Depictions of Bipolar Disorder in the Media
Having the experience of growing up with a severely bipolar father, just recently my mother asked me to watch the movie, “Mr. Jones”. The movie came out in 1993, when I was just six years old and too young to understand bipolar disorder. Now that I’m older I’m able to watch the movie and easily relate as Richard Gere plays a man (Mr. Jones) that has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Gere’s character experiences the highs and lows of bipolar disorder such as lack of sleep without feeling tired, increased energy, and an increase in activities. Mr. Jones eventually seeks help from a female doctor named Libbie that takes interest in more than just helping him with treatment. He soon falls in love with her, but is reluctant to get rid of his so called “ups” because he feels like they are a part of who he truly is. It is very common in bipolar patients to not feel like their manic stages are ‘bad’. Through this, Mr. Jones falls into a deep depression and experiences suicidal feelings. I feel like this part of the movie hits closest to home, and truly portrays the thoughts of a man experiencing mania. In my opinion, the worst way that I have seen bipolar disorder represented in the media is through humor. I believe that both the individuals that experience this disorder and family members and close friends of those with bipolar disorder experience too much pain and hardships for bipolar to be taken so lightly.In the YouTube video, “Bipolar Al,” different cartoons interact with Al, as he blurts out different phrases and lose associations. He talks very rapidly about one subject, and switches to another immediately. One part in particular says, “Bipolar Al, sometimes he’s somebody, sometimes he’s somebody else,” (Bipolar Al 0:01-0:09). This video portrays Al as being more schizophrenic than bipolar. The characters that interact with Al give him strange looks and walk away from him while he’s talking. This video made an...