![]() It’s also a mirroring of how Craig’s little sister sees him during an attack or when he has a bad day, in which she never diminishes his suffering and despite occasional juvenile taunts, she only sees it as a part of him. What is also so powerful about this scene is that you may hope his daughter takes empathy from the situation as he allows her to see him be vulnerable despite the verbal bashing. Her harshness feeds into his own internal voice. For a character that presents himself as being everyone’s friend in the centre, and builds himself on sarcastic, joyful humour to detach himself from the situation to see him physically retire into himself is reflective of how it feels inside to emotionally crumble as your mind becomes overpowering. Notably, Craig observes this through the blurred glass of the doors the shrills of Bobby’s ex echoing through the halls as you physically see him fold. It suggests that your mental health should be ‘fixed’ as you age, and having this belittling occur in front of his young child only adds insult to injury. In addition to this, his daughter’s mum is patronizing of his mental state and is cruel and abusive. Due to Bobby’s decline in his mental health, it takes a knocking onto his personal life including financial implications which means he cannot afford an apartment or give a place for his daughter to come to stay with him. ![]() The disparity between Bobby and Craig’s healing over that week is an incredibly relevant contextual point to make. The humour in the film is a reminder that mental health is not a complete blanket gloom, it fades in and out of severity and where there is dark, there is also light. There are also other members of the ward whose interactions have a profound impact on the teen as he comes to terms with the validation of his own mental health, gaining compassion and understanding for others suffering – but also looking on the lighter side of it. The other significant characters in the film are Bobby (Zack Gaflinkas) who is a regular patient on the ward after trying to commit suicide for the 6 th time, and Noelle (Emma Roberts), another teenage patient who is in for self-harm, become a part of Craig’s stay. It allows the word to grow a presence in the comfortable silence the viewer is feeling, it allows them not to be afraid of the term and any similar subsequent terminology that is used. ![]() The subject is dealt with sensitively and pragmatically, in which Craig is asked to fill out a doctor’s form detailing is admittance, and essentially expects him to relay his suicidal emotions in simple terms. What the film nails from the offset is the dealing of suicide a taboo word that usually sparks tepid fear into most, and understandably a trigger word for some. After a wave of fear and regret, he tries to leave but finds out that he legally must stay for five days until medical signs him off. With the teenage wing being closed, Craig is placed in the adult facility. To those who are unfamiliar with the film, It’s Kind of a Funny Story is the tale of Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist), a 16-year-old boy from New York who checks himself into a mental health facility after contemplating attempting suicide, in which he envisions jumping off a bridge into traffic under the observation of his family. Screenshotted quotes from the film had filtered through into Tumblr hashtags of #depression, #suicide #mentalhealth – which is where this small demographic of teenage digital natives embraced the film like an old friend that prematurely understood the nuances and non-simplistic nature of mental health, for it would not be for years to come until the government, businesses and society started to open up to the severity of the world’s mental health crisis. However, for a niche group of us, there was this immediate connection with the premise of it. It was snuffed at by critics and given minimal press coverage, which is an occurrence when it was a phenomenal year for quality cinema. The missing link in these, however, is looking at it from a teenage perspective.įor our focal piece: It’s Kind of a Funny Story, a small indie film emerging in the decade, had quite a prolific cast still freshly settling into Hollywood but felt very much brushed under the carpet. From looking at body imagery in Black Swan, exploring the darker side of institutions in Shutter Island and the pressures of social anxiety in The King’s Speech – these films helped to pave the way for more serious cinematic exploration of mental illness in society, in history and from an industry perspective. It was a year where mental health started to slowly creep into the eyes of the media and film, in a way that focused upon adults and the pressures that started to face them a decade into the new century.
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