A Critique on Over-Glorification of ‘Unhinged Women’

By: Guntas Channi and Nico Tanaka

When shows like Fleabag hit the screens, the copious amount of success it generated resulted in the popularity of literature and television based on themes of mentally ill women due to the relatability among the female audience. However, modern media has romanticised the concept of an unhealthy mind to such an extent that it created a whole generation of young women who would rather wallow in self-pity and melancholy rather than work on healing or getting healthier because of the social stereotype that it makes them boring and mundane. 

Similarly, girls have started comparing their existence as being comparable to that of fictional sorrowful characters, and using certain aesthetic words and phrases to categorise their personalities. 

It has become very common for young women online to express their identities through artfully curated “aesthetics.” And because girls are conditioned to believe that their personalities are almost entirely defined by their neuroses, they subconsciously use these classifications of cultural trends – “toxic femininity,” above all–  to allude to one’s mental illness.

What’s sadder is how the actual message of these works have gotten lost in translation and have become an incitement as well as a cautionary tale at the same time. This has also led to these books and shows not being genuinely appreciated from a fictitious and artistic perspective. People seem to have forgotten that being ‘unapologetically insane’ does not work well in reality, and that such beautifully spoken monologues are not meant to be recreated, at least not for wanting to experience the life of your favourite character. The point was not to learn how to be, but how not to be.

For a generation that promotes therapy on social media, the people who need it are in excess. It is time we promote realistic appraisals to problems in life, rather than looking for temporary solutions like seeking comfort in the fact that your life mirrors the life of another romanticised concept. We, as a generation, need to stop building castles in thin air, and forgetting the line between reality and fantasy. I have confidence in the fact that once the idolisation part of it ceases to exist, so will half of our problems.