By Olivia Foster ’18
Night Shyamalan’s film, Split, is a classic throwback to his more thrilling and mysterious film style. Shyamalan is known to elevate his horror films with a level of mystique and perplexity, sans blood and gore, and Split does not disappoint.
Regardless of its two hour running time, Split is a continually fast-paced and edge-of-the-seat movie. Split follows the inner struggle of Kevin, a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder, who works to kidnap three teenage girls as a sacrifice to one of his more inhuman personalities. Although Split is a horror movie through and through, the dialogue contains pieces of interspersed humor to give an even more macabre feel.
Possibly more impressive than Shyamalan’s camera work is James McAvoy’s mastery of a man juggling two dozen different and aggressive personalities. Previously starring in the X-Men series and Atonement, McAvoy’s precision with each personality is eery, yet incredible. At one point near the end of the movie, he transforms on screen between four of the personalities, virtually having a believable conversation with different versions of himself.
The rave reviews for Split have not come without a few harsh criticisms about its inaccurate and offensive portrayal of mental illness. Many have criticized the movie for continuing the Hollywood trend of depicting DID as an immoral trait. The Verge goes so far as to say that Shyamalan “loses sight of Kevin’s fundamental humanity,” and in doing so paints a broader and negative picture of people suffering from this illness. Critics say the movie exacerbates already present prejudice of mental illness instead of looking to erase such fears.
The basis for such criticisms is mainly due to the fact that Kevin’s psychologist, Dr. Karen Fletcher, discusses her theory that people with DID can develop superhuman capabilities as a way to deal with mental stress. In the movie, Kevin does end up developing such inhuman characteristics which many felt was the epitome of “dehumanizing” people with mental illness.
Despite these criticisms, Split is an entertaining, yet gripping horror movie. Without a doubt, Split portrays mental illness unrealistically, but because of its status as a horror movie, it is justified in its depiction. Split itself is a fictional movie and Shyamalan’s ultimate goal was to instill fear in his audience, not to ignite a politically correct conversation about mental illness.
