From “whom to blame” to “nothing to fear”: documentary narratives, voices, and “dependent destigmatization” of severe mental patients (SMPs) in Hong Kong

Abstract

Media often stigmatize severe mental patients (SMPs) by portraying them as dumb, sluggish, or violent. Conversely, TV documentaries, as a particular media genre, have the potential to destigmatize SMPs by entrusting them with an authentic presence and a direct voice. Illuminated by Couldry’s (2010) discussion on voice and drawing on narrative analysis, this article examines the evolving and joint endeavor of media and mental hospitals in systematically destigmatizing SMPs and in promoting the rehabilitation mode of mental health care in Hong Kong. From 1989 to 2011, Hong Kong Connections produced three documentaries. Shifting the narrative from “whom to blame” to “nothing to fear,” the documentaries establish a destigmatization agenda jointly formulated by the media and mental hospitals. SMPs’ voices steadily increase in length and prominence in the narrative’s temporal line, yet they are strictly orchestrated within the sealed narrative that is subject to the institutional interest of promoting the rehabilitation mode of mental health care in Hong Kong. The voice/narrative inequality between SMPs and mental institutions leads to the “dependent destigmatization” that indicates a dependent power relation between SMPs and powerful institutions.