The Dark Knight Rises And Television Series

Media portrayal of the mental illnesses schizophrenia are damaging not only to individuals with schizophrenia, but also ‘normal’ people such as the families of those who are schizophrenic. The media portrays schizophrenia sufferers as violent peoples who will harm given the opportunity, and as such, should not be trusted and should be approached with caution. These portrayals are incorrect,

However, this fear is especially heightened at this time towards mental illnesses through the media, and personal experiences with those who had mental illnesses. In the media most villains are often linked to having the mental illness of sociopathy, psychosis or psychopathy, often causing many people to associate mental illnesses with evil. According to Psychology Today:

In addition, “The perceived link between mental illness and violence could lie in television and films that sensationalize murders committed by mentally ill persons…” (Callahan). The problem with people with mental illness being categorized as being violent is with popular TV shows showing people crimes such as murder being committed by people with mental illnesses. The media also plays a huge role in the reason why people with mental health issues are thought of as violent because they talk more about crimes such as murder being done where mental illness played a

The Joker has no care whether or not he committed a crime, in fact that’s his literal motif. He only cares about what he does, not who or what it affects. APD is diagnosed to those who contravene the rights of others without feeling bad or guilty. (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Those with Antisocial Personality Disorder are likely to be persistent criminals and take part in actions which would be grounds for criminal arrest and hurt others in ways that are often considered unethical as well as in violation of societies’ normalcy’s. Those with APD are often considered to be antisocial. The term antisocial is often confused to mean not with society as dictated by slang. Most of the public confuses the term antisocial by pairing it with the meaning to be alone with one’s self and away from others. The actual, correct usage of the word antisocial is to be literally against society; against the everyday rules that most people follow in order to be part of a society. While the intelligence of antisocial people is obviously well appropriated, they tend to have the ability to quickly analyze others and in doing so can realize what they desire and use that knowledge to manipulate said person.

Mental illness is often wrongly portrayed in the United States’ media creating stigmatization and misrepresentation. Mental illness “refers to a wide range of mental disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior” (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2015). Examples of disorders include anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Any “negative attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are called stigma” (Wilson et al., 2016, p. 2) and stigma can contribute to progression of mental illness because of its harmful effects due to misrepresentation in the media. In the recent years, the United States media has began to address the reprehension around the topic of mental illness, as it has began to develop into a rising problem in citizens across the nation. In the past, any portrayal of a figure or character with a mental disorder would be wrongly depicted, therefore, creating a distorted perception for the viewers (Stout et al., 2004, p. 1). Television shows have started to establish characters with mental illness in hopes to lessen the stigma behind ill characters due to the wrongful associations viewers may make. The way media viewers’ stereotype the mentally ill into categories can be harmful to the well being of those with disorders. Stereotypes can be so harmful that even medical professionals “contend that stigma is a major reason why one-fourth of the estimated 50 million Americans experiencing mental illness yearly will not seek

Metzl and Kenneth T. MacLeish, we can see how these misconceptions are formed. In one passage of this article, it states that “mass shootings represent anecdotal distortions of, rather than representations of, the actions of ‘mentally ill’ people as aggregate group” (Metzl and Macleish pg. 877). Basically, these anecdotal accounts reported by the media do not represent the big picture of the gun violence going on in the country, and it is because of this great exaggeration based on specific events that skews the public’s perception of the mentally ill. Also, the media often makes a distinction between mild and severe mental illnesses, connecting the latter to unpredictability and lack of self-control (Metzl and Macleish pg. 878). But this connection is also called into question by mental health research when serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia may actually reduce the risk of violence due to traits often associated with schizophrenia such as social isolation and withdrawal (Metzl and Macleish pg.

The information conveyed in this link is both interesting and appalling in various ways. The main thing that struck me was the labeling that is often given to individuals with mental illness. In fact, the topic of mental illness usually comes up in discussion following mass shootings or other heinous crimes. However, as mentioned in the article not all people who are mentally ill have violent tendencies. Moreover, this labeling is a result of the media attempting to garner more views and to find some plausible explanation for someone’s erratic behavior. Rather than hone in on stricter gun control laws. John Oliver discussed the stigma that forever follows a mentally-ill individual, and the words that are used to describe them such as; “Wack0,

“The id is the completely unconscious, impulsive, childlike portion of the psyche that operates on the “pleasure principle” and is the source of basic impulses and drives; it seeks immediate pleasure and gratification.” (Boundless, par. 5) The most memorable scenes in The Dark Knight begin with the Joker asking, “You wanna know how I got these scars?” (Nolan) and every time he gives a different reason. The first is that “My father, was a drinker, and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me and says, ‘Why so

Another stigmatizing attitude that was affected by news event and disorder label was anger. The results suggested that a mass shooting incited more anger in participants than a suicide. This result makes sense because of the amount of people killed or injured by the character; participants were angry that the character targeted innocent people. With regard to disorder label, the results indicated that there was no anger differences toward Jake Robinson in any of the disorder label conditions. This result does not make much sense because of previous studies regarding schizophrenia and depression. A previous study demonstrated that people negatively perceived labels of schizophrenia (i.e., “person with schizophrenia” and “schizophrenic);

The Joker, the notoriously insane enemy of Batman, once said that “madness is like gravity… All it takes is a little push” (Joker, 2008). That push, in terms of the diagnosis of mental illness, is the medicalization of human behavior which can become social constructions remaking the reality of a person’s mental state. Due to the social construction of reality and following the symbolic interactionism paradigm, the diagnosed begin to behave as expected of their new label. In addition, society begins to treat them differently, believing that the person accused of being mentally ill is suddenly mentally incompetent and incoherent even before proof is presented. Such social constructionism and symbolic interactionism in the diagnosing and treatment

Mental illness is heavily stigmatized in mainstream media sources, such as articles, books and movies. The character who is suffering from a mental disorder, which is stigmatized is often exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. The stigmatization of mental disorders is unfair to those who have mental disorders. The viewers of media are viewing those suffering from the disorders as “psychotic” or “crazy”, which is inaccurate and unjust to those affected. The media representation of the disorder provides vague and inaccurate causes and treatments. In the movie series “The Dark Knight Rises” and television series “Dexter”, the characters Joker and Dexter are afflicted with the mental disorder antisocial personality disorder; in which it creates

While “movies, newspapers, magazines, television shows, books, radio programs, and advertisements have all been vehicles for communicating the experience of…mental illness” it usually “[tends] to be a misrepresentation of the experience” (Corrigan 201). This has a major negative impact on people suffering from mental illnesses because they feel sentiments of “societal scorn and discrimination” which ultimately “leads to diminished self-esteem, fear of pursuing one’s goals, and loss of social opportunities” (Corrigan 201). There seems to be a revival in the world of movies and television of depicting forms of exploring the minds of serial killers which started in the 60s with the creation of the Horror film genre. There is almost a strange fascination amongst audiences to know more about the minds of murderers and those who are too sick to see the wrong they are doing. Films depicting mental health have a great impact on the lives of those suffering from mental illness and also the perceptions of those who do not suffer from mental illness. The mostly negative stigma surrounding those who suffer from mental disorders gives them a bad reputation that impacts most aspects of their lives.

The Joker can be different in many ways compared to normal people like us. One personality disorder that would describe the Joker would be Antisocial Personality Disorder. The Joker is the killer of the city. Everyone knows him as being the biggest theft and serial killer.

In most movies, you can almost always expect them to tell stories a little far from the truth. When producing a movie about a psychological disorder I can see how it can be easy to stray from the truth in order to keep an audience entertained. But there are some disorders that when put into a movie, can be very entertaining on their own and you wouldn’t have a need to stretch the truth. In the movie Silence of the Lambs, it tells a story about a man named Hannibal Lecter, who has an extreme case of Antisocial Personality Disorder. Many other movies showcase this disorder including, The Joker in Batman, Vito Corleone in The Godfather, and Alex DeLarge in Clockwork Orange.

The movie the Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Heath Ledger and Christian Bale, exhibits a wide variety of different psychological principles and theories. The Dark Knight is about the popular superhero, originating from the year of our Lord nineteen thirty nine, Batman and his struggle to preserve the order in the city of Gotham, where he was born and raised. He is challenged by the strongest adversary he has ever met, a disturbed name that goes by the name the Joker, when he claims that everyday Batman doesn’t give up his identity he will kill people. With the combined efforts of Harvey Dent, the plucky new District Attorney in Gotham, the police and their chief, Commissioner Gordon, and the of the vigilante Batman the Joker is brought down when the people of Gotham prove to him that they are prepared to believe in the natural goodness of people. However, before he is defeated he leaves a dark mark on the city of Gotham. While many of the psychological factors in the The Dark Knight are under the branch of Abnormal Psychology regarding the Joker and his schizophrenic henchmen, In my analysis of The Dark Knight I will be focusing on the principles of deindividuation, the fundamental attribution error, and group polarization.