User:Songbirdsnake/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Mental illness portrayed in media

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
(Briefly explain why you chose it, why it matters, and what your preliminary impression of it was.)

I chose this article because I am passionate about accurate representation of mental illness in media and am interested in the information that is currently presented on this issue. I believe it's important to understand the ways the media uses stereotypes to promote certain representations of the mentally ill that may not be entirely accurate or appropriate. I spent a significant amount of time browsing articles before choosing this one. One of the things that struck me was the quote claiming that media representations cause the public to advocate for locking up, medicating, or isolating those with mental illnesses. Without a citation attached to this claim, I was curious to know if that statement truly belongs on a page like this and what other kinds of claims are made without appropriate citations.

Evaluate the article
(Compose a detailed evaluation of the article here, considering each of the key aspects listed above. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what a useful Wikipedia article evaluation looks like.)

Lead Section

The lead section discusses how people with mental illnesses are inaccurately represented in media. It seems to only present one point on the topic: how this misrepresentation is contrary to the realistic lives of those living with mental illnesses. There is no introduction into the following sections, nor are there sufficient citations that detail from where the author is getting their information.

Content

The content on this topic is extremely limited, considering the scope of information available and studies done on this topic. There is a heavy emphasis on the fact that the public does not have much personal experience with mentally ill patients, and therefore rely on the media for knowledge on the subject. The author mentions depression as an example of a mental illness portrayed in film. I think it would be beneficial to include multiple sections on the different types of mental illnesses depicted in media and assess how specific examples have contributed to society's treatment of those suffering from those types of mental illness. The "celebrity suicides" section seems unnecessary in this article, considering most of the content focuses on mental illnesses portrayed in film and television. There was a sentence about The National Alliance on Mental Health and their opinions on how suicide is portrayed in film and television. I think expanding upon this point would be a great asset to this article -- delving into how organizations advocating for equal and accurate representation feel about current depictions and their suggestions for improving these representations.

Tone and Balance

While I do not think the author is attempting to persuade the audience toward any one particular stance, it also does not feel particularly neutral. This article clearly states that mental illnesses are inaccurately portrayed in the media and the author makes many claims about the effects of this misrepresentation that are unsubstantiated by reputable sources. There is an absence of examples showing how the media has accurately portrayed mental illness, which I think weakens this article. It would be helpful to include examples from both accurately and inaccurately portrayed illnesses to give a wider view of media's depictions.

Sources and References

I believe this is the area that lacks the most within this article. A great majority of the statements are unsupported and therefore cannot be verified. However, of the sources listed, a majority of them seem to be reputable, academic sources. Many of these sources are also fairly current, having been written as recent as two years ago. There are likely more recently published articles that can be included in this article, as mental illness and health is a very popular topic in media.

Organization and Writing Quality

There are many ways that I would change the organization of this article. First of all, this article lacks discussion about every type of media. Although film and television are included, I would also include sections on mental illness representation in books, news, radio, podcasts, magazines, and video games. It has some grammatical errors, but these do not necessarily detract from one's understanding of the material. I would definitely expand upon some areas and cut down others.

Images and Media

This article does not include images. Maybe the addition of images from movies or television shows discussed would be beneficial.

Talk Page Discussion

A majority of the information on the talk page is about. the merge of this article with "Romanticization of mental illness in media." These two articles were merged in September 2022 due to the similarity of their contents. Also, there is a section that details why a user suggested the removal of a social media section that exclusively discussed social media's affect on mental health. As this article its presenting information on how the media portrays mental illness, this user felt that this section was unrelated and unnecessary.

Overall Impressions

This article has a good baseline for this topic, but not nearly enough useful information to get a general understanding of the scope of this issue. The article has good sources when statements are cited. The sources used seem reputable and are effective in supporting most of the claims. I would remove any content that was not sufficiently supported by academic sources and restructure the article to include other types of media. Although it is underdeveloped, I do not believe it is poorly developed. It just needs a significant amount of work to be considered complete.