About the Project

Stigmatization is still a conflict in the diverse ethnic communities and women. 

People with these disorders are affected by different circumstances. Among other things, representation of race and gender. American filmmaking has been a crucial mechanism for perpetuating and creating certain ideologies. Media, in general, has been a great source of developing ideas in people’s heads, primarily through representation. But do these films represent mental disorders accurately? It’s difficult to answer this question because there aren’t identities attached to mental disorders. There isn’t a way of telling if someone is “mentally ill” based on fundamental assumptions or subtle implications. Accurate analysis of a mental health disorder in movies is reliant on name drops. 

To accomplish this task, I worked with librarians Carrie Pirmann and Courtney Paddick. I also received constructive criticism from my peers and other Digital Summer Scholarship Research Fellows: Alexis Colon, Abby Dolan, and Nick Nam. I would also like to thank Ken Flerlage for helping me visualize my data and Professor John Hunter to conceptualize the project.