Last night I was watching my nightly installment of Sex and the City and the main storyline was Carrie finding and enjoying the company of her high school sweetheart, who was played by David Duchovny. It wasn't until some time in the relationship when he confessed to her that instead of "taking time off" like he had told her, he was actually institutionalized (for what, I don't remember). And one of their dates was on the institution's front lawn for a picnic. I looked up the title of the episode, and coincidentally enough, it was entitled, "Boy, Interrupted."
I came to thinking about these two characters in both the TV show and the film and the funny thing about them in comparison to the rest of the patients at the institution is that, unless you really know them, one would have never have guessed that they had any sort of mental illness, either from a visual perspective or by what they do or say. Though Suzanna was institutionalized in Girl, Interrupted, I think it was taking it one step too far. I say this because there were a lot kids when I went to high school who tried some sort of self-harm, such as cutting or other means. And more often than not, they received outpatient help and weren't institutionalized. In Suzanna's case, it wasn't until she started to associate with Lisa that she started to do things that were really out of line. Lisa had the dominant personality, and Suzanna was really influenced by this girl. I think she almost felt a pressure to associate with her so that she wouldn't become a victim of Lisa's tirades.
The question was brought up in class about the title of the film. Looking at the big picture, I would have said the interruption would have been the stint at the institution. But upon further inspection, I really think the interruption was Lisa. I think had it not been for Lisa, Suzanna would have gotten out of the institution a little quicker because before and after Lisa, Suzanna had be doing fine. After meeting Lisa, I think Suzanna realized the value of her own life, and thus, pushed herself to be more cooperative, more willing to participate in therapy so that she could get better and get out of the institution.
It seems like these days, mental illness is almost commonplace, and that's probably because we know more about such illnesses and these people that are afflicted aren't just freaks of nature. Girl, Interrupted is a good gauge to see how far we've really come in trying to understand mental illness and the treatment involved in helping the patient. There is definitely more respect towards them, and more things that can be done to help people cope with their illness. I somewhat enjoyed the movie, and if I can find the time, I wouldn't mind reading the book because I feel like some things could be better explained in the novel than in the movie.
