Girl, Interrupted follows young Susanna Kaysen’s 18 month experience in a mental hospital. Despite her privilege as a white, upper-middle-class girl from a high school with a high college acceptance rate in the ‘60s, her dream to write rather than go to college isolates her from her peers. She is depicted as a troubled character when the film flashes back to her suicide attempt, most likely after her affair with her married English teacher. After her failed suicide attempt, her therapist suggests that she needs proper rest at Claymoore, a nearby mental institution. Although initially shocked and reluctant, she signs herself in, and she encounters several other patients, including the rebellious, sociopath Lisa. Unlike Susanna, Lisa likes being
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Her relationships outside of the family were primarily sexual as she is never seen having friends prior to being at Claymoore. Susanna also had a strained relationship with her mother. However, a strained mother-daughter relationship is far from abnormal, especially if they were at odds about her future plans –her mother encouraged college while Susanna didn’t want to go. Susanna remained consistent about her plans to become a writer, but because her goal was not as detailed or exciting as other students’ college plans, the people around her claimed she lacked ambition, as a sign of her illness. Thus, Susanna’s character could be misunderstood because of the scenes in which her behaviors were inappropriately associated with BPD. However, even if Susanna’s behaviors were not explicit linked to BPD, her suicide attempt and unstable relationships indicate that her character was …show more content…
Unlike the modified theory, this version asserts that the label influences people’s self-image and behaviors. Lisa address her illness as a “gift” that allows her to see the evils of society and uses it to justify several of her actions. For example, when the patients field trip to the local ice cream shop, Susanna encounters her English teacher’s wife. The wife begins to reprimand her and Lisa retaliates and yells “don’t point your fucking finger at crazy people!” In Lisa’s mind, announcing that she is crazy becomes her excuse to behave irrationally. As the confrontation escalates, the patients begin to make loud noises including barking like a dogs to scare her away. No one has a condition that causes involuntary barking; the patients wanted to seem “crazy” and to do so, they behave in ways that society expects mentally ill people to. The modified labeling theory challenges the original by suggesting that the label does not create the illness, however, both theories maintain that a label associated with mental health has negative
Her relationships outside of the family were primarily sexual as she is never seen having friends prior to being at Claymoore. Susanna also had a strained relationship with her mother. However, a strained mother-daughter relationship is far from abnormal, especially if they were at odds about her future plans –her mother encouraged college while Susanna didn’t want to go. Susanna remained consistent about her plans to become a writer, but because her goal was not as detailed or exciting as other students’ college plans, the people around her claimed she lacked ambition, as a sign of her illness. Thus, Susanna’s character could be misunderstood because of the scenes in which her behaviors were inappropriately associated with BPD. However, even if Susanna’s behaviors were not explicit linked to BPD, her suicide attempt and unstable relationships indicate that her character was …show more content…
Unlike the modified theory, this version asserts that the label influences people’s self-image and behaviors. Lisa address her illness as a “gift” that allows her to see the evils of society and uses it to justify several of her actions. For example, when the patients field trip to the local ice cream shop, Susanna encounters her English teacher’s wife. The wife begins to reprimand her and Lisa retaliates and yells “don’t point your fucking finger at crazy people!” In Lisa’s mind, announcing that she is crazy becomes her excuse to behave irrationally. As the confrontation escalates, the patients begin to make loud noises including barking like a dogs to scare her away. No one has a condition that causes involuntary barking; the patients wanted to seem “crazy” and to do so, they behave in ways that society expects mentally ill people to. The modified labeling theory challenges the original by suggesting that the label does not create the illness, however, both theories maintain that a label associated with mental health has negative