Critical Approach:

Social & Political

INVESTIGATION: FILM CONSTRUCTION AND THE

REPRESENTATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS

An idea or theory containing various conceptual elements, typically one considered to be subjective and not based on

empirical evidence.

Now I know what a construct is I can start to breakdown my statement and start my investigation.

WHAT IS A CONSTRUCT?

WHAT IS A MENTAL ILLNESS?

A Mental Illness any disease of the mind: The psychological state of someone who has emotional or behavioural problems serious enough to require psychiatric

intervention.

I decided to investigate into my chosen topic because (apart from the fact it was Mrs Raji’s idea!) I think it will be very interesting to go into more depth and find out more about mental illness and how people let a mental illness take over their bodies, personality and life's. I also love two of my chosen films so to study them would be

amazing.

WHY I CHOSE MY TOPIC?

KEY SCENES IN MY CHOSEN FILMS.

Black Swan, Shutter Island and Psycho

Black Swan Key Scenes:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIKoPpIF2pA&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQCYyq34RpY&NR=1

Shutter Island Key Scene:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-i_tKVDP4Y&feature=related

I have yet to watch Psycho so I have not seen the Key Scenes.

ABOUT BLACK SWAN

The main character Nina is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life revolves around dance. Nina lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica who has full control over her. When the director of the New York City baller company Thomas Leroy, decides to replace the prima ballerina Beth, his first choice was Nina. But Nina has got competition, a new dancer called Lily who also impresses Leroy. Swan Lake requires one person to act out two parts, the white swan and the black swan. Nina fits the white swan perfectly but is too much of a perfectionist to play the part of the black swan as Leroy wanted. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted relationship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side – a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

ABOUT SHUTTER ISLAND

It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

ABOUT PSYCHO

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother,