Opinion

Opinion: Netflix’s Attempts at Representing Mental Health Tend to Fall Flat

Original Series Have spread surprisingly un-original narratives on mental health

Editor Colleen Brownley

Netflix originals have always been either a hit or a miss. In my opinion, shows like Stranger Things have done exceedingly well while others such as Friends From College fade into the background. But, there is one thing in Netflix’s shows that seem to come up a lot which is mental health. Now, mental health in Netflix’s shows is mostly misrepresented. There are a few that do an okay job, but mostly they do more harm than good.

The shows that have done a significantly bad job at showing mental health in media include one of Netflix’s newer shows Ginny and Georgia, as well as the more notable 13 Reasons Why. These representations seem ignorant, to say the least, but also create unhealthy narratives of mental illnesses. YouTubers such as Knowing Better have created videos on 13 Reasons Why, saying that they romanticize the mental illnesses in the show, and even make suicide seem like a way to exact revenge on others. Now Ginny and Georgia show both eating disorders and self-harm throughout the show, but the two topics seem to be placed in the show to increase the value of the plot and nothing else.

There is one redeeming show that portrays mental health in a relatable, realistic way and that is Bojack Horseman. At first glance, this show is just about a talking horse, but it does an amazing job of representing how a person who goes through depression thinks and acts. Bojack is definitely not the most likable character, but even the other characters’ mental health problems are well written and display a genuine portrait of mental health. Now Bojack Horseman has often been compared to 13 Reasons Why, but the most notable difference is how mental health is written into the shows. In shows like 13 Reasons Why and Ginny and Georgia mental health is written in either as the entirety of the character or an embellishment to make a character more interesting. However, in Bojack Horseman mental illness is written in to make the characters more real.

The main problem of Netflix writing mental illness poorly is that it’s harmful. A show that glorifies suicide and depression doesn’t make people want to get better, it encourages them not to be. But Bojack Horseman is a show about what depression makes you do, the horrible things it can twist your mind into thinking is okay, it makes people want to get better. That’s the difference between good righting and bad, harmful material and material that could make a difference.