And Now, Presenting Hollywood's Take on Mental Illness . . .

A recent headlining story in the celebrity realm spurred me to speculate the media's portrayals of what is  normal versus what is dysfunction.
Last night,the bright eyed child star of the 90's Amanda Bynes was handcuffed, brought to your local psych ward to be evaluated, and then proceeded to the next stop ; the local jailhouse.

Amanda Bynes Mugshot picture after her DUI

I'm sure this is not what Amanda meant when she said she wanted to have an 'exciting night out'.
Some would say , 'We saw this coming' after a string of bizarre events that Amanda has reportedly found herself in lately.
But after reading the reportedly 'bizarre behavior', I asked myself honestly ; when does behavior become so out of the norm that it is deemed 'disordered'?

In Amanda's case,she is a 27 year old woman with enough money in the bank that one would hope to win in the upcoming lottery , hence , her perception of responsibilities and priorities are not the same as the average member of society's.
Additionally,when reading about the events and actions that were accounted for as 'bizarre', I realized that for the upcoming generation of teens and young adults these actions are in fact quite common.
 Some actions that led to an inquisition on Amanda's mental health status were ; smoking marijuana, taking pictures of herself in various degrees of undress, showing off new piercings and collecting a small collection of DUIs.

The columnist must have had her daughters raised in a convent if the said behaviors were perceived as outlandish!
Silly press,
The truth is that many of these actions are the usual Friday night for young women and girls across America, to utter a 'nay' at such an opinion would warrant one to consider
 that they might be naive or operating with blinders on.
As for Amanda posing with her breasts jammed into a push-up bra and posting the tacky deed on an online forum, it might be provocative but so is our standards for the average celebrity.
Hollywood is the land of the Playboy Mansion in which reside women with breasts the size of car bumpers , and other generally exaggerated states of being ... so why is such behavior being added up as ill when isolated in the case of one woman? Perhaps you have forgotten to account for the entire ill society?

Twitter,Tumblr and Facebook are swollen with provocative imagery from young women who post pictures of themselves while attempting their best Rhiannas.

Of course, if push-up bras on twitter and smoking marijuana from a bong- then driving the family Sedan home afterwards are decent behaviors from young adults,the answer would be no! But I wouldn't venture to call them particularly devious and disordered, or behavior reserved for women with felonies.

Another story that seemed on the cusp of exaggeration by the press was Amanda's outing at her local gym. Amanda was in a cycling class when she decided to hop off her machine, waltz over to the mirrors and touch up her makeup for a whole dozen minutes.
Coined as outlandish and reportedly proof that this young woman is in a downward descent into madness, the magazine fails to outline that perhaps Amanda does not feel the urge to commit to the class because she can afford it, and for her it is a mere pastime and not a commitment. Or perhaps the class did not suit her expectations, at the very least maybe Amanda needed some attention? She does not have the average person's sense of responsibility and priorities , if she spends money on a class she is not dedicated to it wont scorn her budget, partying and smoking marijuana will not get her immediately fired if she is a no-show at the assembly line the next morning. Amanda 's family will not go hungry if she chooses hedonistic activities over priorities and work. Secondly, one must obviously consider the gaggle of paparazzi outside the gym who are clocking her and waiting to take her picture. Hell, eight out of ten girls would be powdering their noses in front of those mirrors as well if a group of ten men with high resolution cameras were waiting for them in the parking lot. Can one blame Amanda for not fully concentrating on her Spinning Class?

And let us consider for a moment the possibility that Amanda was indeed mentally ill ,what role would we be playing by constantly taunting her and publishing articles dubbing her 'mentally ill'?

Hollywood ; The Western Holy Land

Hollywood is the land of often botched attempts at creating a simulated empire of perfection. The Hollywood society is overexcited with the idea they are the debauched elite of this Western Holy Land, and they are continuously obsessed with symbols that represent this ; the glamour , festivities, beauty, fashion ect..

Survival of the Fittest theory dictates that the weak will perish , even Hollywood abides by this law.
Hollywood subsequently shames and dehumanizes those members which fall short of the 'elite' status.

Credit :britneyspearsgifs.tumblr.com 

It is as if those not glamorous enough or those who fail to meet the standards of Hollywood are seen as misrepresenting the pack.

What happens to them is the systematic shaming and assault on their integrity. We love to watch them fail and pick them apart, relishing the idea that they are 'imperfect' in the valley of perfection.

Contemporary victims of Hollywood shaming are Britney Spears,Lindsay Lohan,Christian Bale, Catherine Zeta Jones.

And now Amanda Bynes.

I am not trying to push the idea that Amanda is ever knowing and flawless in her actions but the press jumping on this celebrity mental illness campaign and magnifying this woman's every 'wrong move' is in part driven by their capitalist thirst, all the while throwing this individual under the bus.

Like all of us, Amanda might be going through hard times but since when are hard times a call for everyone to shout from the rooftops that you are suffering from a severe bout of mental illness. Like someone wise once said , "The only time you should be looking down on someone, is when you are helping them up."