Dark Phoenix gets appreciated for its mental health subtext
Aug 20, 2019 5:59:46 GMT
Grabthar's Hammer likes this
Post by Agent of Chaos on Aug 20, 2019 5:59:46 GMT
So a while back the cast and crew say that the movie was a metaphor for mental illness.
As soon as Simon [Kinberg] kind of told me what the movie was about we just started straight away sharing ideas, sharing materials. Simon gave me a big, big book on schizophrenia. I actually found this thing online, on YouTube. And it was just kind of repeating, repeating, repeating, what it sounds like being a schizophrenic. So I used to walk around town with all these voices in my head. Kind of feel it out. And see what it felt like. We also explored Multiple Personality Disorder as well. And what that feels like to kind of wake up and not know what you did, What happened and that shear panic and how that affects you. Jean is just... this movie... She's so, so, layered. She's so complex in this movie. I really don't think that I've done more research for a role than for this one and I loved every minute of it.
screenrant.com/xmen-dark-phoenix-jean-grey-mental-health-research/
"Something's happening to me."
"You don't know what it's like."
"Bad things happen to people I love when I lose control."
These are all things Sophie Turner says as Jean Grey in Dark Phoenix, the latest X-Men movie to hit theaters, to describe the changes—mental and physical—she experiences after a solar flare hits her during a mission in space. Grey describes hearing voices in her head she can't quiet, and she feels like she's lost control over her emotions and body. She starts distancing herself from those closest to her, afraid she'll hurt them if they get too close. And then she does. If this sounds more like someone dealing with a mental health issue than a superhero who's absorbed a powerful alien energy, well, that's the point.
Director Simon Kinberg and Turner told me as much at the film's press junket in London. (Full disclosure: Twentieth Century Fox covered my travel.) "Jean Grey is imbued with this superpower that she can't control, and she starts hearing voices," Kinberg says. "While fantastical or supernatural, I really wanted to ground it in something real and human. We talked about, basically, the struggle with your reality and your sense of identity."
www.glamour.com/story/dark-phoenix-review
Here is a what a couple of mental health doctors have to say about that.
Andrea Letamendi, associate director of mental health training, intervention and response for the Office of Residential Life at UCLA, sees the car crash, the cosmic event and Professor X’s manipulation of her mind as trauma. “Broadly defined, a trauma is any experience that causes intense fear, helplessness, loss of control, or threat of annihilation—a circumstance in which someone’s personhood is threatened,” says Dr. Letamendi, who often examines psychological themes found in comic books, science fiction, and other pop culture narratives.
Professor X inadvertently sets Grey up for PTSD by building walls in her mind. When it comes to a traumatic experience, “if we don’t face what happened, and we avoid it, over time it’s the avoidance that leads to PTSD,” Dr. Koenen says. “Rather than processing the trauma at that time–or getting help processing the trauma–Professor X actually did the opposite by setting up walls/repressing/blocking the trauma from her memory,” she explains. “As a result, she was never able to integrate that experience into her life and then, when it comes up later, it explodes.” She compares it to when children experience trauma and their families–usually with good intentions–decide the best way to cope is to pretend it didn’t happen.
After she becomes the Dark Phoenix, she starts to exhibit common symptoms that many woman struggle with every day. “She has the raw/unfiltered emotions so common in PTSD,” says Dr. Koenen. She starts having flashbacks to the car accident and the cosmic event; she also starts feeling out of control of her body. “I’m scared. And when I lose control, bad things happen to the people I love,” she says at one point. Dr. Letamendi says the “significant changes in her mood-state and her sense of herself and the world” could be signs of PTSD. Dr. Koenen identifies her outbursts and rage as symptoms of PTSD. Dr. Letamendi also points to symptoms like “hyper arousal and reactivity, inability to sleep, feeling almost hyper vigilant, on edge, just really kind of physically self aware.” Both doctors agree that the shame and self-blame she experiences also align with PTSD.
A big one that is specific to women is feeling isolated. “You feel like you don’t belong here. You don’t. They can’t begin to comprehend what you are,” Vuk, the villain who is after the Dark Phoenix powers, says to her. “I think what we are seeing with her in terms of genders is that sense of avoidance of closeness. We do see that more with women who have PTSD,” Dr. Letamendi points out. This is illustrated when Grey flees to deal with these powers alone, leaving her loved ones behind even though they want to help her.
Of course, Grey isn’t the first superhero to suffer trauma. But it’s rare we see a superhero struggle with their identity so much as a result. Especially a woman. “I think the trope is that male superheroes experience post-traumatic growth,” Dr. Letamendi points out. “Batman is a good example where he experiences childhood trauma and he transformed the negative experience into a pro-social mission. We see that a lot with most male superheroes; they have some turning point or origin story that includes trauma and typically leads to post-traumatic growth.”
parade.com/890941/maggie_parker/dark-phoenix-is-an-eye-opening-lesson-in-what-ptsd-is-like-for-women-and-why-that-matters/
Other people have noticed.
I think it’s fitting. The X-Men are suppose to be about representation, which is why I can’t stand New Mutants.
As soon as Simon [Kinberg] kind of told me what the movie was about we just started straight away sharing ideas, sharing materials. Simon gave me a big, big book on schizophrenia. I actually found this thing online, on YouTube. And it was just kind of repeating, repeating, repeating, what it sounds like being a schizophrenic. So I used to walk around town with all these voices in my head. Kind of feel it out. And see what it felt like. We also explored Multiple Personality Disorder as well. And what that feels like to kind of wake up and not know what you did, What happened and that shear panic and how that affects you. Jean is just... this movie... She's so, so, layered. She's so complex in this movie. I really don't think that I've done more research for a role than for this one and I loved every minute of it.
screenrant.com/xmen-dark-phoenix-jean-grey-mental-health-research/
"Something's happening to me."
"You don't know what it's like."
"Bad things happen to people I love when I lose control."
These are all things Sophie Turner says as Jean Grey in Dark Phoenix, the latest X-Men movie to hit theaters, to describe the changes—mental and physical—she experiences after a solar flare hits her during a mission in space. Grey describes hearing voices in her head she can't quiet, and she feels like she's lost control over her emotions and body. She starts distancing herself from those closest to her, afraid she'll hurt them if they get too close. And then she does. If this sounds more like someone dealing with a mental health issue than a superhero who's absorbed a powerful alien energy, well, that's the point.
Director Simon Kinberg and Turner told me as much at the film's press junket in London. (Full disclosure: Twentieth Century Fox covered my travel.) "Jean Grey is imbued with this superpower that she can't control, and she starts hearing voices," Kinberg says. "While fantastical or supernatural, I really wanted to ground it in something real and human. We talked about, basically, the struggle with your reality and your sense of identity."
"I think it's important, especially in superhero movies, to portray these characters with real problems," says Tye Sheridan, who plays Grey's boyfriend, Scott Summers/Cyclops. "I think a lot of people look up to a superhero. You want, as a fan or as someone watching these movies, to believe that you could be like that person and that person is just like you. It allows you to believe in growth and the betterment of your person."
www.glamour.com/story/dark-phoenix-review
Here is a what a couple of mental health doctors have to say about that.
Andrea Letamendi, associate director of mental health training, intervention and response for the Office of Residential Life at UCLA, sees the car crash, the cosmic event and Professor X’s manipulation of her mind as trauma. “Broadly defined, a trauma is any experience that causes intense fear, helplessness, loss of control, or threat of annihilation—a circumstance in which someone’s personhood is threatened,” says Dr. Letamendi, who often examines psychological themes found in comic books, science fiction, and other pop culture narratives.
Professor X inadvertently sets Grey up for PTSD by building walls in her mind. When it comes to a traumatic experience, “if we don’t face what happened, and we avoid it, over time it’s the avoidance that leads to PTSD,” Dr. Koenen says. “Rather than processing the trauma at that time–or getting help processing the trauma–Professor X actually did the opposite by setting up walls/repressing/blocking the trauma from her memory,” she explains. “As a result, she was never able to integrate that experience into her life and then, when it comes up later, it explodes.” She compares it to when children experience trauma and their families–usually with good intentions–decide the best way to cope is to pretend it didn’t happen.
After she becomes the Dark Phoenix, she starts to exhibit common symptoms that many woman struggle with every day. “She has the raw/unfiltered emotions so common in PTSD,” says Dr. Koenen. She starts having flashbacks to the car accident and the cosmic event; she also starts feeling out of control of her body. “I’m scared. And when I lose control, bad things happen to the people I love,” she says at one point. Dr. Letamendi says the “significant changes in her mood-state and her sense of herself and the world” could be signs of PTSD. Dr. Koenen identifies her outbursts and rage as symptoms of PTSD. Dr. Letamendi also points to symptoms like “hyper arousal and reactivity, inability to sleep, feeling almost hyper vigilant, on edge, just really kind of physically self aware.” Both doctors agree that the shame and self-blame she experiences also align with PTSD.
A big one that is specific to women is feeling isolated. “You feel like you don’t belong here. You don’t. They can’t begin to comprehend what you are,” Vuk, the villain who is after the Dark Phoenix powers, says to her. “I think what we are seeing with her in terms of genders is that sense of avoidance of closeness. We do see that more with women who have PTSD,” Dr. Letamendi points out. This is illustrated when Grey flees to deal with these powers alone, leaving her loved ones behind even though they want to help her.
Of course, Grey isn’t the first superhero to suffer trauma. But it’s rare we see a superhero struggle with their identity so much as a result. Especially a woman. “I think the trope is that male superheroes experience post-traumatic growth,” Dr. Letamendi points out. “Batman is a good example where he experiences childhood trauma and he transformed the negative experience into a pro-social mission. We see that a lot with most male superheroes; they have some turning point or origin story that includes trauma and typically leads to post-traumatic growth.”
parade.com/890941/maggie_parker/dark-phoenix-is-an-eye-opening-lesson-in-what-ptsd-is-like-for-women-and-why-that-matters/
Other people have noticed.
I think it’s fitting. The X-Men are suppose to be about representation, which is why I can’t stand New Mutants.
