Something I continually find to be interesting about this film is the earlier portion of the movie regarding our characters in a mental hospital. How the narrative is framed we see everything from the protagonist’s point of view so we, like him, believe that he shouldn’t be in the hospital. This is something that many patients believe. Also considering the harsh conditions and abusive staff it makes sense as to why many of the patients wouldn’t want to be there.
A little over a year and a half ago I visited someone who was inside a mental hospital. I was able to walk with the patient I was visiting and got to see the inside of the facility rather well. It was small but it was essentially a prison for patients. What strikes me is that although the hospital within 12 Monkeys is more visually oppressive it is not too much of a stretch from where these hospitals are now.
This made me think about how 12 Monkeys really humanizes the mentally ill through the guise of science fiction. Through the narrative framing of the protagonist being a sane person we see how painful it could be being in his position. That although it is proved by the end that the protagonist is not insane the film still represents a truthful example of what it is like to be mentally ill in the United States. We get to see the sad truth that rests in many of these places and furthermore we get to see what happens to them when they get out. They find rest wherever they can but are often homeless and on the streets.
This is something I really appreciate about the film. It humanizes mental illness instead of romanticizing it.
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Good post! I liked how you used a personal experience to get your point across. I definitely agree with your point that 12 Monkeys humanizes mental illness and portrays how people with mental illness are practically jailed for it. As for your comment that it does not romanticize mental illness, I was reminded of Jarred Leto’s portrayal of the joker and how his insanity was romanticized. This movie definitely contrasts that ideal.
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I had not realized that and I completely agree that this film humanizes people in the mental health system. This also brings in the idea of the unreliable narrator since we see this only through Cole’s point of view. He could actually be mentally ill and we are seeing what he does with his schizophrenia, allowing us to sympathize with him since we see and hear what he does even though it might not be what is actually happening.
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