Silver Linings Playbook: A Serious Note

Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderfully executed movie. It had wonderful actors that did wonderful jobs. The story is flawlessly presented. But that's not what I want to talk about.

While this movie was excellent and funny and heartfelt, there's a much more important point I want to make. One I feel may have been overlooked by the average viewer.

The main characters of this story are both intelligent adults trying to do the best they can to live their lives with mental illnesses. It's funny to see these people discuss medication at the dinner table, but when it's your sister at your dinner table, you may be less forgiving. You might tell her to behave, to grow up. These are things people with these challenges hear all the time.

It's not easy to understand if you're not a person who gets so upset you throw a book through the window. It's an incredibly funny scene when Pat wakes his parents up at four in the morning to rant about A Farewell to Arms, but it's also a true one. You can see how upset he is, and you feel bad for him when all his parents want to do is go back to sleep, but in real life these things are categorized as "immature" or "silly".

Personally, I've dealt with a lot of the issues Pat has. I've had similar outbursts. I do my best to control it, but when I was younger, I couldn't always. Throwing things, breaking things, slamming things, these weren't things I had control over, even when I was trying my best. I had to learn to handle it. I understood and brushed off the ignorant comments because I knew people just didn't understand, but I was shocked to hear them from people with the same problems. Even people that I knew had similar challenges to work against would tell me I needed to act better, I needed to be less immature.

Really, my point is, this movie is a great display of mature adults dealing with illness. It clearly shows the things they can't control and the ways they try to control them. As hard as it is, try to find sympathy for that screaming neighbor the same way you do Pat and Tiffany. Listen to them instead of fighting them. A lot of the time, they're trying their hardest and they just need a little bit of encouragement.