Halloween and Mental Illness: Introduction
This little series of essays on Halloween and mental illness was prompted by an “Honest Trailers” video on the YouTube channel Screen Junkies. The channel makes parody trailers that poke good-natured fun at the movie in question. The Honest Trailer for Halloween 2018 includes a statement that the film has “the undercurrent that people with mental illness are scary and violent, and should be killed or locked away forever.” [1] While this line was specifically directed at the 2018 movie, the 1978 original has also received this criticism. [2] [3]
I originally started this as a single essay focusing on whether Halloween was unfair in its portrayal of mental illness. But it later grew into a series of a more general nature, looking at Halloween and mental illness from several different angles. (As I’ve noted in my Introduction to the Shape-ology series as a whole, I’m terrible at being concise.)
I have always been interested in psychology in general. And along those lines, I’ve always been drawn to fictional characters who have a mental illness. They could be heroes or villains. They could have a specific diagnosis or just be a little off-kilter. Whatever the details, I’m fascinated by those who are different. And part of this interest may be personal. Without getting into details, let’s just say that I’m a bit “different” myself.
One thing that has always interested me about Halloween is the mystery of what is going on in Michael Myers’ head. Is he crazy? Or just plain evil? What goes through his head when he stalks or murders someone? The fact that we don’t know Michael’s thoughts or motivations (at least in the first movie) was very intriguing to me.
This series is divided into 4 parts:
Part 1 — History of Mentally Ill Villains
I look at how mentally ill villains have been portrayed in films over the last century, and how Halloween (1978) was influenced by, or influenced other movies.
Part 2 — Are Mentally Ill People Dangerous?
Is there any truth to the idea that mentally ill people are more violent than others, or is this something just made up for movies?
Part 3 — Michael’s Diagnosis
If Michael were a real-life person, what condition could he be assumed to have?
Part 4 — What if Michael Isn’t Mentally Ill?
I look at the evidence for the idea that, as Dr. Loomis states, Michael is just evil.
Footnotes
[1]
“Honest Trailers — Halloween (2018)”
Screen Junkies YouTube Channel
Jan 15, 2019
Timestamp: 3:57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJMPl4s0l00
[2]
“How Halloween stoked our fears and misunderstanding of mental illness”
by Frazer MacDonald
October 12, 2018
Little White Lies
https://lwlies.com/articles/halloween-michael-myers-mental-illness/
[3]
“Villainizing Bodies and Minds: Ableism in Horror Movies”
by Sarah Garcia
FEM
https://femmagazine.com/villainizing-bodies-and-minds-ableism-in-horror-movies/
October 29, 2018
