Television Perception on Mental Illness
Point Of Entry
Through our exposure to television, we learn about the world and are able to observe how people interact and live their daily lives. Through these representations of the real world, television subtly shifts individual beliefs about the world through consistent misrepresentations of the world and groups of people that live within in. One group of people that has been consistently found to be misrepresented and stigmatized by television is individuals with mental illness. When investigating individual perceptions and beliefs about individuals with mental illnesses; the media has shown to be a powerful influence. Such individuals have been seen in a negative light, often being presented as violent, unattractive, unpredictable and incompetent. However, previous research on this topic has been focused almost entirely on prime time dramatic programming; rather this point of entry is focused on a night broadcasted show called Homeland.
Homeland is about a woman named Carrie Mathison who is a CIA operations officer and is on probation after carrying out an unauthorized operation in Iraq. As a result, she has been reassigned to the Counter terrorism center. While in Iraq, she was warned that an American prisoner had been turned by Al-Qaeda. When Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine Sergeant, is rescued after being held hostage since 2003, she suspects that he is the turned American prisoner. Brody is received home as a war hero, but Carrie goes to any lengths possible, ignoring protocol, to find out the truth. A huge factor in this show lies in Carrie herself, as she has bipolar disorder but keeps it to herself by getting under the counter medication for the last 14 years. Throughout the series, the organization finds out about her disorder, and it changes the perception of her as a CIA officer. It displays Carrie as she is on her medication, and when she is not, which creates a more prominent plot line on the television show. Want to understand if this
Through our exposure to television, we learn about the world and are able to observe how people interact and live their daily lives. Through these representations of the real world, television subtly shifts individual beliefs about the world through consistent misrepresentations of the world and groups of people that live within in. One group of people that has been consistently found to be misrepresented and stigmatized by television is individuals with mental illness. When investigating individual perceptions and beliefs about individuals with mental illnesses; the media has shown to be a powerful influence. Such individuals have been seen in a negative light, often being presented as violent, unattractive, unpredictable and incompetent. However, previous research on this topic has been focused almost entirely on prime time dramatic programming; rather this point of entry is focused on a night broadcasted show called Homeland.
Homeland is about a woman named Carrie Mathison who is a CIA operations officer and is on probation after carrying out an unauthorized operation in Iraq. As a result, she has been reassigned to the Counter terrorism center. While in Iraq, she was warned that an American prisoner had been turned by Al-Qaeda. When Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine Sergeant, is rescued after being held hostage since 2003, she suspects that he is the turned American prisoner. Brody is received home as a war hero, but Carrie goes to any lengths possible, ignoring protocol, to find out the truth. A huge factor in this show lies in Carrie herself, as she has bipolar disorder but keeps it to herself by getting under the counter medication for the last 14 years. Throughout the series, the organization finds out about her disorder, and it changes the perception of her as a CIA officer. It displays Carrie as she is on her medication, and when she is not, which creates a more prominent plot line on the television show. Want to understand if this