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If mental illness is invisible, how can it translate on screen? Where novels allow readers to delve into a character’s psyche, movies are automatically limited.
Problematic portrayals have filled our cinemas and Netflix accounts for years. But as we advance into the 2020s, are we reaching a turning point? Are filmmakers learning to portray the delicate topic and others like it with more care and accuracy?
It seems younger filmmakers in their teens and twenties are doing just that. None more so than Ella Greenwood, a BAFTA-supported writer, producer, and director from London who is just entering her twenties.
Recently placed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Greenwood’s work, with its realistic lens on mental health, is being championed and sought after.
I caught up with the multi-hyphenate virtually on a rainy morning. Over cups of tea, we discussed her filmography so far, mental health in cinema and the place of young people in filmmaking.
Beginning with her 2020 short Faulty Roots and why she feels mental health is worth capturing on camera, Greenwood said, “I wanted to do a film about mental health because I do have experience with mental health, and I wanted it to be something that I’m passionate about.”
Young filmmakers and creatives like Greenwood often draw from their own experiences, giving them first-hand knowledge older directors or writers can only imagine.
Therefore, newer, younger filmmakers acknowledge mental health issues and depict them realistically instead of sugar coating them or seeking a solution to all their character's problems within a 2-hour run time.
Where some find darkness, Greenwood admits to finding humour and relatability, a style that is more accessible to younger audiences compared to serious, dramatic storylines.
Although referencing films like Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade (2018) as good examples, Greenwood agrees there’s a lack of realistic mental health representation in Hollywood. Something that became apparent when production began on her 2020 short film.
“There hasn’t been much representation at all!” Greenwood said. “With developing Faulty Roots, we’ve done a lot of research, and asked so many people about films on mental health and what they liked. People just couldn’t think of a film.
You’d get a few like Silver Linings Playbook, and they’d pop up on this list of films that represented it well but they’d also pop up on this list of films that didn’t.”
Films that depict mental health with balance are few and far between and what makes a flawed portrayal is subjective. Overall, there’s a lack of variety. And, as Greenwood continued, it’s down to dramatization and financial gain.
“For Hollywood, if the theme’s mental health, it has to have entertainment value, it has to be dramatic because that’s what they expect of a TV show or film. But that can be incredibly harmful.
13 Reasons Why came out a few years ago but Netflix’s film All The Bright Places was again criticised for romanticising suicide and that was more recent. That’s content that reaches millions and is aimed at young people, so it’s harmful. I hope it will get better because people will learn from what they did well and what they didn’t. But I still think there’s such a long way to go.”
To keep the conversation on mental health evolving, Ella thinks placing young people behind the camera is key.
“I love promoting young creatives,” she said. “I understand it takes a while to build your career and people at the top, who are perhaps middle-aged are there because they’ve done so much work. But it leads, like with politicians, to people in power who don’t understand young people and who don’t put young people’s best interests first.”
As young people are driven, creative and closer to the experiences often being displayed, their work should be showcased. By doing this, as Ella Greenwood exemplifies, films can bring more comfort and relatability to those who need them.
by Lauren Burns
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