Slightly Strange OT, regarding the movie : Suicide Squad (maybe spoilers)

Not exactly sure WHY you had that reaction. I mostly enjoyed the movie.

However, it does bother me how often in modern culture we see the convenient use of mental illness as an excuse for a villain to be a villain. The US series, a Criminal Minds, seems particularly bad at this. Goodies are good because they have good character qualities, baddies are bad because they're mentally ill. The equation is simple: having mental illness makes you bad.

Ok warning : Mega Spoilers if you haven't seen the movie, don't read any further.

@zenman55

I guess it was only like I said,j ust too close to home.

My reaction was in regards to Harley Quinn in particular.

Bad guys and crazy guys and all that are fine.

Harley was a victim, who was abused and tortured into insanity.

One of the main things they showed was joker giving her ECT until it fractured her mind.

I've been recommended to have ECT.

Then one scene, whether I imagined it, maybe, but just after she was shocked on the cage and falls to the fkoir, the expression in her face, particularly her eyes, was either brilliantly acted or brilliantly accidental.

It was the look alziehmers sufferers sometimes get in moments of clarity when they realise where they are, what is happening to them, and that they are trapped like that for the rest of their life.

Helpess, hopeless, trapped inside a mind you don't want too be in.

Well, that's my everyday too.

And finally, abuse and violence towards women ( and children) triggers me like crazy.

So all these things combined are basically my life, I know what it's like to let it, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone in history or existence.

I guess seeing them projected on to someone else, especially willfully by other humans ( yeah I know it was a movie)......

I don't know if I cried for her or for me.

I thought these things were fairly apparent in the movie, that they are all victims, and just wondered whether anyone actually cared, or just thought they deserved it, simply because they were labelled 'bad guys'.

Hi @Former-Member,

I think that when you have such a strong emotional reaction to something like a movie or a book, that it's such a personal thing, which is why others may not share your reaction.

You might like to delve into it further and work out exactly what it was that moved you. Something about the expressions on the caracters' faces? You might have dawn some similarity to something you remembered from your own personal journey.

I have had this kind of thing happen to me a few times.... I remember once I had an extremely strong reaction to the movie about the life of Sylvia Plath. I think the movie was just called 'Sylvia'; I'm not sure. It could have been about 15 years ago.

Well, if you want to know what depression feels like for me, then see this movie... it was so accurate that I could not stop crying the whole way through! No-one else in the movie theatre reacted this way, as far as I could tell. Lucky it was so dark.

It was not only the depression, but the fact that the main character was in a relationship where there was no trust and she was on edge constantly.... depressed and slightly paranoid. It was like looking at myself from the outside in. It was unbelievable.

Sometimes we just connect in the moment to something that feels true for us.

@Sahara

Absolutely, it was a personal reaction on so many levels.

But things like that shouldn't have to be personal to upset someone.

I'm.not going into who thought what about the movie, but I'm sure the ambiguous nature of victim and villain played a large role in its lukewarm reception.

No one wants to face those kind of realities, it makes people uncomfortable.

Ah, now I see where you're coming from. Yes, Harley, in particular, was manipulated into insanity. And yes, through her great performance we would occasionally get glimpses of her recognising her own insanity in the midst of it. Did you notice her 'dream' sequence was the only one that was about a 'normal' life with the Joker being normal too? It's like she grieves for that lost chance of normality.

It's one thing to be insane, it's quite another to be insane and KNOW you are insane. I get it.

The question then becomes: Do we avoid going to movies that contain trigger events for us, knowing we will react strongly, or do we go to movies like this trying to build up a kind observer who is one step removed from the action. Beats me.

I know that violence perpetrated on children I simply cannot see. I was a teacher for 30 years and real life broke my heart often enough to not want to be 'entertained by its depiction.

@zenman55

I wonder how many non mentally ill people read the full subscript of the movie. Not many, I'm guessing, based on its reception.

I'm the kind of fool who subjects myself to unpleasantries until I find a satisfactory way to deal with them.

I have a lot of scars and bruises, physically and emotionally, as a result.

But I can't not.

Now Dr Strange, I found that I WHOLLY enjoyable movie!!

@Former-Member

Ironically correct.

One of my comorbid afflictions is social anxiety.

Apparently many of us learn to read minute variations in expressions, tone, even written words.

I've been told very empathic.

Sadly this just makes life hurt more.

I have practically no friends, because I can read them too well. And even after giving the benefit of the doubt countless times, I'm sadly proven correct.

It's not pleasant to be able to virtually mind read what people are thinking.