Fuck your ableism.

[jadedmusings]

Someone want to explain this bullshit to me? I mean, strip away the fucking ridiculousness of a drama about a guy with a beaver puppet on his hand and you have a story about a guy who's depressed. See him suffer from Depression? See how it makes him pathetic? And look, the only way he can cure it is by engaging in bizarre and, dare I say it, "crazy" behavior.

I can't even really express why this thing pisses me off so much. Maybe it's the mockery of the hopelessness people with Depression feel. Here's a man, via a puppet, saying, "I'm worthless. Give up on me. Let me go." which is pretty much a translation of, "I don't want to exist anymore." You realize that right now there are people saying this, and they're ignored up until the point they actually try to take themselves out (possibly because none of the have thought to have a fucking puppet say it).

Yeah. As someone who has been in that pit? Fuck whoever wrote this shit, and fuck the studio that paid for it. And just you wait, somewhere at some point in the future, someone will try to open up about being depressed and a person will say, "Why don't you try doing like that Mel Gibson movie?" Some of them won't even be joking. Believe me, I've heard even more ridiculous shit from freaking licensed therapists.

There are better ways to portray Depression and other Mental Illnesses. This isn't it. That it's a wife beating misogynistic shitstain cast in this role makes it even worse.

And bottom line: A BEAVER PUPPET? ARE YOU EVEN TRYING ANYMORE, HOLLYWOOD?

Comments

[adalger]

Professional therapists do use puppets in therapy already. But they mostly use them with children. To me, this reinforces the popular "mentally ill adults should be treated like children" attitude.

And I've stopped expecting anything worthwhile to come from Gibson, ever. I'd expect him to be stumping around with Camping and getting ready to go home at 6PM tonight, honestly.

[jadedmusings]

Yes, precisely, with children and those children aren't necessarily allowed to go out into the world demanding everyone around them talk to the hand puppet instead of them.

And that line about "Mommy says your brain is broken," was just...nnngh. I might say that my brain malfunctions from time to time, but it's always hurt to hear "You're broken" from a loved one. Usually it only compounds the hopelessness.

Jodie Foster already disappointed me after she tried to say Mel was a good guy after the tapes were released of the threats made to his girlfriend.

[adalger]

Oh, absolutely. Lemme grab my hymnal here. ;)

I occasionally say "My brain is broken" to certain specific other people. It's when trying to be more precise isn't working, and I need something blunt and understandable to someone who *just isn't getting it*. I think I'd flip if someone tried to *fix it for me*, because *how my brain works* isn't something for them to be tinkering around with. I've got thirty years practice in actively looking for workarounds and patches. The best thing anyone else can do for me is *stop breaking my coping mechanisms*.

I missed that about Jodi Foster. I think I'm giving up on Hollywood entirely.