Images of Schizophrenia:The Shattered Minds in A Beautiful Mind, I Know This Much Is True and Fight Club

Abstract

This thesis will look at the representations, or images, of schizophrenia in Ron Howard s movie A Beautiful Mind, Wally Lamb s novel I Know This Much Is True and Chuck Palahniuk s novel and David Fincher s adaptation of Fight Club. I will discuss the representations of schizophrenia that reinforce stigma, as well as look at the function of these representations. This thesis will not look at only the negative misconceptions, but any misconception in these texts that can lead to stigma for the people suffering from schizophrenia. I argue for the need of representative images where individual differences are in focus. Media should try to avoid applying destructive stereotypes to the diagnosis, and the aim should be that these images end up showing the spectrum of the illness.