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4:27 pm - 02/24/2013

Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos is not impressed with Silver Linings Playbook

Ahead of Silver Linings Playbook's big night at The Oscars, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos - who has been living with bipolar disorder all his life - isn't all too pleased with the film's portrayal of mental illness.

Despite his misgivings of the topic in the film, he concedes that it's better for it to be discussed, rather than not at all:

a few more items about this @his twitter
I liked SLP a lot, but he he's obviously entitled to his opinion and I respect him so much for what he's been through <3

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ectypes 24th-Feb-2013 10:02 pm (UTC)

you should probably see it before you pass any judgement. i don't think any film could do a mental illness real service just because....it's a movie. but the film didn't feel insulting. maybe as an insider or an actual sufferer of bipolar, nothing a movie could do would feel up to par... but at least in my case as an outsider, i didn't see it as a jab at the disorder or even a disrespectful representation of it. no one leaves that movie thinking ill of people with bipolar. unless they came into the theatre with bad notions ahead of time.

sweet_honesty 24th-Feb-2013 10:05 pm (UTC)

Exactly.

crystalzelda 24th-Feb-2013 10:11 pm (UTC)

... I JUST said I haven't seen it and therefore cannot comment specifically on it. And yeah, it's never just a movie lbr. Media matters - it's the main source of exposure people have to many topics, and when you have a movie that has gotten the amount of attention and accolades based of it tackling the issue of mental illness, it can be damaging to people who live with these illnesses if it's not an accurate or lazy/cheap portrayal.

And honestly, it's not up to you to decide what the movie is like to people with bipolar disorder. You wouldn't see it as a jab or a disrespectful representation of it since it doesn't affect you, you have no idea of the reality of living with BP. (NOT to say your opinion of the movie is irrelevant or something, obviously not, but it's not up to us to decide whether it's disrespectful or not, you know?) That's not to say the movie actually is disrespectful or even bad, but it is worth noticing that there has been a real protest from people with mental illness who were unhappy with the movie. In the end, he is bipolar, and he didn't like the movie at all, which I think is telling.

Edited at 2013-02-24 10:13 pm (UTC)

agatharuncible 25th-Feb-2013 12:21 am (UTC)

thank you

richinlaughter 25th-Feb-2013 05:18 am (UTC)

it's not up to you to decide what the movie is like to people with bipolar disorder. You wouldn't see it as a jab or a disrespectful representation of it since it doesn't affect you, you have no idea of the reality of living with BP.

Thank you.

fromyourashes 25th-Feb-2013 01:53 pm (UTC)

Just wanted to say I suffer from BP and the movie actually made me feel better about myself, although I don't think the character had it bad, tbh. Those looked like good days to me.

rogue 24th-Feb-2013 11:35 pm (UTC)

i don't think any film could do a mental illness real service just because....it's a movie

no.

ectypes 24th-Feb-2013 11:39 pm (UTC)

good, then go write a screenplay that makes every person with a mental disorder happy. please, prove me wrong. do bulimia. i want to see if i like it.

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palmerraids 25th-Feb-2013 01:36 am (UTC)

As someone who has Bipolar disorder, it bothers the fuck out of me when something like mental illness is used for entertainment value. Yes, I realize it wasn't poking fun of the issue but the fact that it is mentioned at all and it is the main part of the plot is annoying...

I can only speak for myself, but I have a hard time talking about it as it is. So when others do it like its no big deal, especially since this is something that has taken a toll on me in such a negative way, sucks. Now, I know the director has a son who has it, but I missed the part where he had to turn it into a movie, idg...?!

slurp 25th-Feb-2013 06:37 pm (UTC)

I don't get this. people have mental illness... why not mention it? Why keep it hidden? The movie wasn't about him "getting sick" so much - it was about love. It was pretty much like any other romantic comedy but one of the characters got released from a mental institution.

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ilovedogs 25th-Feb-2013 01:47 am (UTC)

I refuse to see it because they changed the illness and storyline from the book to sensationalize and misrepresent bipolar.

It's not that people will leave thinking bad things about mental illness, they already do. It's that they will leave with a misrepresentation.

And they were not clear enough that these illnesses are not fixed by family and friends and happy endings.