bonding relationship that is happening between the two people in this short story. The mother seems to be the main character in this essay uses a very strict tone to her daughter. The daughter is being told about how to do things in her life the correct way. The daughter barely speaks during this essay, she is doing more analyzing than arguing with her mother. When the mother gives the daughter advise she was trying to give her words of wisdom. But, at the same time, some of the ideas the mother gave to her child was offensive like “slut”. The mother has different perspectives throughout this essay with a lot of different
The 1991 movie My Girl tells the story of 11-year-old Vada Sultenfuss who, having lost her mother at birth , lives with her dementia-ridden grandmother and her job-oriented father in the funeral parlour that he owns and operates. The story follows Vada, an extreme hypochondriac who has many strange misconceptions about death, through a variety of life-changing experiences, including the engagement of her father and the devastating loss of her best friend, Thomas Jay. Through these experiences, the audience witnesses Vada’s social, emotional, and intellectual growth, as well as her changing views of death.
In order to properly view a story from a feminist perspective, it is important that the reader fully understands what the feminist perspective entails. “There are many feminist perspectives, and each perspective uses different approaches to analyze and interpret texts. One is that gender is “socially constructed” and another is that power is distributed unequally on the basis of sex, race, and ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, ability, sexuality, and economic class status” (South University Online, 2011, para. 1). The story “Girl” is an outline of the things young girls
1. In what way is Lars and the Real Girl and example of Coming of Age plot? A definition of coming of age is when a person decides to become an adult.
Life displays many petrifying inevitable circumstances to things that humanity must live by. A main significant theme in Girlhood is coming of age, and I believe that growing up is one of those petrifying inevitable issues that life leaves us to face by ourselves. Marieme, the protagonist played by Karidja Touré, eventually finds herself going through several difficulties in a rough environment. Unconfident about her choices in life, Marieme struggles constantly until she discovers her inner strengths. French screenwriter, and film director, Céline Sciamma, introduces the coming of age theme by screening different stylistic choices Marieme goes through, and later on, gradually presenting her developing comprehension skills
I also found that is Network the feminist theory (male gaze theory) doesn’t apply to this film, and maybe with good reason. Laura Mulvey ‘feminist theory’ (1975) states ‘The woman as icon, displayed for the gaze and enjoyment of men’. There was much interest in the view of the way we see females in cinema after her article. Diana Christensen’s (Faye Dunaway) character is entirely different to this way of film. She is smart focused and not objectifying herself to the audience or fellow members of staff. I found this interesting as cinema previously had the lead female vulnerable and out of touch with a masculine world. As if they need constant protection from an intimidating. As Diana is opposite, she embraces the challenge and often comes out
The film that I chose to write about is a Paramount Pictures presentation titled Mean Girls, starring Lindsay Lohan and also featuring a handful of Saturday Night Live cast members, including Tina Fey the author of this picture. The reason behind choosing this film is because it has a unique style of introducing characters, transitioning between scenes, and various tools to help spice up the film. Being one of my personal favorites, Mean Girls is a comedy about a home schooled teenage girl who enters high school for the first time. She tries to figure herself out by where she can fit in and who she needs to become friends with.
The film Girl, Interrupted focused on an eighteen year old girl by the name Susanna that was admitted into a private mental hospital after being accused of a suicidal attempt. The movie follows Susanna on her journey in the institution as she encounters women with different admittance stories. The one who intrigues Susanna the most is Lisa. Lisa is thought to be a sociopath with the way she manipulates those around her to get her way. She is constantly in and out of the institution causing those around to fear, yet admire her. My main focus will be on Lisa and although it was not specified in the film just how old she is, she seemed to be around the same age group as Susanna. This means that, according to Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages, she is on stage five or six. Stage five happens during adolescence where ones primary task is their identity versus their own role in society whereas stage six happens in young adulthood and one faces intimacy versus isolation. The article incorporated gives more insight on how Erikson’s stages play hand in hand with one another and can potentially affect the mental state of someone if not successfully fulfilled. There is also a possibility that, with the ‘symptoms’ of a sociopath, Lisa could have had past problems during what Sigmund Freud considered the anal stage of her childhood.
In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the narration of a mother lecturing her daughter with sharp, commanding diction and unusual syntax, both affect the evolution of a scornful tone, that her daughter’s behavior will eventually lead her to a life of promiscuity that will affect the way people perceive her and respect her within her social circle. As well as the fact that it emphasizes expectations for young women to conform to a certain feminine ideal of domesticity as a social norm during this time and the danger of female sexuality.
In both stories “Girl” and “Story of an hour” there is use of gender that describes a typically unfair direction of the role of a women, yet the use of gender is describe differently. The use of gender in the “Story of an hour” is mainly about how the wife of a husband who dies in the train crash is going to deal with life without her husband and if she will be able to handle it emotionally. While the story “Girl” deals with a mom that tells her daughter to be well mannered fit in socially with society. The role of women in both stories is to be well mannered and considerate with high standards of behavior. For instance, in the story the women tell the daughter “ on Sunday try to a walk like a lady” (123). A lady is what the mom wants her to become because she is afraid of her becoming unfit for society. Ladies are expected to be very polite and speak in good manners in order to fit the ideal women. In the “Story of an Hour” there is a specific way her family wants her to handle her husband death. The facts Mrs. Malland was told about the tragedy at a certain times makes me believe that writer wants us to believe that women have harder time dealing with her marriage life.
Have you ever wished that someone had given you a guide on how live the right way? Jamaica Kincaid does just that in her short story, Girl. The narrative is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly in Antigua in the 1980’s. While the setting of the story is not expressly stated by the author in the narrative, the reader is able to understand the culture for which Girl was written.
In the beginning of Rear Window, Lisa Fremont is introduced during a conversation between L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies and his nurse Stella. Throughout this conversation, Jefferies describes his girlfriend Lisa as being “too perfect, she’s too talented, she’s too beautiful, she’s too sophisticated, she’s too everything but what I want” (Rear Window). While this description of Lisa gives the viewers a preconceived impression about Lisa and that she is just not the one for Jefferies, due to a lack of spontaneity and being adventurous, it is not true. The reality of it is that Lisa is a financially stable, hardworking, and fashionable woman that does not need a man to survive. Lisa is strong and independent and is a true symbol of feminism. Hitchcock was very aware of the impact Lisa would have, especially in 1954 when the film was made, and had “Lisa parade around in the latest fashions not only for the sake of her elegance (though that was important to him) but to bring out certain cruel and immature tendencies in Jeff, who is afraid of committing to Lisa and who rationalizes his fear by attacks on her style and way of expressing herself” (Fawell). Even though Lisa is more than a compatible match for Jefferies, and he refuses to see so, Lisa confronts the lack of faith Jefferies has in her and sets out to prove him wrong, just as a true feminist would do.