Bird Box broke the record for the most streamed Netflix movie in its first week of release with 45 million watchers. Viewers were quick to praise its suspenseful premise, while there were also those who were quick to criticize the film for its portrayal of mental health and suicide.
Some viewers have taken issue with how the film painted a negative picture of mental health. The film's premise mostly triggered the criticisms.
Warning: This Article May Contain Spoilers for Bird Box
In the movie, creatures exist that, when people look at them, they turn suicidal. They kill themselves in the most gruesome way. The only way to avoid not seeing these creatures is to not look at them, and the easiest way is to blindfold the eyes. This is why Malorie, played by Sandra Bullock, and two kids under her care, wear a blindfold in nearly the whole film.
However, the creatures do not seem to affect those with mental problems. Those with mental illness who look at the creature do not kill themselves. Instead, they turn evil and become agents in the monsters' quest to kill people. These people do their best to convince the sane ones to open their eyes and look at the beauty of these creatures.
This is where the criticisms come from. Some critics thought Bird Box "villainized" those people with mental health problems. Mashable writer Jess Joho said the film turned the insane ones into "literal agents of evil, obsessed with carrying out the monsters' mission to destroy humanity."
The film explicitly showed characters of this effect in the former psychiatric hospital patient and the grocery store clerk whom Charlie called as "Fish Fingers," whom Charlie refers to as "always a bit crazy."
Joho adds that Bird Box is among those films that fuel the myth that people with mental health issues are prone to danger and violence, rather than the fact they are more likely victims of violence. The criticisms delve into how Bird Box added to the stigmas around mental health.
Aside from its wrongful portrayal of mental health, criticisms also spawn from the fact that the film sensationalized suicide. The multiple graphic suicide scenes in Bird Box are cause for worry among those with suicidal tendencies since it could trigger their suicidal thoughts.
Netflix and director Susan Bier have yet to address any of these criticisms. Book author Josh Malerman, who penned the novel Bird Box, from which the film is based on, has also yet to comment on the criticisms.
