How to do the mentally unstable, unreliable narrator trope without being ableist.
1. The protagonist is not evil
2. The people around them are trying to help them
3. Their doctors are not on some big pharma kick and actually care about their patients.
1. The protagonist is not evil
2. The people around them are trying to help them
3. Their doctors are not on some big pharma kick and actually care about their patients.
4. The character cannot tell what is real or hallucination. They are aware, and that is why they are seeking help.
5. The protagonist is not a danger to others, may be a danger to themselves, but are a capable adult just dealing with a sickness no different than cancer
5. The protagonist is not a danger to others, may be a danger to themselves, but are a capable adult just dealing with a sickness no different than cancer
6. The protagonist DOES have the mental illness they are diagnosed with.
7. The reveal is that the HORROR IS UNDENIABLY REAL AND NOT BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE MENTAL ILLNESS.
7. The reveal is that the HORROR IS UNDENIABLY REAL AND NOT BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE MENTAL ILLNESS.
8. Medication doesn't completely remove symptoms, it just alleviates and tones them down in some cases. Stronger dose/medication is 100 percent ok in normal circumstances, and shouldn't be injected to here
9. The protagonist has coping mechanisms to help them deal with what they are dealing with. Do not trivialize them, play them for laughs, or make the protagonist seem lessor for using them.
In fact, might be interesting if the ritual aspect of them warded off the monster.
In fact, might be interesting if the ritual aspect of them warded off the monster.
10. Hospitalization is not a punishment. That does. It mean that we can't have horror there, but consider it to be a safe and sacred space like any hospital, and then let the terror begin to creep in from OUTSIDE in.
Don't make hospital staff allied with the evil
Don't make hospital staff allied with the evil
11. If you really want a real life villain to work off of, consider a least relatives, politicians, and other authority figures who believe mental illness is a joke/ just hate disabled people
Let these fuckers feel their own hubris
Let these fuckers feel their own hubris
12. Don't suddenly make us wonder if the horror or mental I'll was were real at the end of the film. The horror comes from is questioning our own reality and what might be out there. It is not the mentally ill are bad and scary, actually.
13. For fucks sake, hire actors with real mental illness, consult with people who treat mental illness. Use real science to infuse your art.
14. Try not to make it a franchise, but do try and change the tropes of a genre that hurts a lot of people
14. Try not to make it a franchise, but do try and change the tropes of a genre that hurts a lot of people
*objected
*doesn't
*illness
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