(05-14-2015, 11:57 PM)Nako Vesh Wrote: Uh.I think you're misunderstanding something here.
But. That's. The. Point.
You can't reason with or apply logic to mental illnesses. It's not a matter of "letting" anything happen. It just does. You deal with and manage the aftermath as best you can.
What I mean is that people should avoid feeding into already-existent negative feelings and driving people towards depression (and possibly suicide). Constantly badmouthing people who possess disorders and telling them how damaged they are is not a positive behavior in any context.
I am well aware that the disorders themselves are inherently irrational, and that even depression itself is not something that can be rationally controlled (oh, if only). I just think a lot of people can help by... not being overbearing with their attempts at personal assistance.
But then, I'm someone who grew up with a mother and older brother constantly reminding me of all of my perceived faults, and absolutely resent them for it. That obviously skews my views on the matter quite a bit.
(05-14-2015, 11:57 PM)Nako Vesh Wrote:Quote:I think extreme personality traits and disorders can indeed make a character endearing.Â
Yep, we're going to have to agree to disagree here. Mental illness is constantly portrayed badly in media, and it's something I'm very tired of. I'm not telling you how you should RP (especially if you find it somehow cathartic), I'm just telling you I don't think it's very classy.Â
That's totally fair. I'm willing to accept that judgment.
I agree that it's portrayed very badly a lot of the time, and I can only hope that I don't add to the pile. In this case, I'm "writing what I know", so I do hope that gives me some amount of insight on the matter. (Not that it matters right now - after all, this is only a hypothetical, and I don't actually plan on playing the character any time soon.)
(05-14-2015, 11:57 PM)Nako Vesh Wrote:Quote:After all, a big part of why people love the Joker so much is because he's such a volatile cocktail of mental disorders that makes him a compelling character.
It's... interesting that the next character you mention as having mental illnesses is the Joker.Â
Going off topic slightly, I disagree that most people like the Joker because they find him compelling. Most people just like to see him kill people and cause chaos. His character has only been nuanced and layered in rather recent years. I would argue that he isn't so insane as he claims to be, but makes terrible, violent choices. I could go on about how his portrayal is actually rather harmful to people with mental health issues, since people with mental illnesses are statistically more likely to have violence committed upon them, rather than the other way around... But I'll spare everyone. Besides, I love comics, especially the characters surrounding Batman, and I enjoy them despite their problems.
It's very interesting that you say that. I am personally not of the view that 'choice' is a particularly valuable concept, because of the way our brains are wired. This is starting to get into some very complicated psychological gobbledygook, but suffice it to say, we are not nearly as in control of our mental faculties as we like to believe ourselves to be, and that is a large part of why I believe the idea of 'judgment' is more detrimental than beneficial a large part of the time (even though, ironically, I subconsciously engage in it a lot of the time myself - which just helps to prove the point further, really).
More to the point, I tend to evaluate by circumstances and situations rather than people, and try to view things from an emotionally detached position. As such, I tend to view, say, hardened criminals as products of society and circumstance rather than as terrible people making bad life choices, and as such, a large part of what makes a character interesting to me are what circumstances and events in their upbringing brought them up to the point they are at now. So I don't really think of someone as "having made terrible choices" in their life as much as I think of them being "the subject of terrible circumstances".
I know my view is probably a minority view, but it is a view supported by plenty of evidence.
All that said, the Joker is indeed a fictional character subject to the whims of his many writers, and indeed, he is NOT a positive portrayal of mental illness and we could probably do with a lot more positive portrayals of atypical minds and mental disorders. It's indeed a shame that a positive portrayal is not the first thing to come to mind for myself, and perhaps I should devote some energy to creating one as well. I certainly would not mind the challenge.
