Thursday, January 24, 2013

Hemingway documentary for money, or mental health awareness?


Picture of Ernest Hemingway, who committed suicide on July 2, 1961


One of my favorite writers Ernest Hemingway has made headlines very recently. This shocked me right away being that he passed away over 50 years ago.  The granddaughter of Hemingway is being said to have constructed a documentary about her famed family and their trials with their mental health. She says the film would be geared more towards ,of course, her grandfather Ernest, as well as her sister who also committed suicide. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this. A documentary about people in your family to spread awareness to everyone else is a good thing if you know what you're talking about. The thing that I had a problem with was that she said she never knew her grand father. If she never knew him, then how could she write a movie about his life and what he went through? Wouldn't spreading the issue of mental health awareness be just as effective if she had written a movie about her immediate family's  battle with mental instability? Using Ernest Hemingway as a poster 'boy' for mental health awareness to me, has to be for more media attention for herself. She says she battled with depression and since then has overcame the issue. Why not write a script about over coming depression and her own journey to a healthy mind? I believe the only reason this story made headlines was because she advertised the ,"unveiling of her family history." The real question here is, is she really after helping those with mental illness? If she really was then why not do it with her own name? She had Oprah Winfrey produce the film so it would've gone viral anyways, so why use Ernest Hemingway's as a means to advertise the said issue of mental health at all? If Hemingway was still with us, i'm sure he would not appreciate this at all.   http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/health/hemingway-film/index.html 

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