My Turn
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Media Matters
by Steve Carpenter
I agree the issue of teenage drinking is a serious problem. Many people think of it as partying but in reality teenage abuse of alcohol and drugs often masks the pain they feel. This pain sometimes emerges as more extreme forms of destructive behavior, like suicide.
Mental illness and teenage suicide are not laughing matters. However, a recent film by director Ryan Fleck called A Kind of Funny Story deals with teenage angst in an appropriately lighthearted way. As the movie begins, stressed out teenager Craig, played by Keir Gilchrist, is feeling suicidal and checks himself into a hospital. Arriving at the emergency room he tells the clerk “I want to kill myself.” She nonchalantly hands him a clipboard and calmly insists, “Fill this out.” As Craig waits in the hospital lobby a bearded man in blue hospital scrubs and a white lab coat strikes up a conversation with him, offering fatherly advice. The confused teenager asks “Are you a doctor?” We later discover Bobby, the bearded man, is not a doctor but a co-patient with Craig on the hospital’s adult psychiatric ward. Craig finds himself mixed in with a variety of mental patients both young and old. There are many colorful patients on the ward including Solomon, a Hassidic Jew, and Muqtada, an Egyptian who hasn’t left his room in years.
Craig’s confinement is made more tolerable by Noelle’s presence. Played by Emma Roberts, Noelle is an attractive fellow teenager whose angst finds expression in cutting herself. Zach Galifianakis’s performance as Bobby is comic genius, while Academy Award nominee Viola Davis’s portrayal of the warm and wise attending psychiatrist, Dr. Minerva, is also excellent.
The film is a lot like the equally funny, but far more dark 1975 Academy Award winning film One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest which starred Jack Nicholson in a breakout performance. In both films, the fun is poked at how institutions deal with mental illness, not making fun of the persons with these brain diseases.
A Kind of Funny Story is rated PG-13 and may not be suitable for young audiences due to drug use, mild profanity and sexual situations. The last line tells the audience to “breath—live.” These words reminded me of Jesus’ encounter with his disciples, recorded in the gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 21 and 22 where He spoke peace, breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Here on Shaping Families we point to Jesus, and the church, as a source of help in facing troubles ranging from teenage drinking, to the pain of mental illness, to the devastation of suicide.
Blessings in your work, worship and witness.
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