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This book is a unique study of the historical, theoretical, and cultural interpretations of 'madness' including interviews with those who have experiences of 'madness'. It takes a transdisciplinary approach, employing historical, psychological, and sociological perspectives through an intersectional lens. This work explains how the prioritization of thinking over feeling in Western thought means the transrational imagination has frequently been negated in tackling mental health with detrimental results. This book, therefore, examines creative media, especially film, as a transrational form of human expression for healing and wellbeing, along with television, theatre, social media, music, and computer games. 'Madness' with regards to gender, sexuality, adolescence, and class in media and film is interrogated, as well as 'madness' and race through a focus on colonialism, post-colonialism, and psychiatry. It analyses group psychosis, including celebrity culture, and the 'madness' ofleaders and gurus. This book challenges the lasting influence of the Age of Reason by furthering our understanding of the value of transrationality and the diverse ways of being human.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Under Observation.- Chapter 2. Insanity as Truth.- Chapter 3. The Insanity of Indifference.- Chapter 4. The Invention of Insanity.- Chapter 5. Conclusions.
About the author
Jason Lee (https://cjplee.com) is Professor of Film, Media, and Culture at De Montfort University, Leicester, and a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. Lee is the author of numerous books, including Nazism and Neo-Nazism in Film and Media (Amsterdam University Press, 2018) and Sex Robots-The Future of Desire (Palgrave, 2018).
