Represention

     Comparing the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder to the plight of victims in media, including films, the representation of those suffering of PTSD has been deemed quite accurate (PTSD Treatments Help). Presenting a correlation, PTSD most commonly developed from experiences during war, and victims of the disease are usually represented as violent and stoical combat victims or war veterans and are usually men. Personally, I has this preconception in my mind due to this common media representation. When I fantasized a story line revolving around a PTSD victim, I immediately thought of a covert, shut down, male war veteran.

     One fiction film which incorporates these components is "Iron Man 3". Tony Stark is a sarcastic "violent, unpredictable, and dehumanized" (Maseda/ Dulin 2012), and he claims to suffer from a series of anxiety attacks throughout the film that correlate to the DMS (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) criteria. There is a strong correlation between his panic attacks and his inability to sleep, combined with his lack of emotion he properly depicts the main components of a man suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. One notable feature, however, in the manner that he is represented is despite his negative attribute (a component of the PTSD or merely his personality) his is depicted as extremely "manly" and also is very likable. He is humerus because of his sarcasm and apparent lack of emotion, a trait that is used to Marvel's advantage during the more lighthearted aspects of the film. This seems dichotomous at first glance, but in truth many representation in the media of those with PTSD either makes them amiable and likable through their detachment and savage dehumanization (portraying them as a type of bad-ass, for lack of a better term). It is either this humerus interpretation or rather a more sentimental one, sich as in Grey's Anatomy, in which the character Owen Hunt is strictly delineated as "macho" and surly yet vulnerable, making him likable through the sentimentality that his plight evokes from the audience. 

     Taking these representations into account, there are certain aspects I want to maintain most for the sake of the genre. William will not evoke any humor. I want William to be a closed-off, broken down, hardened young man to emphasize the atrocities he's encountered and evoke human emotion. I will be using the same philosophy as author Tim O'Brian in his novella "The Things They Carried", using artistic freedom and author's interpretation of events to present realistic situations in a slightly tweaked manner in order to accurately depict how something is mean to make someone feel as opposed to accurately represent the even that occurred. 


    

     I'm truly excited to see the mannerisms of William unfold; he will be stoical, hardened, and vulnerable. The formalism will break down the representation that the man who suffer from this disease though "take it like men" and learn to cope with their disease. The technical elements is going to portray the fear that is felt by those who suffer, and it will juxtapose this fear of his own mind with the fear of appearing weak to his fiancee and to society. This is where the sentimentality will be evoked, through a man who is trying to find the strength to hold on. 


   American Pssychiatric Association. (n.d.). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm

   Langley, T., Ph.D. (2013, May 10). A Clinical Perspective on Panic and PTSD in Iron Man 3. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-heroes-and-villains/201305/clinical-perspective-panic-and-ptsd-in-iron-man-3  

   Maseda, R., Ph.D, & Dulin, P. L., Ph.D. (n.d.). From Weaklings to Wounded Warriors: The Changing Portrayal of War - related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in American Cinema (Autumn 2012 ed., Vol. 30, 49th Parallel). 

      PTSD Treatment Help. (n.d.). How PTSD Is Represented in the Media. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://ptsdtreatmenthelp.com/ptsd-represented-media/