BY LINDSAY ROBERTSON |
Violence In Entertainment: Variety's Special Report Features Essays By Entertainment Leaders
Industry voices share insights from every angle, including calling for the de-stigmatization of mental illness.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, Variety has put together a special report exploring the issue of violence, with insights from the entertainment community. Instead of focusing solely on violence as portrayed in media like movies, TV, and video games, the magazine asked contributors to go after the issue from every possible angle, including gun control, social responsibility, personal responsibility, and more.
Entertainment industry leaders such as Vince Gilligan, Chaz Palmenteri, Kerry Kennedy, and Alex Gibney weighed in with thoughful essays on how to solve the pressing issue of violence in our culture.
Our own co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal teamed up with Dr. Harold Koplewicz of Child Mind Institute to focus on the importance of erasing the stigma of mental illness, at one point offering one of 2012's most celebrated films as one example of the entertainment industry moving in the right direction:
"Bradley Cooper’s performance as Pat in 'Silver Linings Playbook' is a great example. Pat is not perfect, he is bipolar, and has gotten into some serious trouble. But with medication, therapy and support of his family and friends through thick and thin, he turns it around. He has failures, but he also has a support network of parents, siblings, friends and a therapist whose loyalty goes well beyond the office."
The essay calls upon all of us to stop playing the blame game and help in de-stigmatizing mental illness, removing it as "a barrier to millions of Americans who strive to be a positive force in our society." If you've seen Silver Linings, you know one of the movie's revelations was Cooper's portrayal of Pat Jr. as a man who was constantly and admirably trying to be that positive force. It took not just medical care, but the support of everyone around him to help him get better.
You can read Variety's entire special report here.
And in this new Silver Linings Playbook featurette, Jennifer Lawrence talks about Bradley Cooper's empathy for his character, Pat Jr.:
More from Tribeca:
