In pop culture, more and more people are coming out about their depression — of all levels of severity — and raising awareness about it. Each year, millions of people struggle with depression. It’s more than just being sad; it causes great disability to those who have it, and the loved ones surrounding them. Celebrities like Cara Delvingne, Demi Lovato, and Kid Cudi have all addressed the problems they face in their day to day lives and how they deal with them, shedding light on the complexity of the illness. Their messages are strong, and they encourage many of their fans who also struggle with the illness to seek the help they need.
Some messages in pop culture are not so clear, however, and they send you searching for a deeper meaning. A short film titled "Lights Out" by David Sandberg was originally about a woman being haunted by something in her home, appearing each time a light went out. This short film caught the eye of some people higher on the ladder, and they decided to turn it into a feature length horror movie. At a glance, the movie is about a small family who is haunted by ghost like creature that can only come out in the dark, but if you pay close attention, you can see the metaphors surrounding the complexity of depression.
The ghost (named Diana) used to be the mother’s (Sophie) friend when she was in a psychiatric hospital. The doctors believed she had some sort of power that allowed her to get into people’s minds, and her chosen victim was the mother. Even after Diana died, she stayed in the mind of Sophie and tries to control her throughout the rest of her life. Reading into this, Diana is likely a metaphor for depression in the sense where it’s not something you grow out of, as many would like to think. Depression follows you through your life; it’s always in the back of your mind, waiting to pull you back into its possession until it starts to affect everything you do. Like Diana becomes the person Sophie talks to about everything, depression affects your decisions; it takes away the joy you used to get from blueberry pancakes on Sunday mornings and movie nights. It takes a toll on every aspect of your life, especially relationships.
Diana, a metaphorical manifestation of depression in the movie, does everything she can to try and stop anyone who gets too close to Sophie and tries to help her. When her depression reaches a peak, Diana becomes stronger. She kills Sophie’s husband and then goes after both of her children (Rebecca and Martin) when they try to help her. Rebecca had originally moved out of the house because she couldn’t handle her mother and Diana, but comes back when her younger brother asks for her help with Sophie. I can’t speak for everyone, but often, when people try to help me, I push them away. Like, you know these people care about you, but you don’t want them to get involved in your problems and often any help just seems like a nuisance. Would you take a magic potion that may only last a day or two, with no promise of actually fixing you? Most of the time, it’s hard to see the point in it when all you know is the letdown of things that never work, but some days, the possibility is enough to accept the help.
When she sees that Rebecca actually cares about her enough to come back into her life and try to help her, she acknowledges that she needs help, and gives Rebecca a note, so that Diana doesn’t realize what’s going on. With depression, it can be really hard to ask for help, especially when it’s basically controlling your mind like Diana does with Sophie. Often, it’s easier to give into it and let it control you than it is to ask for help. Depression isn’t always sadness and hopelessness. There can be times of clarity, or as I call them, my good days, where you think recovery is possible. It becomes less of a lost cause and more and more of a possibility. Sophie shows somewhat of an example of this by asking for help and trying to take her medicine again, but the tricky bastard that depression is that it kicks you back on your ass before you can even try to make things better. Diana physically knocks Sophie unconscious, making sure she can’t do anything to stop her. Depression can be physically debilitating, as shown by Diana and Sophie’s relationship, and it’s different for everyone. Everyone shows different signs and symptoms, some people have a worse severity of depression, which can often lead to suicide.
In the end of the movie, Sophie sees that the only way to save her children from Diana is to kill herself as Diana can only survive through Sophie. This act highlights the complexities of depression, suicide and all of those that are affected by it. Although there were other ways to get rid of Diana, such as using a black light to find her, and then shine a light on her to harm her, or taking medication to try and get her to back off, Sophie saw only one viable option to get rid of her for good: killing herself. While Diana is attacking her daughter, Sophie threatens Diana by placing a gun to her own head. Rebecca pleads with Sophie not to do it, but Sophie reasons that the only way to save her children, and herself, is to bring an end to her life. Sophie, in an act to save her family, ends her life by shooting herself in the head, the headquarters to depression, and Diana. As may be the case with many, although she saw that this was going to hurt her children, Sophie ultimately thought that ending her life was going to save not only herself, but those that cared about her, those that she had burdened with Diana, the people she loved most.
Suicide is not a selfish act, and this is definitely highlighted by Sophie’s decision. There is a stigma surrounding depression and suicide that shouldn’t be there. Because of the negativity surrounding it, people shy away from asking for help when they need it. When someone already feels like a burden to everyone, why would they go to someone to ask for help when they know they’ll just be treated as a selfish nuisance? Depression is a complex illness that we don’t take as seriously as we should. It is just as serious as a broken leg, just as serious as a life-threatening disease. We don’t walk on broken legs, we go to the hospital or the doctor when a cough and fever won’t go away, so why are we constantly treating depression like we can sleep it off and be better the next day? We are not crazy, weird or the people you see on the news that they paint as mentally ill for committing certain crimes. We are depressed, anxious and bipolar. We are your parents, your children, your friends, your significant others, and we deserve to be treated like the person with a broken leg.
