Girl, Interrupted

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses the film "Girl, Interrupted", which is based upon Susanna Kaysen's memoir of the same name. The writer notes that the film makes frequent use of the stock cliches of films representing female madness. The writer points out that the message of "Girl, Interrupted" is really that Susanna is an innocent and unjustly accused person, not that the way society treats the mentally disturbed is fundamentally cruel or inhumane. The writer maintains that the more stereotypical the representation of woman and madness, the more poignant Susanna's plight seems and the less her psychiatrists understand her.

From the Paper:

"The insanity of the therapists at the asylum is highlighted by the fact that the main problem Susanna's therapist has is that Susanna sleeps with her boyfriend and kisses an orderly while incarcerated. Susanna sees this as an act of proto-feminist defiance and points out that if she were a boy, she would not be labeled as promiscuous. Her stuffy therapist disapproves, of course, but the audience is meant to cheer. Obviously, the really crazy character is her uptight therapist, not the young woman. This is a fairly easy ideological victory for the film, as essentially it is penalizing the therapist for not embracing contemporary norms of female sexuality. What seemed abnormal for a girl in the 1960s is no longer abnormal today, but this says little about the so-called madness of the other characters. It merely states that some harmless behaviors were once called insane, even though the behavior of most of the inmates, like self-immolation, laxative abuse, and drug addiction, are not harmless."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Girl Interrupted." Starring Winona Ryder. 1999.

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