What's Wrong with Wonderland?
03/31/00
What do you think of Wonderland? ABC is betting that it will displace E.R. on Thursday nights, but many mental illness advocacy groups are concerned. A new coalition of organizations has organized to protest this show. While the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has spearheaded the protest, they have been joined by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Fountain House, the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services, the International Center for Clubhouse Development, the National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors, the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association, the National Mental Health Association, and the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems.
Is the show that bad? It's hard to judge that from the first episode. Wonderland begins with a clever opening sequence reminiscent of Rorschach inkblots. The lives of patients in a bleak New York City public mental hospital are contrasted with the lives of the people who work there. This episode gets us to care about the staff, but it leaves the patients in the shadows. With one possible exception - a man who has attempted suicide after a relationship broke up - the patients are presented as kooky, angry, and often dangerous. I'm especially troubled by the intense anger expressed by many of the patients. Certainly some mental patients are angry, but more tend to be depressed or anxious. The patients in this episode are not familiar to me in my work as a psychologist. They resemble too closely the cast of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Wonderland is a very creative series that takes risks. It feels like a movie, and visual effects are blended with creative monologue at times. Are mental patients really as violent as they are portrayed in the pilot episode? No. Is the world as violent as it is often portrayed on television? No.
The creators of Wonderland have given us a high quality drama. This show could be a vehicle for increased public understanding of mental illness and the problems facing mental health care today - or it could remain simply an E.R. clone set in a looney bin. The pilot episode takes the low road, but it ends on a high note. I'll be watching upcoming episodes to see how things develop. I can't wholeheartedly recommend that you do the same.
Organizations Protest to the White House
NAMI's original Wonderland protest
Bipolar Guide Marcia Purse has also written a review
The American Psychiatric Association on Violence and Mental Illness