Language is Powerful
Director, Script, Cinematographer, Editor: Flora Rees-Arredondo Music by Ben Sound Quality Control/Lead: Georgia Sullivan Record Keeper: Victoria Marroquin This is a film I helped create for the 2015 Directing Change contest, where students are asked to create a PSA either about suicide prevention or ending the stigma around mental illness. My group chose the stigma category, and focused on stigma in everyday language. We decided that in order to have a conversation about stigma towards mental illness, we need to learn how to have that conversation in the first place. Many people either don't know about, or don't understand how words such as crazy, so OCD, retarded, insane, psycho, depressing, etc. are actually ableistic slurs. "Crazy" is an especially prevalent slur, one I hear in any conversation I ever have, and it's sick. The formal definition of "crazy" (which has also never been a formal or psychological term, just a slur) is "mentally deranged, especially as manifested in a wild or aggressive way." That is not a joke. And, contrary to popular belief, having a mental illness doesn't in any way make you more prone to violence than a mentally healthy individual. Why is this derogatory term so prevalent in everyday language, usually used to express something exciting, absurd, surprising, or to describe someone strange, or mentally ill? The other ableistic slurs, some of which I mentioned above, also have the same sorts of meanings. It's derogatory. It's disgusting. And it needs to stop.
