Is Split Ableist?

Split is the brand new M. Night Shyamalan film starring James McAvoy as a man suffering from extreme dissociative identity disorder and kidnaps 3 young women. The film had come under controversy as being an offensive and inaccurate representation of mental illness, with people claiming it'll offend people with similar conditions, and create a negative image for the general uneducated public on the subject matter. So, is the film an example of ableism, or is it yet again the internet overreacting to things?

*Spoiler Alert*

Frankly, this is yet again another example of people overreacting to a situation. People "Boycotting" the film (Because that term hasn't lost all meaning) without actually watching it is rather ignorant, because if they actually watched it, they'd know that nobody is going to walk away from this film thinking this is an accurate portrayal of mental illness. Maybe it's because they went with a real life mental illness, but I seriously doubt even the dumbest of audience members are going to see a man climbing on walls and surviving shotgun blasts to the chest are going to leave saying "Well dang, them mentally disordered folks are dangerous, best avoid and shun 'em!". Not to mention, all the signs are there of this just being mob mentality. Noticing the subject matter and without even seeing the film instantly claiming it's offensive just because of the basic premise, and also not realising the irony that their "Boycott" is just free marketing for the film (3 Weeks #1 in the Box Office, people!).

Even more obvious that they didn't see the film is because there is subject matter that absolutely could receive backlash and would probably deserve it, and that's how it represents sexual assault. The main heroine Casey is revealed to have been sexually assaulted as a child by her uncle, and is implied she still is to this day. Later on in the film when McAvoy's character (Or at least...one of them) finds out, he lets her go, saying "The broken are pure". From there, a whole can of worms is opened. For one, how little focus this reveal gets, and with a subject as sensitive as sexual assault, you can't just leave that as "backstory" and not develop it properly. But even more so, when the movie ended, my first thought was "Wait...are they saying she should be glad she was assaulted?" Because that is the only reason why she survived, because her uncle physically and emotionally scarred her. I know that's not what the film was intending, but it's certainly the implication, and just a basic fact. The only reason Casey survived is because she was raped. That's a fact in the movie, and that is disturbing.

So if people actually watched the movie instead of being ignorant twats saying it's ableist instead of hearing what the film has to say, they'd find there is actually shit in the movie to legit be upset by because...yeah this is really fucked up. So, two lessons to take away from this, one: don't pre-judge something without hearing it out. Two: Don't ever suggest rape could be a good thing, that's messed up Shyamalan.

-Danny