Does "Love & Mercy" have what it takes to change America's attitude towards mental illness?

In Bill Pohlad's film "Love & Mercy," a biopic about The Beach Boy's front man Brian Wilson, audiences get to see the happier times of Wilson's life, when he was producing "Pet Sounds" and "SMiLE." More importantly, however, they are also shown the darker times of his life, where he suffers from schizoaffective disorder. This biopic is unique not only due to a dual performance of Brian Wilson by Paul Dano and John Cusack, but also because of how it portrays mental illness. Thanks to the film’s accurate and balanced portrayal of schizoaffective disorder and the filmmaker’s activism, “Love & Mercy” is certainly capable of inspiring nation-wide change, but whether or not that change has happened yet has yet to be seen.

Before one can understand what changes a film like "Love & Mercy" is capable of, one must first acknowledge that there is a problem with how mental illness is talked about in America. One major issue is that the only time the media ever discusses mental illness is during the aftermath of a mass shooting. The aftermath of a mass shooting is the worst time to discuss mental illness as doing so contributes to negative stereotypes and unhealthy stigmas that further alienate the mentally ill (most of whom are not violent at all). Additionally, while college students across the country campaign for political correctness concerning language and marginalized minorities, people with mental disorders continue to be labeled as "psycho" or "crazy." And so the question now is, how can a film like "Love & Mercy" bring about the change that is so desperately needed?

The answer is in compassion. One of the film's greatest assets lies in how it is able to stir compassion in audiences for Brian Wilson. This alone isn't much of a challenge if one considers how Wilson is one of the founding members of what Ronald Reagan called "America's band," The Beach Boys. The fact that the subject of the film is someone who's music is almost universally recognized means that more people are bound to listen to the film's core messages, and take the issues more seriously.

Fortunately, however, Bill Pohlad does not simply use the fame of his subject to get butts in seats, and designs scenes and episodes in “Love & Mercy” that accurately portray schizoaffective disorder.

Accurate portrayals such as these do not come often. "A Beautiful Mind," for example, tells an amazing story but takes an approach to portraying John Nash's illness that is too literal, and ultimately fails to give the audience a realistic experience of his illness. 

Where "Love & Mercy" differs is that when the audience does get a glimpse inside Wilson's head, they are presented with genuinely frightening sounds and voices that, according to those close to Wilson, resemble what he truly experienced before getting proper treatment. The main scene that accomplishes this takes place when young Brian, shortly after a tense encounter with his father, puts on his headphones, and instead of hearing somewhat heavenly music (like before, while lying on his car), he hears a terrifying and twisted voice screeching. Not only is this episode accurate, but it also inspires empathy from the audience. Surely, a viewer of "Love & Mercy" would be grateful to not have to deal with that, but would also find a newfound respect for people like Wilson, who bravely live on in spite of their illness. 

What also differentiates "Love & Mercy" from other biopics is that episodes like the one described above are sparse throughout the film - instead of relying on episodes like these to make a point, the film shows the audience the suffering caused by the illness from the outside. The main examples that comes to mind are at the beginning of the film, when young Wilson has a panic attack on the plane, and the scene where he later on flails about in his pool's deep end, unable to have a serious conversation with his bandmates due to paranoia that Phil Spector had his house bugged. Both of these scenes clearly show how much pain Wilson was in, and thanks to the sparse yet poignant episodes described above, these scenes of outer suffering are even more powerful. 

So, "Love & Mercy" has been out since June of 2015 - has anything in America changed? Hard to say. What can be said is that thanks film's popularity, awareness of mental illness has indeed been raised. The effort to do this even goes beyond the movie itself, and both the producers and the cast have become vocal and active. Bill Pohlad, Paul Dano and John Cusack, along with Brian and Melinda Wilson themselves, announced a partnership with The Campaign to Change Direction, and Wilson even threw a benefit concert with his band to support soldiers with PTSD.

 The change the filmmakers behind "Love & Mercy" wish to see in our culture still has a long way to go. What can be said is that those who viewed "Love & Mercy" with little or no awareness of mental illness have certainly been given a lot to think about. The film gives great perspective into Brian Wilson's struggle with schizoaffective disorder and thanks to the accurate portrayal of his illness, the film is more than capable of inspiring compassion towards those who struggle with a mental disorder. One can only hope now that this compassion spreads beyond the film's audiences and fully permeates American culture.