Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island depicts the psychological struggles faced by Teddy Daniels who constructs a false reality as a means to cope with trauma and repress the horrid memories of his past. Shutter Island brings its viewers on a journey to Aschecliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, where it strategically plays out a false narrative: a role play treatment experiment aimed at challenging Teddy’s psychosis and brainwashing him into accepting the monstrous actions of his past — namely, killing his wife Dolores. This is done to help Teddy come to terms with his traumas and to vindicate the false reality he constructs. The film displays the complexities of psychotic disorders and the harsh experiences faced by individuals with mental illnesses by explicitly showing their disconnect from reality. Distortions of reality associated with PTSD and delusional disorder and vivid hallucinations make it challenging for Teddy to control his guilt and move on from his past murderous actions. Similar to how his doctors try to trick him into healing, the film succeeds at fooling viewers into believing Teddy’s sanity and state of mental clarity just up until the film’s final scenes when the reality of his mental illness is revealed.

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            With reference to Scorsese’s Shutter Island, this paper will critically analyze the depiction of culture and mental illness with respect to the representation of Teddy Daniels, his lived experiences and his construction of an alternate reality to repress unwanted memories of his past. This paper argues that the film’s pejorative and overgeneralized representation of mental illness is reductive in accurately representing the daily experiences faced by individuals with mental illnesses. Emphasis will be placed on the media’s proliferation of erroneous beliefs surrounding the reality of the mental illness experience and the undermining of human potential that it prompts in effect. Extensive examination of the problematic framing of mental illness in Shutter Island will shed light on its potential to further the reproduction of stereotypes and discriminatory stigmas around mental illness that blur the boundaries between mental health and mental illness. A merged understanding of the two risks misinformation in that it frames mental illness as an individual struggle rather than as an issue within a wider societal context.

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            Trauma, delusions and hallucinations affect Teddy’s ability to clearly distinguish fantasy from reality. In denial of murdering his wife Dolores, Teddy manufactures a fictive reality wherein he plays the hero searching for his wife’s killer, Andrew Laeddis - who is later revealed to be Teddy’s real identity. The film displays Teddy’s various states of mind while navigating about Aschecliffe. Whether it be music to evoke unwanted memories from his past or situating him next to pivotal symbols of his trauma (water and fire), his mental state is strategically manipulated by his doctors, Dr. Cawley and Dr. Sheehan. Teddy’s overt psychological struggles invite viewers to see into his state of mental unclarity, and in this, viewers can empathize with him and understand the realness of his mental illness. Shutter Island provides a suitable account of psychopathology by adequately depicting the side-effects of psychosis and symptoms of extreme delusional disorder. However, the film discourages readers from conceptualizing mental illness as having greater effects on various levels of wellbeing such as social, emotional and psychological ones (Crichton et al. 66). Instead, the film purports a narrowed, stereotypical view of mental illnesses incognizant of how they transgress, manifest and affect subjected individuals. Mental illness is presented in a ‘dark’ and demeaning light due to the film’s frequent reference to the mentally ill as neurologically damaged and psychologically contaminated “ghosts” whose existence is favoured by individuals seeking to advance experimental treatment initiatives in the realm of neuro-manipulation. Upon approaching the island, eerie music creates an uneasy ambiance and heightens fear, anxiety and anticipation; portraying mental illness negatively (Katz 42). The film uses symbolism: rats and enclosures of incarceration heighten feelings of claustrophobia and create distorted perceptions of what mental illness ‘looks’ and ‘feels’ like. Like a rat in a maze, the film suggests that once diagnosed with a mental illness, there is no clear “way out” (Shutter Island).

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            The overt presentation of Teddy’s mental illness - his debilitating delusions and intense hallucinations - tempts readers to doubt his potential as a reliable narrator; this furthers systemic discrimination by undermining his credibility as a social figure (Crichton et al. 66). The film orients viewers towards seeing mental illness on the level of the individual rather than as a larger societal issue. Mental illness is depicted as a one-way street; as something that cannot simply be fixed, but rather a way of life that is both unfortunate and irreversible. The film suggests this in its strategic depiction of mental illness and the symbolism it uses. The island setting, for example, represents a type of alternate, isolated world ideal for the mentally ill and implies that these individuals should be clearly distinguished and far remote from civil society to avoid chaos and danger (Crichton et al. 67). The film suggests that just as it would be challenging to escape a remote island, it is just as hard - if not impossible - to escape the mental distortions experienced by individuals with mental illnesses. Moreover, the film associates mental illness with crime; a common stereotype proliferated in mainstream media (Katz 46). The film uses mental illness to contextualize acts of violence; Aschecliffe, for example, is a variant of a containment camp and similar to correctional facilities for dangerous criminals. The film not only furthers stereotypical assumptions around criminality and the mentally ill, but also frames them as subjects needing to be controlled and restrained to preserve order (Beachum 23). Aschecliffe itself suggests that the goal of mentally ill patients and their psychiatrist is to find a cure or enact corrective measures to contain their mental illness (Katz 30). Mental illness is framed as something of lack, something to fear and something associated with violent irrationality and insanity (Katz 58); Psychiatrist Dr. Cawley reinforces this when he says, “the mentally ill are often regarded as damaged and dangerous” (Shutter Island). The reality is, however, that the repercussions and struggles that come with trauma and adversity have real and disabling effects and can contribute to the severity of mental illnesses (Beachum 1). Similar to the APA’s aim to provide a “common language” for all mental illnesses (American Psychiatric Association 2013), Shutter Island positions the mentally ill under one reductive umbrella category and labels them as violent and feared criminals who must be contained in cells; a type of subjected subordination that constitutes their unchosen realities.

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            The film portrays Teddy as ‘damaged’ or ‘broken’ due to his inability to accept his reality. He is in constant battle with his own mind, and thus suppresses the traumas of his past. The majority of the film features Teddy with a band aid on his head; symbolically suggesting his wounded humanity and inviting viewers to notice his ‘infractions’ or mental deficiencies. Shutter Island reproduces several stereotypical, erroneous beliefs about the reality of mental illness, risking disqualification of the suffering endured by individuals with mental illnesses and casting dehumanizing effects on their self-perception and sense of self-worth; in other words, inducing self-stigma (Crichton et al. 68). For example, Teddy recalls a time he ignored his wife Dolores’s cry for help, not taking her mental illness seriously: “She told me she felt like she had an insect living inside her brain just pulling the wires for fun.” (Shutter Island). Similarly, the media contributes to the discrimination of individuals with mental illnesses by categorizing them as social ‘others’ and disqualifying their importance in functioning, communicative societies. Teddy notes this himself when he says, “Crazy people, they're the perfect subjects. They talk, nobody listens.” (Shutter Island), and this plays on the concept of mind/brain duality in that Teddys intelligence is disqualified because individuals around him confuse his psychological obscurity with diminished cognitive function (Marnie Wedlake, “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.” Lecture Sept 18). Mario Beauregard speaks on a similar idea about the mind operating separately from the brain; he notes that “the psyche can greatly influence the activity of the brain and body, and it operates outside of the brain.” (Beauregard 19-20), similar to how the traumas of Teddy’s past propel the delusions and hallucinations that alter his cognitive and physical conduct.

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            Various stigmas around perceived dangerousness, unpredictability, lack of humanity, fear, rejection and pessimism about recovery contribute to the furthering of epistemic injustice towards psychiatric patients (Beachum 5). Media proliferates inaccurate stereotypes and transmits ideologies that favour preconceived definitions of normality and sanity. Individuals veering from the socially constructed norm risk inadequate visibility, labelling and judgement. A lack or partial acceptance of mental illness and the mentally ill not only uplifts stigma, but also intensifies rejection in society (Beachum 28). The current narrative surrounding mental illness aims to establish fear in difference. Individuals labelled “abnormal” are stigmatized and their capacity to think, feel, reason, act and participate in social society is undermined (Crichton et al. 65). This error in thinking is further played out by media platforms that story-tell uncritically and consequentially reproduce epistemic injustice. Stigma and discrimination have impactful repercussions: they heighten feelings of exclusion and can be major barriers to recovery for individuals with mental illnesses (Katz 40).

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            Like the APA’s aims to objectively define and categorize mental illnesses, the media reflects cultural understanding about how mental illness is portrayed and transmits culturally produced stereotypes about mental illnesses and the mentally ill (Katz 19). The media advance institutionalization of preferred social discourses surrounding mental healthcare, thereby driving stigma and discrimination. Negative social attitudes towards mental illness stems from social constructions of normality and pose problematic assumptions that become internalized by dominant mental healthcare discourses (Beachum 5). Like Bernays’ concept of engineering consent to influence attitudes in consumer culture (113), Shutter Island manipulates viewers, alongside Teddy by means of brainwashing, to view mental illness as something of deviance or unruly in nature. Teddy’s delusions parallel those of the audience and members of society who fail to attribute the realm of psychiatry the respect and accreditation it deserves.

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           The media has for so long failed to attribute adequate justice to the mental illness experience. It has simultaneously succeeded in blurring boundaries between mental health and mental illness, and in doing so, encourages faulty thinking. Shutter Island provides a distorted, cliché representation of the mentally ill by presenting them as contaminated, violent, dangerous and damaged individuals that should be removed from functioning social societies and instead live in controlled environments surrounded by individuals similar to them. Shutter Island depicts mental illness negatively by overemphasizing it as a one-way road that requires a cure to preserve the potential of individuals affected (Katz 42). Overall, Shutter Island purports that the mentally ill need saving instead of healing or exhaustive clinical attention, and in doing so, paints a reductive picture of the reality of mental illness and its whirlwind of effects.

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References

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Beachum, Lauren, "The Psychopathology of Cinema: How Mental Illness and Psychotherapy are Portrayed in Film.” Honors Projects, Grand Valley State University. vol. 56, 2010, pp.1-38. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects/56. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.

Beauregard, Mario. “The Premordial Psyche.” Semantic Scholar, University of Arizona. 2014, pp.1-23. https://drmariobeauregardfr.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/the-primordial-psyche_revised.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.

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Bernays, Edward L. “The Engineering of Consent.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 250, 1947, pp. 113-120.

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Crichton, Paul., et al. “Epistemic Injustice in Psychiatry.” BJPsych Bulletin, vol. 42, no. 2, 2017, pp. 65-70, Cambridge University Press, DOI: 10.1192/pb.bp.115.050682. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 2013. Print.

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Katz, Alexandra. “Mental Illness in The Media: How Narrow Portrayals Invoke a System of Stigmatization.” Honors Thesis, Emory University. 2018, pp. 1-73. https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/b8515n409?locale=en. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.

 

Wedlake, Marnie. “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.” Lecture, University of Western Ontario, Toronto, September 18, 2020.