I can't really be objective about it, because, totally independently of how many systems there actually are who are like the way Sally was portrayed, the awareness always sticks in the back of my head that, for years, and still to a certain extent, that movie was It, as far as what the public saw plurality as being. That and "Three Faces of Eve"-- people often just have to hear "based on a true story" and they believe everything in it is well researched.
This holds true for movies and fiction about anything seen as a mental disorder or a disability, actually-- particularly if the 'victim' is portrayed as sympathetic, and the story played up a story of recovery or courage or triumphing over one's problems (even if most of the problems were caused by the attitudes of others and not by the fact that what you were was intrinsically bad), people will, actually, often take that fiction as The Truth, or as an accurate depiction of what 'that type of person' (plural, autistic, otherwise 'insane,' retarded, disabled, etc, fill in the blank) are really like. (Because they're all exactly alike, of course.) To the point where they'll argue vehemently that You Are Lying, or You're A Fake, when you try to talk about your own experiences, because they saw this movie and that person in the movie is what it's really like. They want the fiction over the reality, to not only keep it at a safe distance from themselves, but to avoid seeing any similarities between them and you.
So, yeah, there are a lot of people out there who think that film is a reference. There are many people, ourselves among us, who have been accused of lying because they didn't act like Sybil in the movie, and the people who said it seemed to believe this quite sincerely. Some *doctors* even seemed to believe it was a reference too, possibly because Dr. Wilbur was portrayed in such a glowing light (she was nothing like they depicted her either) and they wanted to think of themselves as 'rescuing' the patients also, whether they did or not.
no subject
I can't really be objective about it, because, totally independently of how many systems there actually are who are like the way Sally was portrayed, the awareness always sticks in the back of my head that, for years, and still to a certain extent, that movie was It, as far as what the public saw plurality as being. That and "Three Faces of Eve"-- people often just have to hear "based on a true story" and they believe everything in it is well researched.
This holds true for movies and fiction about anything seen as a mental disorder or a disability, actually-- particularly if the 'victim' is portrayed as sympathetic, and the story played up a story of recovery or courage or triumphing over one's problems (even if most of the problems were caused by the attitudes of others and not by the fact that what you were was intrinsically bad), people will, actually, often take that fiction as The Truth, or as an accurate depiction of what 'that type of person' (plural, autistic, otherwise 'insane,' retarded, disabled, etc, fill in the blank) are really like. (Because they're all exactly alike, of course.) To the point where they'll argue vehemently that You Are Lying, or You're A Fake, when you try to talk about your own experiences, because they saw this movie and that person in the movie is what it's really like. They want the fiction over the reality, to not only keep it at a safe distance from themselves, but to avoid seeing any similarities between them and you.
So, yeah, there are a lot of people out there who think that film is a reference. There are many people, ourselves among us, who have been accused of lying because they didn't act like Sybil in the movie, and the people who said it seemed to believe this quite sincerely. Some *doctors* even seemed to believe it was a reference too, possibly because Dr. Wilbur was portrayed in such a glowing light (she was nothing like they depicted her either) and they wanted to think of themselves as 'rescuing' the patients also, whether they did or not.