Sometimes words can’t explain Depression alone, movies are made about depression which can be a torch of light under the spell of Darkness
“The reason why I keep my feelings to myself, because I can’t explain them.”
Have you heard people saying this to you, or you are saying to someone?
The person who has been completely mentally tired and has been going through a lot of things inside their heads with no answerable explanation to anyone, just drowning deep inside it with no escape to the world is actually suffering from the mental trauma which we termed as Depression. And that is the reason they feel they can’t express themselves because no one will understand.
Nearly around 300 million people around the world become the captive of the mental suffering – depression. Ranging from teenagers to adults and aged persons, depression has become common to all age groups. Each one has their own unique story to share but due to society restraints and prejudice, they landed on the shelf of their own isolated self.
Depression is a mental health condition that makes the person feel lonely, a state of no energy, feeling lazy, pessimistic about everything, under-confident, unmotivated, detached from the world at large. They can act irrational and destructive into their actions which can be catastrophic.
Different people with different state of mind act differently in their different situations, the way one person reacts or acts to their mental state will be different from the other person’s reaction and action.
Importance of Movies
- Movies are often the medium of entertainment into the lives of the people. It is considered to be a popular form of art that impacts the masses which can be through comedy, action, social cause genres.
- To entertain ourselves we go to watch movies to feel light, to laugh, to be just entertained as a simple way we can. Through certain movies, we relate to certain events of our lives or learn certain aspects or get lesson about how one must not be like or must be like.
- Movies affect powerfully to many sections of the society because of the combined images, music, dialogues, lighting, special effects, which in turn helps us reflect on our lives.
- Because of certain movies, people act violently, some people take it too seriously,some people get hurt,some people just enjoy, some people learn, all these acknowledgement happens through movies.
Movies have a great impact on the minds and hearts of the movies. It can capture the isolated and lonely state of mind.
“When people don’t know what depression is, they became judgemental.”
It is indeed true!
There are hundreds of movies made on the topic of Depression, the filmmakers knows the importance of movies on to the lives of masses and knows how they can help through the medium of communicating ideas, feelings, experiences i.e movies to the people suffering with the mental pain.
There are certain selected movies mentioned below which has been seen and have been recommended by psychologists to the sufferers of all ages suffering different feelings.
MOVIES ABOUT TEENAGE DEPRESSION
Maybe teenagers don’t react to the talks of theirs parents at this stage, because they feel parents are their enemies. Movies are the mediums which neither they take as their enemy nor as a matter of nothingness. Watching movies are some of teenagers favourite things. They may can relate through movies and understand their situations better.
1.The perks of being a Wallpaper (2012)
“An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world.” This movie discusses depression and psychotic episodes showing that there is life after these issues.
2. Silver linings playbook (2012)
“After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.” One of the few Hollywood big name movies that have helped bring light to these issues.
3. The Art of getting by (2011)
George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who has made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.” An interesting take on the classic teenage drama that, whilst not directly about mental health, can help those struggling.”
4. Is there a formula for love( 2014)
A movie which talks about self harm and depression.
It is a story about a teenager who is” A socially awkward teenage math prodigy who finds a new confidence and new friendships when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.”
5. Inside out (2015)
The idea that allows yourself to express sadness is just as important as expressing happiness, is the message which this movie gives.
Eleven-year-old Riley has moved to San Francisco, leaving behind her life in Minnesota. She and her five core emotions, Fear, Anger, Joy, Disgust and Sadness, struggle to cope with her new life.
With time we are entering to a modern lifestyle, the weaker our minds and hearts are becoming.Today the number of depression cases in Teenage has increased a lot.
Teenage is being considered as age of changes of all sorts, there are hormonal changes, personality changes which leads them into a state where they feel that they are the righteous person, they become rebellious when things don’t come their way,they often make wrong decisions which they regret later.
The causes of depression can be stress of scoring well, school performances, social status among peers, sexual orientation, family life, a state where they feel no one is there to understand their feelings.
MOVIES ABOUT LONELINESS AND DEPRESSION
- It’s a kind of a Funny story (2010)
Craig checks into a psychiatric ward when he realises that he is suicidal. He undergoes a transformation as he comes across people less fortunate than him.
- Good Will Hunting (1997)
Will Hunting, a genius in mathematics, solves all the difficult mathematical problems. When he faces an emotional crisis, he takes help from psychiatrist Dr Sean Maguireto, who helps him recover.
- Finding Neverland(2005)
Barrie forges a platonic bond with a widow, Sylvia, who has four kids. He is motivated to pen down a play about a bunch of kids who do not desire to grow up, and this ends up bringing them closer.
- Forrest Gump(1994)
Forrest Gump, a man with a low IQand crooked spine, joins the army for service where he meets Dan and Bubba. However, he cannot stop thinking about his childhood sweetheart Jenny Curran, whose life is messed up.
5. Ordinary People(1980)
Tormented by guilt following the death of his older brother, Buck, in a sailing accident, alienated teenager Conrad attempts suicide. Returning home following an extended stay in a psychiatric hospital, Conrad tries to deal with his mental anguish and also reconnect with his mother, Beth who has grown cold and angry, and his emotionally wounded father, Calvin with the help of his psychiatrist.
MOVIES ABOUT SUICIDAL DEPRESSION
An Angel at my Table
This movie stresses the fact that the inability to cope with stressors is the hallmark of Depression. The character of Janet in the Film firmly portrays the inability.
The Virgin Suicide (1999)
The movie opens with the youngest sister attempting suicide. Her suicide attempt forces the girls’ parents to keep them all under claustrophobic, surveillance-like watch. Their confinement throws all five sisters into depressive and isolated behaviors.
This movie depicts how the narrator an adult boy shows the perspective of the sisters and as well as how society saw them.
World’s Greatest Dad (2009)
The movie tells the story of a man’s son who dies in an autoerotic asphyxiation accident. The father stages his son’s accident to look like a suicide.
The father then writes a suicide note as his son portraying his battle with depression. In reality, the character of the Father is suffering from clinical depression allowing him to articulate the letter.
World’s Greatest Dad shows the strange shift that occurs when death gets involved. People who were once turned off by the idea of mental illness are suddenly now sympathetic.
Instead of the town thinking that his son was a dump jerk, the father’s suicide letter convinces the town that his son was a talented poet with a serious mental illness.
Movies that help with Depression
There are movies like:
- Life of Pie,
- Amelie,
- lost in Translation
- Pride & Prejudice (2005),
- legally blonde
- The hours
All these movies are about how a person can fight their inner darkness of self-defeat, low self- esteem, pessimism, isolated self, feeling a state of emptiness, powerlessness.
These movies prep the thought of TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF, which means giving a new start whenever one fell down in their journeys of life, having confidence even if the world criticizes you, to change your attitude towards your life.
Giving a new start is what it means to be alive!
Dealing with mental illness is not an abnormality or a crime that has to be kept under a shelf. It is a mental issue that has to be taken care of with lots of attention and careful understanding of the illness.
Movies are just medium which showers the light of certain aspects of lives which usually have been ignored by the people in their daily lives. It can make things easier to learn and reflect on our lives. It is important to choose the right movies for oneself!
