4B — Thursday, March 23, 2017
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Not Insane: A study of the 
complex ‘Legion’ ’s David

FX

David in FX’s ‘Legion’

Analyzing the intracacies of a television character as it 
relates to mental illness and its repetitive media treatment

Sitting down to speak with 

Mentality Magazine, I was 
sucked into a space where 
honesty 
was 
encouraged, 

where mental health and art 
were intertwined and where 
speaking up was and always 
will be the answer.

The student-run publication 

made its first appearance at 
the University at Festifall this 
past semester. After years of 
not having an organization 
dedicated to freely writing and 
publishing 
work 
exclusively 

about mental health, Mentality 
Magazine filled the space.

“If you think it’s important 

to write about, put it out 
there,” said Anna Learis, an 
Engineering sophomore and 
senior editor of the magazine.

With a once a semester 

print 
publication, 
weekly 

meetings 
and 
a 
constant 

stream of website posts, the 
group produces content with 
individual styles and twists. 
Every writer contributes his/
her own perspective on mental 
health, highlighting how it 
affects everyone differently. 
This originality in their work 
also reflects the individuality 
of mental illnesses, according 
to Liz Fernandez, an LSA 
freshman 
and 
writer 
for 

Mentality.

“Stories weave themselves 

naturally because they are real 
people’s emotions,” Fernandez 
said. “You don’t fabricate it. 
Those stories and emotions 
themselves 
are 
inherently 

motivating.”

Learis 
and 
Fernandez 

explained the different types 
of articles that the magazine 
publishes. Producing columns 
— like “Speak Out Sundays,” 
which connects mental health 
and celebrities — allows the 
writers to talk about mental 
health through other artists 
and art mediums. Additionally, 
the 
writers 
do 
“Mid-Week 

Music” playlists, where they 
compile songs that reflect how 
they are feeling that week.

The women also described 

how the articles serve as 
opportunities to discuss how 

the outside world may or may 
not fully understand the extent 
to which people suffer from 
mental illness. Some of the 
articles display the negative 
stigmas of mental illness in 
media, review mental practices 
like 
meditation 
and 
even 

discuss the importance of the 
simple, but helpful sun lamp.

Learis also explained that 

the 
pieces 
propose 
little, 

“gimmicky 
mental 
health 

things,” providing ideas as 
to how people can cope with 
mental health.

However, it is important to 

note that Mentality Magazine 
is not solely a group of people 
who have mental health related 
issues and are writing about it. 
The group strives to shine light 
on mental health and to profile 
the importance of awareness, 
especially 
on 
a 
college 

campus, but does not restrict 
its staff only to those who are 
personally affected.

“Our primary goal as a 

magazine 
is 
to 
foster 
the 

conversation 
about 
(mental 

health),” Learis said. “Our view 
is that, by sharing our stories, 
we want people to feel less 
alone.”

In order to create such a 

distinct and serious publication, 
Learis really thought about her 
personal life and how mental 
health has affected her.

“In high school we had to 

read Walt Whitman’s ‘Song 
of Myself’,” she said. It was 
here where she realized she 
can “write bluntly, but still 
artistically” about the things 
that mattered most to her –– 
the recognition and severity 
that is mental health.

“It doesn’t have to be black 

and white … you don’t have to 
sugarcoat things,” she added. 
With these conditions in mind, 
Learis 
was 
determined 
to 

design a space for mental health 
and to bring forth the concept 
that the it is more common than 
many believe.

And as one of the first student-

run, mental health publications 
on college campuses across the 
country — and the only one at 
the University — Mentality 
Magazine 
has 
a 
duty 
to 

perform.

“There is a power in writing, 

both reading it and doing it 

yourself,” 
Fernandez 
said 

when explaining the difference 
between 
reading 
someone’s 

story versus just hearing it.

The 
magazine 
staff 

continues to share their stories 
and perspectives not only with 
the public, but closely with one 
another. As a tight-knit group, 
organization members spends 
time outside of work, like 
hanging out at Sweetwaters 
and holding pot lucks. They 
openly talk about how their 
mental health affects each of 
them on a daily basis.

“I 
had 
a 
really 
hard 

time 
adjusting 
to 
college,” 

Fernandez explained. “I was so 
sad in a place where everyone 
is so excited,” and she did not 
quite understand why.

Encouraging 
that 

conversation, 
the 
group 

lingered on Fernandez’s phrase 
about feeling lonely at a new 
place like the University, not 
letting it slip into the shadows 
like so many mental health 
topics usually do. They are the 
type of people expanding on 
the question: Why isn’t this 
something people talk more 
about?

“People are looking for a 

community to sit and talk, and 
that is OK,” Learis added.

These hangouts are not like 

typical therapy sessions –– 
ones that can be intimidating 
or 
scary 
when 
expressing 

one’s mental health problems. 
They’re a group of trustworthy 
friends who understand that 
there is no need to hold back 
about the issues at hand.

“(Mentality 
Magazine) 

creates 
a 
culture 
where 

people can talk about it and be 
comfortable … I immediately 
felt connected to these people,” 
Fernandez said.

The beauty of the magazine 

is that anyone can submit pieces 
to it, not just MM writers or 
University Michigan students.

Learis said she frequently 

recieves emails from readers 
stating that they appreciate 
Mentality, and also want to 
contribute to the conversation.

“I would (write an article) 

1,000 times over if it means 
making one person feel better 
about their condition or about 
how they are feeling on any 
given day.”

AMELIA CACCHIONE/THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Mentality Magazine looks 
to serve as trailblazer for 
mental-health writing

The issue of mental illness 

has been at the forefront of 
television for a while now. 
Acclaimed shows like FX’s 
“You’re The Worst,” the CW’s 
“Crazy 
Ex-Girlfriend” 
and 

Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy 
Schmidt” have been praised 
for their sensitive, nuanced 
portrayals of mental health. 
And while its exposure into 
mainstream TV has helped 
emphasize its social relevance, 
mental illness is still a very 
tricky, often perplexing topic 
to depict.

Using mental illness in TV 

delicately and acutely requires 
several necessary steps: doing 
extensive 
research, 
getting 

advice from mental health 
consultants, 
hiring 
writers 

with 
familiarity 
or 
lived-

in 
experiences 
of 
mental 

illness and getting actors who 
approach the material in a 
thoughtful way. But it’s possible 
for a show that successfully 
discusses mental illness to also 
simply use creative storytelling 
to immerse the audience into 
understanding mental illness 
on a personal, cultural and 
institutional level.

FX’s “Legion” is one such 

show that puts that tactic to 
the test. 

Created by Noah Hawley 

(“Fargo”) and based on a 
character of the same name 
from 
the 
“X-Men” 
comics, 

“Legion” is one of the most 
unusual and refreshing TV 
programs in recent memory. 
It works as both a superhero 
drama 
and 
psychological 

thriller, 
incorporating 

arresting visuals, innovative 
cinematography and a haunting 
electronic music score. Though 
“Legion” remains steadfast in 
joining the canon of peak TV — 
it was just renewed for a second 
season 
— 
the 
authenticity 

of its perspective on mental 
illness has become somewhat 
debatable.

“Legion” 
follows 
David 

Haller (Dan Stevens, “Beauty 
and the Beast”), a powerful 
mutant 
who 
is 
diagnosed 

with schizophrenia at a young 
age but later discovers that 
his “illness” is actually just 
telekinetic powers. After he’s 
recruited by a team of mutants, 
David learns to harness his 
abilities, leading him on a 
journey of self-discovery of 
differentiating between reality 
and fantasy.

Given its jarring visual style 

and unconventional, non-linear 

narrative, 
“Legion” 
walks 

a thin line between making 
mental illness into a spectacle-
heavy storytelling device and 
deconstructing it in order to 
subvert its stigmas.

Some reviewers believe the 

portrayal of mental illness 
in 
“Legion” 
lacks 
nuance: 

Wired’s Eric Thurm claims 
the “groundlessness” with its 
treatment of mental health 
“threatens to upend the show,” 
while 
The 
Village 
Voice’s 

Angelica 
Bastién 
believes 

“limiting 
David’s 
character 

flattens the story’s emotional 
resonance.”

I would argue that “Legion” 

offers an intelligent, complex 
and 
daring 
illustration 
of 

mental illness. In fact, it wants 
the audience to understand 
David through the unreliability 
of his thought process and the 
frustrating lack of control he 
has over his illness / powers. 
Almost every sequence in each 
of the show’s first four episodes 
deliberately tries to cultivate a 
distortion of reality similar to 
David’s. From the disarmingly 
colorful production design to 
the variety of camera lenses 
and angles, “Legion” gives 
audiences an experience so 
disorienting that it not only 
forces us to look at mental 
illness 
from 
a 
different 

perspective, 
but 
also 
to 

question our own reality and 
what it means to be “normal.”

Perhaps “Legion” can also 

be seen as a broader critique 
of 
our 
society’s 
treatment 

(or lack thereof) of mental 
illness. In the first episode, 
we see David shackled to 
the confines of Clockworks 

Psychiatric Hospital, a mental 
institution he lives in after 
an attempted suicide. Later, 
a group of seedy government 
officials 
interrogate 
David, 

believing that he is the most 
powerful 
mutant 
they’ve 

ever witnessed. After a few 
failed 
experiments, 
David 

escapes from the hospital and 
receives help from psychiatric 
therapist Melanie Bird (Jean 
Smart, 
“The 
Accountant”) 

and a special team of other 
mutants, including David’s own 
girlfriend Syd Barrett (Rachel 
Keller, 
“Supernatural”). 

But even then, David is still 
bereft of control, as he is 
constantly pressured to open 
up his thoughts and memories 
under Dr. Bird’s demanding 
treatments. 
At 
one 
point, 

Dr. Bird, who denies David’s 
schizophrenia, even admits to 
her own ominous intentions: 
“I want to fix him because he 
deserves to be healthy. And 
then I want to use him.”

By having us empathize 

with David and his condition, 
“Legion” plays with this idea 
of how our culture attempts to 
understand a person suffering 
from a mental malady by 
medicating 
and 
controlling 

them. The show intentionally 
pushes us away from truly 
knowing what is going on inside 
David’s mind because it puts 
David into a box and simplifies 
the complex character he really 
is. Near the end of episode 
three, David addresses this 
concern directly: “Everybody 
in here keeps saying that I’m 
sane. What if they’re wrong?”

Nevertheless, mental illness 

remains 
a 
difficult 
topic 

when it comes to “Legion.” 
It’s true that people who are 
schizophrenic 
and 
mentally 

ill in general can live full, 
productive 
lives. 
Watching 

David 
struggle 
with 
his 

demons and ultimately become 
a charity case might be seen as 
trivializing mental health and 
perpetuating negative myths 
about 
people 
with 
mental 

illnesses. Using visual trickery 
and cool set pieces to show 
David’s 
mental 
breakdowns 

might also sound ill-advised 
in theory — artistic depictions 
of mental health should focus 
on substance more than style. 
Still, “Legion” does its best to 
demonstrate just how intricate 
mental illness can be, while 
managing to be entertaining 
and thought-provoking. As the 
show continues to grow and 
David’s 
character 
develops, 

“Legion” 
may 
potentially 

become an example of a show 
that portrays mental health in 
a sensitive manner.

ERIKA SHEVCHEK

Daily Arts Writer

“Legion” plays 
with this idea of 
how our culture 

attempts to 
understand a 

person suffering 
from a mental 

malady by 

medicating and 
controlling them

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SAM ROSENBERG

Daily Arts Writer