'That's Hot!' The Fetishization of Mentally Ill Women in film.

Emily Costello

Mental illness has been around for centuries. For hundreds of years, those suffering were mistreated, abused, and taken advantage of merely because they were unwell. Now we have a different attitude. Therapy is encouraged and mental health is more often than not taken seriously and cared for. How it's portrayed in film, however, feels as if it hasn't changed at all. Women particularly are constantly objectified, sexualised, and fetishised due to ill mental health and this portrait of them in film leads to real-life consequences. The ‘sexy crazy girl’ stereotype is very prominent and often you find men seeking out mentally ill women, either because they feel they are sexually promiscuous or easily manipulated, and pushing this bizarre attraction in film doesn't help. By dissecting these portrayals and the damage they cause, hopefully, in the future, we can see a change in how those in the industry view female mental health and ask what makes them look at these women and think ‘That's Hot!’.

Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen in 'Girl, Interrupted', 1999.

A particular offender is Girl, Interrupted (Mangold, 1999) . This film is one of my favourites and it does contain some beautiful depictions of female friendship and even some more positive views of female mental health but ultimately it only contributes to a negative image of those suffering from personality disorders and in psychiatric wards. The film opens with Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), the protagonist, being seen by a middle-aged physiatrist who decides she must spend an unknown amount of time in Claymoore, the town's local psychiatric ward (also where Sylvia Plath stayed!). Susanna is a very likeable character and the one the spectator is aligned with, but she is over-sexualised from the start. She has an affair with a married professor who is a friend of her parents and has plenty of casual sex. This ‘promiscuous’ behaviour is a symptom of borderline personality disorder, which Susana is diagnosed with yet it is demonised by her psychiatrists and the staff on the ward. It also seems to be one of the biggest symptoms shown of her disorder in the film, even though the book (written by the real Susanna Kaysen) describes her condition as complex and multi-faceted. It's hard to believe this portrayal in the film wasn’t intentional to encourage the fetishisation of a very misunderstood disorder.

However, Susanna isn't the most serious or damaging interpretation in Girl, Interrupted. In Claymoore, she befriends Lisa (Angelina Jolie), a proudly diagnosed sociopath. Lisa in the book is described as almost ugly as she’s a heroin addict yet they chose to cast one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood in her role. She is very sexually explicit, in one scene she flirts very heavily with the ice cream store worker just for fun. She’s charismatic and intense, causing both Susanna and the spectator to be drawn to her, yet she encourages them all to stop taking their meds and emulate her reckless behaviour. This only serves to glamourise female mental illness and feed into the sexy ‘crazy girl’ stereotype, turning a generation of men to pursue women suffering from mental health conditions as they believe they will be promiscuous, easy, and charming.

Glenn Close as Alex Forrest in 'Fatal Attraction', 1987.

Another shocking and little talked about portrayal of female mental illness is Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction (Lyne, 1987) . The film begins with Alex having a fling with a married man, Dan (Michael Douglas) and when he ends it she loses it, stalking him, calling him constantly at his place of work, and even boiling his daughter's pet rabbit. Now I am in no way excusing this behaviour, but it's all clear symptoms of borderline personality disorder and Dan used Alex for his own gain and then tossed her aside when his own guilt at being unfaithful to his wife and family got to him. Why are we as a spectator supposed to sympathise with this man when he had an affair and then it caught up with him? Obviously, the time period in which the film was released has some influence over this character's portrayal but ultimately it feeds into the ‘sexy crazy girl’ stereotype and also stigmatises mental health further, and could even make some women afraid to reach out for help. In the past when I have discussed Black Swan (Arronofsky, 2010) , it has been to criticise the treatment of Natalie Portman on set and the pressure she was under to give the perfect portrayal of a poised ballerina on screen. Yet the film itself whilst doing an incredible job to show the toxicity of the ballet world paints the tragic picture of a woman desperate for control over her own mind. Nina (Portman) exhibits schizophrenic delusions and has an obvious eating disorder but again suffers from objectification and sexualisation at the hands of not only her predatory ballet teacher but also the camera itself. This film does convey the often debilitating effects of mental illness incredibly well but the bottom line is this fetishisation and frequent portrayal of mentally ill women as sexually promiscuous and reckless carries into real life and makes navigating the world with a mental condition even more debilitating than it would otherwise be.

Mary ELizabeth Winstead as 'Ramona Flowers' in Scott Pilgrim vs the World, 2010.

In Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Wright, 2010) , Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is the ultimate male fantasy. Her character in this film inspired the term ‘manic pixie dream girl', the idea of a sexually promiscuous casual mentally ill stereotype, which often is just a chance for men to project their fantasies onto a woman with little concern for the consequences. Scott (Michael Cera) ditches his (underage!) girlfriend to chase a girl who seems to have very little interest in him. Not only does this end up pitting women against each other and encouraging internalised misogyny it also further feeds into the stereotype of the ‘sexy crazy girl’ and suggests to men it is appropriate to chase a girl who seems uninterested. This is perhaps the only film I have referenced that I truly dislike as it's seen as a ‘feel good’ film yet Scott dates a seventeen-year-old then cheats on both her and Ramona, whilst shaming Ramona for her sexual history and he is supposed to be the likeable protagonist!

So after watching women with mental health conditions countlessly over-sexualised and objectified in film, I wonder when Hollywood and male filmmakers (who are often the culprits) will realise that promoting the idea of this fun, unhinged ‘manic pixie dream girl’ not only damages the progression of mental health support but also often makes for an uncomfortable watch.

by Emily Costello, December 2022.