I watched Inside with a group of friends. They really enjoyed it. I concluded that I was not the audience for this type of film. First, the political commentary was unappealing to me because a lot of it I did not agree with. This makes it difficult to find the content funny. Second, Burnham's jokes about mental illness and suicide made me uncomfortable. I wonder a lot about what the effects of "normalization" of mental illness are. I understand the desire to remove negative stigma and take a light hearted stance. But I also feel concerned that there could be social contagion effects. That making jokes about suicide and "ha-ha-ha I'm so depressed" could reinforce negative thinking in others and spread negative mentality to the already health.
Inside (Bo Burnham, 2021)
I watched Inside with a group of friends. They really enjoyed it. I concluded that I was not the audience for this type of film. First, the political commentary was unappealing to me because a lot of it I did not agree with. This makes it difficult to find the content funny. Second, Burnham's jokes about mental illness and suicide made me uncomfortable. I wonder a lot about what the effects of "normalization" of mental illness are. I understand the desire to remove negative stigma and take a light hearted stance. But I also feel concerned that there could be social contagion effects. That making jokes about suicide and "ha-ha-ha I'm so depressed" could reinforce negative thinking in others and spread negative mentality to the already health.