Precious 2009 Movie – Mental Illness Analysis
Humanities
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious_(film)
Consider the following: Many movies include characters with major mental illnesses. Whether these characters are portrayed accurately, however, is a serious question. The character may be portrayed as dangerous or criminal, or the symptoms of the illness may be described incorrectly.
Select and watch a movie that includes a major character with a mental illness. You may choose from the movies listed in the folder below. Or, if you know of another appropriate movie, please email me for permission to use it. Please make sure the movie depicts a character with a mental illness, not an intellectual, developmental, Alzheimer’s/dementia, substance use, or autism-related condition.
Write a 900-word paper analyzing how accurately the movie portrays this character’s condition and the movie’s role in reducing/increasing mental illness prejudice and discrimination among the general public.
Reflect on the movie’s impact on your own view of people with mental illnesses. You should watch this movie after reading at least Chapters 1 and 2 of your text, and other chapters pertinent to the character. If the movie portrays the character as criminal, you also should read the chapter on criminal justice.
Specifically, address the following areas in your paper:
- Compare and contrast the movie’s presentation of symptoms with your learning from the course (and personal experience if applicable). Be sure cite the Corrigan (2016) text (and other course materials if useful) and to use APA-style citations for your references to course content and other sources you mention. (This section will be about 1 page.)
- Now think about members of the general public who watch the movie. In your view, might the movie increase or decrease their prejudice and/or discrimination toward people with mental illnesses? (Note that some aspects of the portrayal might increase prejudice and/or discrimination and other aspects might decrease prejudice and/or discrimination.) Give reasons for your answer. (This section will be about 1 page.)
- Reflect on how the movie affected your own view of people with the character’s condition. In particular, how does viewing this movie affect how you might interact with a person with this condition if you were a behavioral health services provider? (This section will be about 1 page.)Refer to the rubric for evaluation criteria. You will use APA style, 6th edition, including creating a title page and references list. (See rubric for information about required APA formatting.) You do not need to create an abstract. This paper will be 800-900 words, not including your title and references pages. You will use first person (I, my, me, mine) in responding to section 3; you may use first-person style throughout the paper if you wish.
Follow the instructions in the syllabus regarding avoiding plagiarism. Specifically:
- Students are expected to ensure that all written assignments are in their own words except where APA formatting indicates that quotes are used.
- All direct quotes must appear either in quotation marks or indented, and must include the source, year of publication, and page number(s). This is true even if you are quoting only a 3- or 4-word phrase.
- Material that you paraphrase from other authors must also include the author and year of publication.
- In submitting an assignment, students agree that they have not submitted the assignment for credit in any other course; to do so is to engage in self-plagiarism.
- Noncompliance with these requirements constitutes plagiarism and is grounds for a failing grade on the assignment and the course, referral to the SSW Academic and Professional Standards Committee, and/or dismissal from the Social Work Program (for social work students) and ASU.
Review the rubric for this assignment by clicking the Rubric link on the left navigation menu.
- Successful completion of this assignment will demonstrate achievement of the following learning objective: Critique the media’s portrayal of people with mental health conditions.
- This assignment is aligned with the following course competency: Identify the impact of public and professional stigma/prejudice, discrimination, and institutionalized oppression and articulate how these issues affect the life experience of people diagnosed with mental illnesses. [EPAS 2.1.4]
Submit your paper through the Safe Assignment link in Module 9.
