Course Description

In this course we will investigate ways in which mental health is represented in media, including plays, novels, YA, graphic novels, films, scholarly work, and the news. How do the ways in which mental health has been discussed and defined over time promote stereotypes of, stigma for, and prejudice against those whose mental health is impacted? How do we break those stereotypes and prejudices to acknowledge the experiences of folks who have mental health challenges, and to find concrete ways to progress as a culture?

Texts

Ajax, Sophocles

Hamlet, Shakespeare

The Bell Jar, Plath

Firekeeper’s Daughter, Boulley

Solutions and Other Problems, Brosh

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Sanchez

A Head Full of Ghosts, Tremblay

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Girl, Interrupted

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

King of Staten Island

Ted Lasso

Little Miss Sunshine

Bluey

2 Films Selected by Students

Requirements

We will do weekly reading/viewing responses, you’ll lead discussion for one class, you’ll do a final research project (a paper, podcast, video essay are all possible ways to do this) and a final portfolio of your best work of the semester and a reflection on what you learned and how you found it useful.

About the Instructor(s): Jonatha Kottler

I’m a writer, a reader, and a teacher. I’ve had a lot of my own experiences with mental health, and supporting people in my life with mental health issues. I am deeply invested in making sure that students preserve and enhance their own mental health while they are studying here at UNM, and beyond.