November 21, 2009
UTNE READER

The Inmates and the Asylum: How Hollywood Depicts Mental Hospitals

September 7, 2000
Amanda Luker 
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The Inmates and the Asylum: How Hollywood Depicts Mental Hospitals,

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Sarah Koenig, Brain.com
What do the movies The House on Haunted Hill,Amadeus, and Silence of the Lambs all have in common? According to Sarah Koenig in Brain.com, horror directors love to utilize unrealistic and frightening images of mental institutes or asylums, such as the institutions depicted in those films, to heighten the viewer's pleasure. (Who can forget the terrifying leer of Hannibal Lechter from behind the window of his dank, dimly lit cell?) By doing so, though, such films perpetuate inaccurate and ridiculous stereotypes, only to boost box office sales. 'The popular conceptions of institutions for the insane have been primarily created by Hollywood in order to suit its own purposes,' Koenig argues. 'The mad doctor, the brutal treatment of the mentally ill, and the bizarre methods and machinery used to implement these 'cures,' perfectly suit the needs of Hollywood directors looking to scare us into ticket sales.' -- Amanda Luker
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