Written by Melissa Allen, who you can follow on Twitter at @melissajournal
NOTE: This article contains discussion surrounding mental health, which may be potentially triggering for some readers.
Mental Health Awareness events are something that hit home for thousands of people, and with films such as Split (2016) tackling this very sensitive topic, the issue is being spoken about more than ever before – and rightfully so.
Split focuses on Kevin (James McAvoy) who is affected by dissociative identity disorder (DID), causing 23 personalities to reside within him. The film (directed by M. Night Shyamalan) shows the personalities or ‘alters’ that live within Kevin completely taking over his life; Kevin is only revealed at the end of the film for a couple of minutes before the personalities take over once again. Kevin’s personalities all believe in kidnapping three young girls – this can be an unfortunate effect of DID, as people with the disorder sometimes have thoughts of harming themselves or others.
The disorder affects approximately 1% of the population, but this figure is rising, in part due to the increasing number of reported cases of childhood trauma and abuse, especially within females. Females can suffer from DID due to childhood abuse/trauma at a ratio of 10:1. The element of childhood trauma is shown within the film as Kevin’s mother showed signs of OCD (though this is not proven or said within the film) and that is perhaps part of the reason Kevin developed DID. One of his personalities has OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), which shows the effect that childhood trauma can have on those suffering from DID.
The alters within the film are shown to be very different from one another, again mirroring a real-life case in the sense that only one alter can have diabetes, and another may need glasses when none of the other personalities do. This is revealed in the film in a number of ways, as Patricia (one of the alters) is an older lady while Hedwig is a young boy of around eight or nine years old, with a lisp. This vast difference in Kevin’s alters mirror cases seen in non-fictional people with DID. Other personalities we see within the film are shown when Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) discovers Kevin’s laptop and sees videos the other alters have made; Jade is one such alter who has diabetes and mentions that none of the others need injections for diabetes like she does.
The film shows itself to have an extraordinary grasp of DID, trauma and even horror as this is what people with DID can actually experience, including the negative and harmful alters that can manifest themselves within a person. Despite the realism of the film in the sense of a grasp on the disorder itself, it is a film after all and the added inclusion of ‘The Beast’ makes the film absolutely thrilling.
The Beast shows, while the character itself is unrealistic, the idea that the human mind can create something out of nothing. The alters within Kevin all believe in The Beast therefore he is born into existence our of the pure will that he does in fact exist. This character is essentially a superhuman, able to crawl on walls, run at incredible speeds and even eat human flesh. The horror of this character is exceptional and is a testament to how amazing, and perhaps also how chilling the human mind can be.
This film is one to watch as its depiction of DID and trauma is hauntingly-accurate given the circumstances it is presented, despite the fantastical addition of The Beast. The disorder affects many people around the world and this film goes well in the way of raising awareness for not only this disorder but mental health on the whole, as by the end of this film you re left shaken and better off in the sense of gaining knowledge about very real issues shown through the majesty of cinema.
RELATED: Why Peaky Blinders should be applauded for its exploration of mental health issues