Visions of Institutionalization

In this blog post, you will compare and contrast the depictions of psychiatric institutionalization in the article "Bedlam, 1946," the films It’s Kind of a Funny Storyand The New Asylums, and Ken Kesey’s version of psychiatric hospitalization inOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

The goal of this post is to explore and understand the different ways in which psychiatric hosipitalization is depicted, and how these depictions show the ways in which we as a society understand mental illness.

Engage with whatever ideas you find worthwhile, but possible topics of discussion include:

• Similarities and differences between the different depictions
• Fictional visions of psychiatric hospitalization/mental health (Cuckoo’s Nest, Funny Story) versus real situations (The New Asylums, "Bedlam, 1946").
• The ways mental health and mental illness are understood and responded to in the different works
• Anything else you found interesting or worth exploring further

You should strive for insight and thoughtfulness, and support your responses with specific examples from the novel, article, and film.

Although you may want to write your post on Word or as a Google doc, your response should ultimately be posted as a new blog post on your blog.

Bloggers start here!

(Say the following in an imitation of a boxing announcer Michael Buffer): "Let's... get... ready... to BLOG!"

For this class you will be creating and maintaining a blog. Begin by going to blogger.com. Log on with your mcfsd.org account (or your gmail account, if you have one). Then click on the "New Blog" tab. Follow the directions and you'll soon have a functioning blog. When you get a URL for your blog, comment to this post and paste in your URL.

Once you get your blog up and running, create a post that responds to the following prompt:

• What does the story "The Cask of Amontillado" say about the nature of mental illness/madness? What assumptions does it make? What is accurate/inaccurate about the way mental illness is portrayed. Support your response with lines from the story.