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Originally Posted by C0LLETTE
If two is a trend then brilliant but crazy female leads is definitely a trend...Marcella" (doesn't get much screwier) and "Homeland (almost as screwy) are trend leaders.
Such interesting characters dealing with brilliant plot twists...but do they really have to be so nuts? I suppose that brilliant successful stable female characters aren't threatening enough to make for good entertainment.
What next? Women reclaim "hysteria" as a viable way to get into show biz?
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I join you in frustration at the prevalence of female leads who struggle with mental illness with some caveats.
Homeland is one my favorite streaming series, and Carrie's mental illness only deepens her character in my view. This is a tribute to her stunning acting ability.
On the other hand, I just started Marcella and have an opposite reaction. I find the lead character's apparent mental illness off-putting. Her sudden bouts of violence, happening in blackout episodes (not alcohol related) seem gratuitous, plot-wise.
Maybe that's because she doesn't seem to have much remorse regarding the impact of her violence on other people. So far, I just think she's an asshole (I'm only on the third episode).
But back to your point — my question would be, has anyone collected data on this? How many male versus female leads are mentally ill? I'd like to know if it's just perception or something that can be quantified.
To get some context, I just looked up the stats on mental illness in the U.S. and to give one example, 5.7 million adults, or about 2.6% of the population age 18 and older, are diagnosed as bipolar, and about one in five of them commit suicide.
This is from the National Alliance on Mental Illness:
--19.1% of U.S. adults experienced mental illness in 2018 (47.6 million people). This represents 1 in 5 adults.
--4.6% of U.S. adults experienced serious mental illness in 2018 (11.4 million people). This represents 1 in 25 adults.
--16.5% of U.S. youth aged 6-17 experienced a mental health disorder in 2016 (7.7 million people)
--3.7% of U.S. adults experienced a co-occurring substance use disorder and mental illness in 2018 (9.2 million people)
I was not surprised to learn that. I'm also guessing that with 30 to 40 million people out of jobs because of the pandemic and only 20 million on unemployment, there must be a lot of people without health insurance who are living with untreated mental illness. This makes me angry at our government and sad for them.
TV and film reflects real life so ... it makes sense that a certain proportion of characters would be mentally ill in one way or another. Is that proportion skewed to female leads? That's a good question.