Graphic illness memoirs as counter-discourse

Abstract

ABSTRACT Medical and popular discourses often perpetuate stereotypes of the mentally ill that essentialize them as imbecile and violent, which in turn trivializes their voices and perspectives. Because of this, stereotyped representations of mental illness mediated through films, fiction, or pedagogical texts often follow a pattern of exclusion. Personal narratives of mental illness, on the contrary, restore the language of mental illness as experienced by the mentally ill and therefore challenge and subvert the dominant representations. In this context, graphic memoirs of mental illness are a cultural resource in redeeming the identity and truths of those suffering from mental illness. The genre takes effect rhetorically through stylistic techniques and metaphors that critique normative conceptualizations of the behavioural patterns of the mentally ill. Taking these cues, the present essay explores the diverse ways in which graphic memoirs on mental illness construct a counter-discourse by challenging and subverting the stereotypical representations of mental illness. Specifically, through a close-reading of Ellen Forney’s Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me (2012) and of Rachel Lindsay’s Rx: A Graphic Memoir (2018), which deftly describe the subjective realities of bipolar disorder, this essay investigates the role and function of metaphors (visual/verbo-visual) as a tool of counter-diagnosis.