The Vilification of Mental Illness (e.g., depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, etc.)

[Mercury]

This essay was just published today, and though I haven't read it (I have to rush to a meeting in a few minutes), I was instantly inspired by the title of the essay to create a thread to discuss this topic. There are so many characters - heroes and villains alike - who have committed crimes due to being psychologically compromised, i.e., mentally ill. Three that come instantly to mind are Jean Grey, Lorna Dane, and Wanda Maximoff, whom the essay below is centered on.

‘House of M’ and the vilification of mental illness: https://aiptcomics.com/2021/08/19/house-of-m*******/

I'm interested to read what characters suffering from mental illness fans feel have been vilified. I'll write more later.

[Anchorsify]

I'll just show this exerpt to prove how ridiculous this premise (and its ultimate takeaway) is:

It’s a story that says the mentally ill are dangerous, that we’re capable of horrible things and maybe we should be “put down” before those things can happen.

Yeah, totally, Wanda and her reality manipulation powers capable of altering someone's DNA at her whim is at all correlated with mental illness as a whole and how such people are treated. Totally.

Wanda just depowered like a million poeople, but it's really the mental illness that is why people want to put her down, not the egregious misuse of her powers that has a permanent impact on said million people. Talk about a victim complex (when the actual victims are, y'know, the people depowered whose lives were altered through no fault of their own).

Mind you, I don't think Marvel handles mental illness all that well on the whole, but that's also not something I think most comics would be expected to handle in any sort of sophisticated way, as that is never the point of them unless it's the *sole* focus of the plot (Rogue dealing with people and powers she's absorbed before, etc.).

But just, let's not act like Marvel is really saying the legacy of house of M is "saying the mentally ill are dangerous .. and maybe we should be put down". That's absurd.

[davetvs]

This applies a lot more to Wanda than to Jean, imo. She's always something of a golden girl and her crimes are brushed aside as not really impacting or representing who she is as a character. Wanda isn't so lucky but here's hoping Trial of Magneto rights some of those wrongs. There's definitely something to the thesis, especially where powerful female characters are concerned.

[Kingdom X]

On the DC side of things Heroes in Crisis is probably the worst example. That book sticks a bunch of mentally ill characters in one place and then proceeds to have a well-known hero kill them all during a breakdown, all while being advertised as a story about healing.

My main problem with comic book mental illness is that it's usually terribly defined. It's usually just some overdramatic breakdown without any nuance regarding what comes before that and especially regarding what comes afterwards.

[Journey]

The problem is you have all these different writers they come in & try to address topics they really know nothing about to make the character sympathetic but due to their own naivete it comes off unoriginal and typically does more harm than good, the only time I've really given a writer props for uplifting a character despite their mental health issues was Al Ewing he really did a great job in his New Avengers run with Wiccan.

[FFJamie94]

I don't know, I've always found the idea of a story where a character who has abilities to alter reality has a breakdown of sorts.
As someone who has had depressive episodes in their time, I can certainly see the story potential to explore those ideas and themes.

Now obviously, this is all relative to the fictional World at hand. Marvel doesn't do mental illness well because it's never really explored. Yeah, if I had reality altering powers, me during a period where I was having a bad time would be pretty destructive on a global scale.

This is not to say I like Marvel's treatment of Wanda, I think there's been enough room for development over the years since Avengers Disassembled and HOM to the point where she deserves a redemption arc, an event where she comes out on top as a 20 year payoff of her basically being seen as the Mutant Devil.

[JudicatorPrime]

The absolute worst part is when rational actors scapegoat mental illness as the reason for their corrupt, criminal bent and activities. Evil acts are evil in themselves, but somehow the spin is that a guy who chooses to take his AR-15 on a human hunting expedition at the local grocery store is somehow mentally unbalanced in some way. No, he's just an evil son of a bitch that needs to be incarcerated for his crimes.

[Doctor Know]

Wanda Maximoff, Jean Grey and David Haller are not always handled with the best hands, when it comes to their neurodivergent issues and handicaps.

[Gripstir]

Mental illness is why political balance is important. Left wing is important for the Caring and the emotional help needed. Right wing is sometimes needed to simply make a harsh decision that we can’t make cause it hurts too much.

Getting too caught up on labels like hero and villain can often make you forget the world is grey

[WinterCoyote]

That is a really great article. Thank you for sharing it. It makes me sad that when the MCU had their own chance to do Wanda Maximoff, they treated her even worse than the comics did.

[Zelena]

We must admit that comics have it wrong about a lot of things. They are fairy tales, the interest lies elsewhere…

[GenericUsername]

This story had so many problems

* Vilification of mental illness
* Womins is baby crazy trope
* Women can't hold a lot of power without going insane
* Romani hero that commits genocide (considering they were the first victims of the Holocaust)

The 2000s just weren't aware of things like that. It's when the Sue Dibny stuff happened as well.

[MaximoffTrash]

That is a really great article. Thank you for sharing it. It makes me sad that when the MCU had their own chance to do Wanda Maximoff, they treated her even worse than the comics did.

Wait, how is MCU treating Wanda worse, like worse than HoM? That shit isn't even about her.

[GenericUsername]

I'll just show this exerpt to prove how ridiculous this premise (and its ultimate takeaway) is:

Yeah, totally, Wanda and her reality manipulation powers capable of altering someone's DNA at her whim is at all correlated with mental illness as a whole and how such people are treated. Totally.

Wanda just depowered like a million poeople, but it's really the mental illness that is why people want to put her down, not the egregious misuse of her powers that has a permanent impact on said million people. Talk about a victim complex (when the actual victims are, y'know, the people depowered whose lives were altered through no fault of their own).

Mind you, I don't think Marvel handles mental illness all that well on the whole, but that's also not something I think most comics would be expected to handle in any sort of sophisticated way, as that is never the point of them unless it's the *sole* focus of the plot (Rogue dealing with people and powers she's absorbed before, etc.).

But just, let's not act like Marvel is really saying the legacy of house of M is "saying the mentally ill are dangerous .. and maybe we should be put down". That's absurd.

It initially was saying that because characters wanted Wanda put down before she even created the HoM universe, let alone said No More Mutants.

But the focus anyway is on how mental illness itself is depicted. Often used as a way of saying this character is now a villain. Happened with Hank Pym too.

[GenericUsername]

Wait, how is MCU treating Wanda worse, like worse than HoM? That shit isn't even about her.

Yeah the show made it all about Wanda at least. And the reality she created involved something she'd actually care about. Not be for a bunch of people she hardly knew or never met.