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An analysis of the representation of Dissociative Identity
By Joely Johnson
Disorder in four Hollywood movies
Who D.I.D It?
Findings
Research Questions:
How is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) depicted in movies based
on true stories (The Three Faces of Eve, and Sybil ), vs movies that are fictional (Identity, and Split )?
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Do these movies promote fear of this illness, or are they an accurate
representation of how DID actually is?
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The Three Faces of Eve:
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Treatment:
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In this film, Eve doesn't exactly get institutionalized. She is not sent to a place where she is locked up and tied down, but she does get sent to a cushy mental hospital by her husband so someone else can deal with her getting better. She is first seen by the therapists as "just crazy." To them she was a woman vying for attention, until they got to know her disorders, then they were willing to help her with her DID. Eve spends two years + with her therapist, looking for a solution to her illness.
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She, as well as her other two personalities are open and willing to talk to the therapist about finding solutions to her disability.
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Therapy is ultimately helpful - hypnotherapy to remember blackouts of the past, goes down to one soul identity in the end.
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Abuse/Trauma:
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- Doesn't remember her past in the beginning, doesn't remember details of her childhood. But she later remembers her past with the help of therapy. Finding that her DID stems from an instance in her childhood that traumatized her: her mother forcing her to kiss her dead grandmother's body at her funeral. Paired with the physical and mental abused inflicted upon her by her husband at the beginning, Mr. White.
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Lifestyle:
Eve does not need help living - none of her personalities commit crimes or do anything crazy that would put her in danger. No recurring suicidal tendencies. Eve has a job, and the other personalities can get in the way of that, but they try to do her job for her when she isn't around. Eve is able to keep in touch with her close family, including her daughter and parents - and in the end when Jane is the main alter, she gets remarried and has a happy, fulfilled life with her husband and daughter Bonnie.
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Alters/Personalities:
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- 3 personalities
- All seemingly the same age
- All women
- Didn't emerge until Eve was older
- Aware of one another after treatment begins, does not have a crazy reaction
- Voices in head talking to one another
- Alters can switch when they are called out to by another person, or just whenever they want to be the main alter.
- Eve White is quiet and shy - loving towards her daughter
- Eve Black is wild and goes out all the time, spending money, drinking, smoking, partying with random men
- Jane is a nice mixture of the two Eves - she is kind and loving towards Bonnie, but is also fun and willing to go out and express herself in whatever way she wants to
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Eve White's three identities
Sybil:
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Treatment:
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Sybil attends what seems to be daily treatment with her therapist. No other doctors believe that Sybil is being truthful - just a hysteric woman dealing with her period. But when she is sent to the woman therapist, Dr. Wilbur, gives her a real chance and gets to know each of Sybil's personalities personally in order to get the best treatment. At first, Sybil is hesitant to treatment, but eventually feels comfortable with her therapist. Her treatment is hectic, but helpful. We don't get to see her in the end, but it suggests that Sybil was never fully herself, and she died a "recluse."
- Sybil has a breakdown in public and is sent to an institution - tied to a bed, but the therapist gets her out.
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Abuse/Trauma:
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-Male doctors seem to think she is just crazy because she is a woman
- Her schizophrenic mother mentally, physically and emotionally abused Sybil as a child.
- Her mother raped her with a button hook when she was bad
- Her mother gave her ice water enemas when she was bad and then tied her to the piano until she couldn't hold it anymore, forcing her to wet herself.
- Sees her grandmother die
- Sees her boyfriend die
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Lifestyle:
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- Goes to school, but disappears for weeks at a time and has trouble keeping up with her studies.
- Art school - seen as a person who is talented in many different styles, but really each different style is just a different personality taking over.
-No job
- No relationship with remaining family, seemingly no friendships, other than her therapist
- One boy asks her on a date but she has a breakdown while on their date, so them dating ends
-Tries to live a normal life as well as she can, no serious crime other than once breaking a window of a car because she thought it was her dad's car and she wanted in
- Dies a "recluse"
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Alters/Personalities:
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- 16 different personalities, men and women, all different ages below Sybil's actual age
-Suicidal tendencies, tries to kill herself two or three times
- All aware of each other except for Sybil, until she starts treatment
- No internal monologue, just fast switches between the alters leading to external monologue
- Alters switch whenever they want or when they are called for
- Each alter deals with different emotions - Peggy deals with anger, Ruthie deals with trauma of rape, Sid represents Sybil's relationship with her father, Vicky is the confident one, etc.
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Sybil as Ruthie, flashing back to her childhood abuse
Identity:
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Treatment:
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- We meet our patient, Malcom, while he is meeting with doctors on death row. He is scheduled to be killed the next day unless they figure out which one of his identities is a serial killer, so they can kill that violent identity through an experimental drug therapy.
- He is tied down and being interrogated
- Drugs make all his identities meet in his mind so they can fight to the death (not a real treatment at all).
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Abuse/Trauma:
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- as a child, Malcom is forced to watch his mother have sex with multiple different men.
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Lifestyle:
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- We only know that Malcom is a violent serial killer that is on death row. He has other personalities that are harmless, but the one that is the serial killer causes his possible normal lifestyles to diminish, spending his days in mental facilities and prison.
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Alters/Personalities:
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- 11 different personalities
- men and women
- all different ages
- Alters are not aware of each other until in the middle of the experimental drug treatment
- The whole movie is the internal monologue and visuals between the alters in Malcom's mind
- Each alter represents something - The child, Timmy, represents his anger from his stolen innocence and youth. The Peach farmer Paris represents bliss and happiness in the future, his future possibilities to move on from his stolen youth, the cop, Ed, representing that control and ability to discern right from wrong, etc.
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One of Malcom's identities, Ed, finding out that he is not an actual person, but an identity of someone else
Split:
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Treatment:
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Psychotherapy with Dr. Fletcher. She knows all of the personalities personally, they seem to meet often for their therapy sessions and keeps close tabs on him.
- The beast takes over and kills therapist
- Treatment does not work, Kevin kills everyone as the superhuman “Beast,” and gets away from the police
Abuse/Trauma:
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- Abuse as a child
- Dad left on a train, traumatized Kevin
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Lifestyle:
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- Works at the zoo
- Seemingly no friends or family
- Is not in a relationship
- Life of crime - kidnapping and killing girls in sacrifice to the 24th identity, the beast
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Alters/Personalities:
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- 23 personalities, and “The Beast,” a 24th personality that comes out in the end of the film
- All different ages, both men and women
- Personalities all sit in a room with chairs together in Kevin's mind
- Personalities can come out when someone calls to them, but mostly just come out whenever they feel that they are best suited to protect Kevin's mind
- All identities aware of one another
- The Beast is a superhero, not an identity. He takes over his body and can walk on walls, grows huge muscles, is bulletproof - not an accurate representation of DID
A few of Kevin's different personalities
Theoretical Findings:
Framing theory:
The Three Faces of Eve:
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Although The Three Faces of Eve is the oldest of the films, made at a time in which DID was believed to be fake, I found that it was the most accurate representation of Dissociative Identity Disorder. It follows a strict therapy regimen, shows a character who is able to hold a job and relationships with family and friends, and shows how although DID can be difficult, it is something that people can overcome.
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The movie was framed in a way that Eve was a normal person going through a hard time, rather than a crazy person and a criminal.
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Sybil:
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Sybil, on the other hand, was a little bit more problematic. Sybil was a woman with many talents, but her 16 personalities often got the best of her. She was framed as a problem, a woman in hysterics, who could not go out and do anything normal without having a breakdown. She was portrayed as someone that people should be afraid of, although she did not commit any crimes or do anything to harm others.
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Identity:
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Identity framed the character with DID, Malcom Rivers, as a crazy man. He was a serial killer who was going to be killed the next day because his DID caused him to kill people. This frame is harmful and creates an unrealistic picture of people with this disorder.
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Split:
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Split, being a movie in a super hero trilogy, does not frame DID in a way that is accurate. His character is a killer, a kidnapper, and his final personality can walk on walls and is super strong and bullet proof. The problem is, this movie was not advertised as a super hero movie, but as a movie following a crazy man with DID and his crime spree. Learning that it was comparing DID with having superpowers is not a fair comparison, and suggests to the audience that people with this disorder have superhuman abilities and use those abilities to kill people, which obviously is not the case.
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The way each of these movies is framed is different from the last, and each movie presents a different view of someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder. I have found that most of these movies frame DID in a way that insights fear, and has an aura of mystery. I think that is because with a disorder that is so unknown, it is easy to stretch the truth. These movies frame the disorder in such a way because it stirs interest and makes money. None of these movies were made for an intellectual learning purpose.
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In a way, this is alright. Movies are just movies - they aren't real. But the fact of the matter is, some people are going to watch these movies and think that they are real, and they are going to have an idea of a disorder in their minds that does not match what the disorder actually is. DID affects a small number of people - but those people are shrouded by a film of fear that does not need to exist, and that is all because of the way Hollywood films frame their disorder: as something that we should be terrified of.
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