Use of mental illness in cinema: Examination of the movie Split

Mental disorders are being used since the very first years of cinema. As the sciences of psychology, psychiatry and neurology, which deal with mental disorders, have developed, the variety and layers of mentally ill characters that come to life in the cinema have increased. In today's world, the transfer of mental illnesses to the screen in a deficient or non-dialectical manner is far from the scientific foundations and it negatively affects the individuals suffering from related diseases. It is not correct to use movies solely for entertainment, drama or horror, ignoring ethical values. In the movie Split, Shyamalan dilutes and superficiates dissociative identity disorder considering only industrial needs; There is an attitude that gives dissociative identity disorder patients are potential criminals. Dissociative identity disorder, observed in the main character of the movie Split, includes nuances and behavior patterns that have no equivalent in the literature. Among his alters there is a monster named The Beast, and The Beast has supernatural abilities. No dissociative identity disorder patient can have supernatural abilities. Due to the fact that individuals suffering from dissociative identity disorder have a psychological or physical traumatic experience in their past, individuals generally tend to commit crime and cause violence much rarely than the individuals with other mental disorders. In addition to these, there is no dialectical approach to the related disease in the movie Split. Because of this attitude, there is a negative discourse covering all individuals with DID. Adopting this unethical attitude, Split was produced and distributed by a well-known company such as Universal Pictures which lead it to reach a wide audience. There is a scientifically proven possibility that every individual who have interacred with the movie might have been misinformed about DID.