MHA's Blog: Chiming In

I know I was supposed to review Safe, the Todd Haynes-Julianne Moore movie about hypochondria and allergies, but due to a number of unforeseen circumstances (mostly of my own making), I wasn’t able to get a copy of it. Instead, I did what I always do when things aren’t going my way; I went to the movies. At the suggestion of a colleague, I saw Iron Man 3. It turned out to be a great movie on a lot of levels, especially in its discussion of mental health.

The movie is the third in the series about Tony Stark, “millionaire playboy genius philanthropist” and creator of the Iron Man armor. He’s in a relationship with Stark CEO Pepper Potts (oh comic books of the 60s), and dealing with serious PTSD from the events of last summer’s Avengers movie. A new villain named The Mandarin shows up, hijacking TV stations and bombing American targets. At the same time, an old rival named Aldrich Killian shows up, trying to get Stark industries to invest with his biotech think tank, as does an old girlfriend of Tony’s, a DNA researcher named Maya Hansen. I don’t want to give away the plot, but it’s complicated enough to be enjoyable and light enough to be fun.

Iron Man has always been a bit different from the other superheroes. Created in the 1960s, he was meant to reflect the Cold War and its complexity. His suit works as both a deterrent from war and a reason to start one, much like nuclear weapons. The fact that he’s a weapons manufacturer is part of the desire to set his life in the military industrial complex. One of his other defining features has always been his alcoholism. Since the beginning of his comics, he’s struggled with a drinking problem that sometimes overwhelms him. There are whole stories where he’s had to deal with his illness and the villain of the comic and somewhere he’s been unable to. This illness makes him vulnerable in a way Superman or even Batman rarely is. In the movies, Tony Stark is played by Robert Downey Jr., one of Hollywood’s great comeback stories and a person in recovery from addiction himself. This shared history gives his Tony depth.

In Iron Man 3, Tony’s PTSD is handled so well. Tony can’t sleep, a fact that is commented on by both his best friend James Rhodes and his girlfriend Pepper. When she asks him what’s wrong, he tells her that he’s having nightmares from the battle in New York City (in the Avengers movie), and he’s now worried that he can’t protect the people he loves. It’s a very mature, matter of fact response to the question. Later, he has a nightmare that causes one of his Iron Man suits to almost attack her; Pepper’s only response is to say she’s sleeping downstairs. He has three panic attacks, which are all handled like actual panic attacks that different characters comment on and help him deal with. At no time does anyone say that he shouldn’t be Iron Man, or that he’s not capable of being a hero. His intelligence isn’t questioned by anyone, and his engineering abilities are on full display. He even tells a young boy, a character helping him, that he probably needs to be on medication for his anxiety.

It was amazing to see the number one movie in the world, a huge summer blockbuster, handle a mental health condition so calmly and rationally. Everyone in Tony’s life knows he’s sick, and they try to help him. He does what he can to mitigate his illness (though he never gets treatment, as far as I could tell), and to get better. No one questions his ability to be a superhero or a genius or even a functioning person. The illness itself was shown as life-disrupting and scary for him, but not so over the top that it was cartoony. He dealt with the anxiety as best he could at that moment in his life, and judging from this, I have no doubt that if we get Iron Man 4, we’ll find out he got treatment for it. It’s really well done. The movie is so mental health positive that early in the movie, we get a 3D hologram of the brain in real time. It’s a beautiful representation of brain imaging technology that I can only hope scientists are working on.

It’s wonderful to see mental health and mental illness handled in such a matter of fact way—and in a situation where so many people will see it. This is a huge part of removing the stigma around mental health conditions. Our superheroes are affected, but they get help for their illnesses and keep going. The generation of teenagers who will watch this movie will see Tony Stark address his mental health condition without shame or fear, and hopefully that will help them if they need help. They’ll see his support system help him without belittling him or taking away his agency as a person, and maybe they’ll do that for a friend or family member. The more truly positive depictions of mental health on screen, the more people will internalize those images. If Iron Man has anxiety and deals with it, then others can too. This film is a positive step forward for mental health in America while being a fun popcorn movie.

Go see Iron Man 3. It’s worth the trip to the theater.

Next week, I should have my hands on Safe. Have you seen Iron Man 3? What did you think of the depiction of anxiety disorder?