Midsommar Madness: the problematic portrayal of Bipolar Disorder in Film
Review by Theresa-Anne Clarke Harter / August 7, 2019 / 3 min read
Writers need to develop characters without taking the easy way out. Using bipolar disorder or any other mental illness as a shortcut to explaining character’s murderous motivation is too easy and too wrong. Your neighbor, friend, or coworker with bipolar disorder is not some blood thirsty killer just waiting to emerge when the meds wear off. They are people just like the rest of us, with unique personality traits that probably don’t include the insatiable desire to kill, kill, kill.