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Stigma and Intolerance in "The Dark Knight"

posted August 26, 2008 - 11:38pm
Stigma and Intolerance in "The Dark Knight"

The Dark Knight. Have you seen it?

All right, you know the part where Harvey Dent has been roughing up one of the Joker's maniacally laughing henchmen (you know, the one that had Rachel's name on his nametag), and Batman shows up and explains to Harvey that the guy has been busted out of a hospital, that he's exactly the sort of freak that the Joker wants working for him because he's HIV positive and therefore sick, twisted and deviant?

Wait...what? It didn't happen like that!

Okay, maybe it happened like this: Batman shows up and explains to Harvey that the laughing maniac has been busted out of a hospital because he's blind and deaf and is therefore a sinful abomination before God and so, just the sort of freak that the Joker...

No, no, no! It didn't happen that way either! That's horrible, Lauren, how can you write that?

You've got me. What actually happened in the movie was that Batman identified the henchmen as being Joker-worthy because he was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.

Ah! Well, that's perfectly all right, then. Because everybody knows that schizophrenics really are violent maniacs who love to kill people randomly. That's scientifically sound, unlike all that claptrap about people with HIV being twisted deviants or the physically handicapped being sinful abominations...right?

Umm...no.

Last night, I went to see The Dark Knight, the latest incarnation of Batman on the silver screen, and the aforementioned scene angered me so much that I nearly walked out of the theater. Wanna know why it was only “nearly”?

Because the movie was just that good. I've been a Batman fan since I was about five years old, and I adored this film. It was better than the first in this series, gritty and dramatic, grounded in reality, with superb writing. And the acting? Oh! I could rhapsodize for hours about how the late Heath Ledger's performance really does live up to all the hype, or how the always-brilliant Gary Oldman has made this incarnation of Commissioner Gordon into a character worth standing up and applauding, or why Christian Bale is the once and future Batman...

But I won't. At least, not yet. I'm too busy thinking about some of the people I've known in my life - people living with schizophrenia – and what a tiny little toss-off line in a big, big movie will do to their lives.

Before I proceed, let me make one thing crystal clear: there is no truth, none whatsoever, in the commonly-held belief that schizophrenia turns people into perpetrators of random, maniacal violence. Nearly all schizophrenics have no history of violence (other than very common struggles with self-injury), and those who aren't violent don't suddenly “snap” and start killing people. This is because schizophrenia does not cause violent tendencies. Sure, it can exacerbate existing tendencies, can make someone who's already violent (for the same reasons any of us “sane” people are violent) more dangerous and unpredictable, but it won't turn a decent person into a danger. Even if every schizophrenic in the world experienced auditory hallucinations in the form of voices telling him or her to “kill,” they would have a choice of whether or not to obey.

Had Christian Bale been given the line, “He's a paranoid schizophrenic with a violent history,” I wouldn't be complaining, but he wasn't. It was just “paranoid schizophrenic,” and lines like that in popular media add layers and layers to the already paralyzingly thick stigma our society has against people with mental illness, stigma which makes it nearly impossible for them to try to live the normal lives that everyone deserves.

I used to work with schizophrenics, along with others who had mental illness, as a disability employment specialist. Not a single one of the dozen of schizophrenics I had as clients had a history of violent behavior. Yet nothing would get a job interview ended more quickly for one of them than making the choice of disclosing their diagnosis. Interviewers would ask a few questions about whether my clients were going to snap and kill all of their coworkers, then quickly show us the door. I would try to explain to them about myths and stigma, would give them my card and tell them to please call me to talk about the non-existent risk they were worried about.

No one ever called me. After all, what did I know? I, a mental health practitioner, might say that schizophrenics aren't dangerous, but hey, the movies said otherwise.

Not all movies, maybe. Russell Crowe won an Oscar just a few years back for his portrayal of mathematician John Nesh in A Beautiful Mind, but now, do people remember what disorder Nesh suffered from?

Couldn't have been schizophrenia. Who ever heard of a mathematician working for the Joker?



Comments

Good point

Point taken..I also know some Republicans and Democrats... Click here to find out how you can get paid to post items like this. It's free and easy to join.

Xombytes

@Free SEO Resources--You Need Look No Further than Christianity

Readers would probably get upset over that statement if they knew I was responding to your statement that you "don't know anyone who mistakes fiction for reality." Whether or not any of the Bible-stuff actually happened, I'm not arguing right now. What I'm argu-- stating is that many fictional things are believed and then falsely-verified when they're originally dealt with peripherally like the schizoids in "The Dark Knight." Example? Satan: not the end-all/be-all ruler of darkness, not even a rebellious angel; just some high ruler who got too big for his britches and forced his house to fall during his reign, but his name got 'Ad Hominym'd and used as 'a bad name' like we might use "Hitler" in the next revision of The Word! (And I know I 'referred to those mentally-disordered souls as Schizoids' again, because that's why they were where they were!) ---Uncle MythMan, who KNOWS you're as awesome as the 2009 Collection (in your special way), yet needs to hear *you*! Join Here!(PalinVP`09)

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Movies vs Reality

Personally, I don't know anyone who mistakes fiction for reality, whether it is a joke or a movie, (except for a couple of 5-7 year-olds), but I guess we must run in different circles. I think your comment could be found quite offensive, however, since you referred to people with this particular psychological disorder as Schizoids... Click here to find out how you can get paid to post items like this. It's free and easy to join.

Xombytes

@Free SEO Resources|But the Reason for 'Anger' Here is Deeper

Here, BATMAN doesn't spend a whole scene going over the crazy things that ALL SCHIZOIDS DO lol, it's more an inference made in passing. So Lauren's not simply mad because he made the statement and will continue to make it in every showing of the film, she's mad because that ~kind~ of statement is made in all types of shows (I can't think of any other examples right now, but *-THE DARK KNIGHT-* is -only one of them-). With a joke, everyone knows 'it's just make-believe;' which OUGHT to be the case with movies, but people are mistaking them for 'reality' more-and-more. ... but Uncle MythMan still KNOWS you're more awesome than NFL Cheerleaders, yet needs to hear *your* comments on http://is.gd/2s8V http://is.gd/22wY http://is.gd/1fSs http://is.gd/1fRg http://is.gd/1fSe & http://is.gd/1fSj -- Click His Stamp to Discover!

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@laurenv|Justice, Launched against Subliminal Prejudice? Okay...

I used to think that if people's minds are weak enough to let prejudices like that creep in, they wouldn't become powerful enough for their opinions to matter; but today wisdom doesn't matter as long as you've got 'position' or 'executive-status/-salary' or some other thing wise-people--while they certainly do enjoy the wealthy conditions when come to pass--don't ~treasure~ like 'honor.' ... yet Uncle MythMan still KNOWS you're more awesome than NFL Cheerleaders, yet needs to hear *your* comments on http://is.gd/2s8V http://is.gd/22wY http://is.gd/1fSs http://is.gd/1fRg http://is.gd/1fSe & http://is.gd/1fSj -- Click His Stamp to Discover!

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@laurenv|But People Don't Like to Focus on Badness Unless ...

... it's just plain bad, like The Joker, the devil, Hitler, Lee Harvey Oswald, etc. I think first of our favorite former-POW, John McCain. They say he talks about that experience too much, but--as I understand it--it *defined* his army-career (I'm sure he did all the basic-training and standard combat-stuff, but I don't see any Xombies blurbin` that 'news;' and I don't expect to, `coz it's BORING!) POW-camp is about as negative as a 'hospital.' The time I spent in the hospital for my illness (my brain had an adverse reaction to being knocked-around by oncoming traffic) was constructive to my actions now and -in the future, but you hear that I'm 'out of a hospital' and a few cuckoo-clocks and loose-bedsprings are added to my now-crosseyed avatar-in-your-mind. ... but Uncle MythMan still KNOWS you're more awesome than NFL Cheerleaders, yet needs to hear *your* comments on http://is.gd/2s8V http://is.gd/22wY http://is.gd/1fSs http://is.gd/1fRg http://is.gd/1fSe & http://is.gd/1fSj -- Click His Stamp to Discover!

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@Lmo|You & Sir Ken Robinson & I Agree

Schooling IS a problem, but I don't think it's ENTIRELY 'what the school-system does.' Rather, it's 'what the system allows to happen,' which is where parents should (of their own "free will," I understand) take up the slack. Creativity-expert Ken Robinson explains where the system screws that up, where the system in-effect makes the students more-valid than their parents' guidance. ... but Uncle MythMan still KNOWS you're more awesome than NFL Cheerleaders, yet needs to hear *your* comments on http://is.gd/2s8V http://is.gd/22wY http://is.gd/1fSs http://is.gd/1fRg http://is.gd/1fSe & http://is.gd/1fSj -- Click His Stamp to Discover!

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@mrbronc|"Laurenvorking Herself" Having Nothing to Do with ...

... the Person Who Chose that Name Here. I'm sure the 'person' with that name is AWESOME, but HERE`e is just the shadow`e casts through the words`e types here. Indeed, 'Laurenvork' IS a passionate shadow; but nothing more until readers' minds fill it with the meanings it inspires. Just as I hope 'mythman' is a passionate shadow; you can try to judge me by the horns that seem to grow out of my head, but ... uh-oh, look! They're popping out and turning into a bunny-rabbit! ...Does Uncle MythMan know you're still awesome-like-the-2008-Olympics? or is`e just commenting here to hear *your* comments on http://is.gd/22wY http://is.gd/1fSs http://is.gd/1fRg http://is.gd/1fSe & http://is.gd/1fSj ?? Click`r Stamp to Discover...BOTH

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But Persistence Doesn't Care if You're Good or Bad, laurenvork

In cartoon-terms, the angel- and the devil-on-your-shoulder CANNOT go away! 'Sane' people can usually out-reason that devil and can TRY to ignore him and can be so successful in that attempt that they THINK`e has gone ("Get behind me Satan!"), but--rather than actually "leave"--`e just knows when to shut up! And you KNOW that it's "actually" two ANGELS, with different intentions. Yes, they both want what's best for you; but one wants it because it seems best right now, and the other because it's what The Boss will let you have if you take it. ...Does Uncle MythMan know you're still awesome-like-the-2008-Olympics? or is`e just commenting here to hear *your* comments on http://is.gd/22wY http://is.gd/1fSs http://is.gd/1fRg http://is.gd/1fSe & http://is.gd/1fSj ?? Click`r Stamp to Discover...BOTH

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Things that are offensive

British comedian Jimmy Carr, known for his offensive brand of humor, (or should I say humour since he's British), said the following in an interview published in the UK edition of GQ magazine last year. (This was in response to "Even given the state of world affairs, you'd still happily tell Muslim jokes?") "...I credit my audiences with the intelligence to know what a joke is. I don't feel the need to apologise. If people don't like it, tough. What's weird is the way you can cover all the touchstones of comedy, and tell jokes about diseases and famines, war and pestilence. But at the end, someone will come up to you and have a go about one particular joke, and it's always the one that directly affected them and their family. And you think, OK, fine, so you'll laugh at everyone else's misfortunes, but not your own."

Xombytes

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