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 Edited by Malynnda Johnson and Christopher J. Olson
NORMALIZING MENTAL ILLNESS AND NEURODIVERSITY IN ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA
NORMALIZING MENTAL
ILLNESS AND NEURODIVERSITY
IN ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA
QUIETING THE MADNESS
Edited by
Malynnda Johnson and Christopher J. Olson

www.routledge.com

Routledge titles are available as eBook editions in a range of digital formats

9780367820527_Full Cover_HBK.indd 1 28-01-2021 12:18:20

Normalizing Mental Illness
and Neurodiversity in
Entertainment Media

This volume examines the shift toward positive and more accurate portrayals
of mental illness in entertainment media, asking where these succeed and
considering where more needs to be done. With studies that identify and analyze
the characters, viewpoints, and experiences of mental illness across film and
television, it considers the messages conveyed about mental illness and reflects
on how the different texts reflect, reinforce, or challenge sociocultural notions
regarding mental illness. Presenting chapters that explore a range of texts from
film and television, covering a variety of mental health conditions, including
autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and more, this book
will appeal to scholars of sociology, cultural and media studies, and mental health.

Malynnda Johnson is an assistant professor of Communication at Indiana State

University, USA, and the author of HIV on TV: Popular Culture’s Epidemic.

Christopher J. Olson is completing his doctoral research at the University of

Wisconsin–Milwaukee, USA. He is the co-author of Possessed Women, Haunted
States: Cultural Tensions in Exorcism Cinema and the co-editor of Making Sense
of Cinema: Empirical Studies into Film Spectators and Spectatorship; Heroes,
Heroines, and Everything in Between: Challenging Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes
in Children’s Entertainment Media; and Convergent Wrestling: Participatory
Culture, Transmedia Storytelling, and Intertextuality in the Squared Circle.
Normalizing Mental Illness
and Neurodiversity in
Entertainment Media
Quieting the Madness

Edited by Malynnda Johnson and

Christopher J. Olson
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Malynnda Johnson and Christopher
J. Olson; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Malynnda Johnson and Christopher J. Olson to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-82052-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-76225-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01166-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
The editors would like to dedicate this book to all the creators
attempting to quiet the madness by producing positive,
honest, and accurate media depictions of mental illness and
neurodiversity.
Contents

Acknowledgments ix
List of tables x
List of contributors xi

1 Introduction: why depictions of mental illness matter 1

MALYNNDA JOHNSON AND TARA WALKER

2 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said”: portrayals of mental

health care in Nickelodeon’s The Loud House 11
JERRALYN MOUDRY

3 “And I suffer from short-term memory loss”: understanding

presentations of mental health in Pixar’s Finding Nemo and
Finding Dory through communication theory of identity 24
HAYLEY T. MARKOVICH

4 Family narratives and mental illness in This Is Us 37

ALI GATTONI

5 Cognitive differences in Star Trek: the case and evolution

of Reginald Barclay 53
CRAIG A. MEYER AND DANIEL PRESTON

6 Popular culture and the (mis)representation of Asperger’s: a

study on the sitcoms Community and The Big Bang Theory 66
BENSON RAJAN

7 Psychopath, sociopath, or autistic: labeling and framing the

brilliance of Sherlock Holmes 83
MALYNNDA JOHNSON
viii Contents
8 When Saga Norén meets neurotypicality: a liminal
encounter along The Bridge 96
MAGNUS DANIELSON AND MIKE KEMANI

9 The girl on the swing: an analysis of cues and depression in

Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (2005) 110
MCKENZIE L. CALDWELL AND RODNEY F. DICK

10 Depictions of depression and eating disorders in My Mad

Fat Diary 122
MARTA LOPERA-MÁRMOL, MÒNIKA JIMÉNEZ-MORALES, AND MANEL
JIMÉNEZ-MORALES

11 “Portraying real feelings with comedy on top”: postpartum

depression storylines and domestic sitcoms 134
SARAH SYMONDS LEBLANC

12 Ruby Wax: comedy, celebrity capital, and

(re)presentations of mental illness 149
SHERRYL WILSON

13 Post-traumatic stress disorder in the films Taxi Driver and

You Were Never Really Here: a comparative progressive
approach 162
JASON LEE

14 Bipolar and Shameless: showtime’s portrayal of living and

working with bipolar disorder 177
SHANNON O’SULLIVAN

15 Wrestling with eating disorders: transmedia depictions of

body issues in WWE’s women’s professional wrestling 194
CARRIELYNN D. REINHARD AND CHRISTOPHER J. OLSON

16 Conclusion: destigmatizing mental illness and

neurodiversity in entertainment media 207
CHRISTOPHER J. OLSON

Index 212
Acknowledgments

Malynnda wishes to thank Jessica Benham for her ability to inspire and edu-
cate others about neurodiversity. Jessica is doing incredible frontline work and
has forever impacted Malynnda’s life. Christopher wishes to thank his partner,
CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, for her love, support, and assistance throughout the pro-
cess of putting this anthology together. As always, I would not be where I am
today without you, and I am forever grateful to have you by my side. Finally, we
would both like to thank Neil Jordan at Routledge for helping us take this project
from dream to reality.
Tables

2.1 Portrayals of Dr. Lopez and/or psychotherapy in The Loud House 14

2.2 Transcripts of modeled therapy sessions in The Loud House 20
Contributors

McKenzie L. Caldwell, Student, University of Mount Union

McKenzie L. Caldwell is a student at the University of Mount Union in Alliance,
Ohio, USA, where she studies writing and web design. Caldwell’s work has
appeared in Cleveland Magazine, Popular Culture Studies Journal, and vari-
ous literary magazines. She has also managed a blog for a travel company and
edited Mount Union’s website from a user experience perspective. In her free
time, she works on her book about depictions of Bigfoot in popular culture.
Magnus Danielson, Researcher, Lecturer, and Head of Department,
Linnaeus University
Magnus Danielson (Ph.D.) is a researcher and lecturer who serves as the Head
of Department in the Department of Media, Communication, and Journal-
ism Studies at Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden. His fields of research
encompass investigative journalism, reality television, and popular culture. His
publications include ‘Shaming the Devil!’ Performative Shame in Investigative
TV-journalism (2013), Hate Speech and Social Media (2017), Paternalism,
Investigation and Philanthropy – The Media’s Modes of Presentation of Social
Welfare (2017), and Politicians as Entertainers – A Political Performance of
the Personal (2020).
Rodney F. Dick, Professor, University of Mount Union
Rodney F. Dick (Ph.D.) is a professor of English and the Director of General Edu-
cation at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, USA. Dick earned
a B.A. from Gonzaga University and earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. from
the University of Louisville. His publications include Does Interface Matter?
A Study of Web Authoring and Editing by Inexperienced Web Writers and The
Writing Major as Shared Commitment: A New English Department. Dick has
spoken at various conferences and events including the East Central Writing
Centers Association (ECWCA) Conference. In addition, he serves as the fac-
ulty advisor for Mount Union’s literary journal, Calliope.
xii Contributors
Ali Gattoni, Assistant Faculty Associate, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Ali Gattoni (Ph.D.) is an assistant faculty associate in the Department of Com-
munication at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her research focuses
on the relational side of group communication. Her interests lie in the com-
municative practices that shape and reshape group processes, especially in
online communities. Her other research and teaching interests include small
group communication, instructional communication, and organizational
communication.
Manel Jiménez-Morales, Lecturer, Pompeu Fabra University
Manel Jiménez-Morales is a lecturer at the Communication Department of
Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and Commissioner of Education and Com-
munication Projects. He was the former Academic Director of the Center for
Learning Innovation and Knowledge (CLIK), from which he combined his
background in the audiovisual field with the integration of new technolo-
gies and methodologies in teaching. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Communica-
tion from UPF. Dr. Jiménez-Morales has worked in scripting and production
through diverse audiovisual and radio projects, especially regarding cultural
contents. He contributes to various journals and publications, and he has done
three research stays (the University of Oxford, University of California, Los
Angeles, and British Film Institute) and lectured in several German and British
universities. His main research interests include teaching innovation, fiction
television series, youth empowerment, and audiovisual narrative.
Mònika Jiménez-Morales, Senior Lecturer, Pompeu Fabra University
Mònika Jiménez-Morales is a senior lecturer at the Communication Department
of Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain. She holds a Ph.D. in Audio-
visual Communication from the same university and a B.A. in Communica-
tion Studies and Humanities from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
She has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. Her
research focuses primarily on the psychosocial effects of media discourse. She
has published several papers and books and has coordinated several studies
related to the representation of the body in advertising and television, with a
special focus on children, both individually and within the Communication
Advertising and Society Research Group (CAS).
Malynnda Johnson, Assistant Professor, Indiana State University
Malynnda Johnson is an assistant professor of Communication at Indiana State
University, USA. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin–
Milwaukee in 2012 with a focus on Health Communication and Rhetorical
Criticism. She teaches a variety of courses in the areas of health communica-
tion and media studies. Her work on the portrayals of HIV and STIs narratives
in television has resulted in multiple book chapters as well as the monograph,
HIV on TV: Popular Culture’s Epidemic (Lexington, 2018). Dr. Johnson is
 Contributors xiii
currently also working on a Health Communication and patient advocacy text-
book with her co-author, Dr. Chris North, set to be released in 2021 by Jones
and Bartlett.
Mike Kemani, Lecturer, Karolinska University, Sweden
Mike Kemani (Ph.D.) is a licensed psychologist, researcher, lecturer, and head of
unit at the Section of Behavior Medicine at the Karolinska University Hospi-
tal. His field of research includes behavioral interventions in medical settings,
such as acceptance- and values-based interventions for youths and adults with
chronic pain. His professional fields of interest include not only theoretical
and philosophical aspects of contextualism, pragmatism, and behaviorism but
also wider aspects of the fields of psychology and psychiatry, e.g. the ethics of
psychiatry.
Sarah Symonds LeBlanc, Assistant Professor, Purdue University Fort Wayne
Sarah Symonds LeBlanc (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is an assistant professor
of interpersonal communication and research methods at Purdue University
Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. Her research combines health and
family communication, specifically looking at maternal communication. She
explores links between supportive communication and postpartum depres-
sion. In addition to a few book chapters and co-authoring a book, LeBlanc’s
work has appeared in Death Studies, The Journal of Loss and Trauma, The
Journal of Autoethnography, Qualitative Research Reports, and Health
Communication.
Jason Lee, Professor, De Montfort University
Jason Lee is a professor of Film, Media and Culture at De Montfort University,
Leicester, England. Lee is the author/editor of 20 books with work translated
into 16 languages. His latest books include Nazism and Neo-Nazism in Film
and Media (Amsterdam University Press, 2018) and Sex Robots: The Future of
Desire (Palgrave, 2017). In addition, Lee serves as an editor of the book series
“Transgressive Media Culture” published by Amsterdam University Press.
Marta Lopera-Mármol, Ph.D. candidate, Pompeu Fabra University
Marta Lopera-Mármol earned a doctoral fellowship with the Research Group
Communication, Advertising, and Society at the Communication Department
of Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), where she works as a graduate teaching
Assistant in the undergraduate degrees of Journalism and Advertising and Pub-
lic Relationships. She holds an M.A. in Social Communication from UPF, a
postgraduate course in Analysis and Criticism of TV series from Universidad
de Navarra, and a B.A. in Audiovisual Communication from the University of
Barcelona with two international stays at Hanzehogeschool of Applied Sci-
ences (The Netherlands) and La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus (Aus-
tralia). She is also the student representative at the International Association for
Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). Her main research interests
xiv Contributors
include British and American television series, audiovisual sustainability, men-
tal illness, and audiovisual narrative. Marta expects to complete her doctoral
work by the end of 2021.
Hayley T. Markovich, Ph.D. student, University of Florida
Hayley T. Markovich is a doctoral student in the College of Journalism and Com-
munications at the University of Florida. Her research interests focus on gender
bias in healthcare in the United States. She focuses particularly on women’s
health topics from the patient perspective. She investigates these topics using
qualitative methods, particularly using critical and interpretivist lenses. Her
work has been presented at various conferences, including Association for
Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, National Communication
Association, and International Conference on Communication in Healthcare.
At the 2019 national conference for the Association for Education in Journal-
ism and Mass Communication, she was awarded a Best Student Paper. She is
an active member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication and helps lead the graduate student organization. She expects
to complete her doctoral work in 2022.
Craig A. Meyer, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University–Kingsville
Craig A. Meyer (Ph.D.) is an associate professor of English at Texas A&M Uni-
versity–Kingsville. His scholarship focuses on Rhetoric and Composition,
Popular Culture Rhetorics, Creative Writing, Histories of Rhetoric, Social Jus-
tice as well as Disability Studies. As a teacher, he focuses on how students
can incorporate rhetorical principles into their daily lives so they can better
understand and actively respond to our world.
Jerralyn Moudry, Professor, Wisconsin Lutheran College
Dr. Jerralyn Moudry has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in
Mass Communication with Ph.D. minors in Sociology and Human Devel-
opment and Family Studies. She is a professor and chair of the School of
Communicative Arts at Wisconsin Lutheran College and advises their stu-
dent newspaper, The Sword. Dr. Moudry is a member of many committees
and serves on the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board. Her research
emphases are television effects and family communication. She is particu-
larly interested in the ways that children’s television influences socialization
through parent–child discourse about program content. Dr. Moudry teaches
courses in media theory and effects, news writing, professional communica-
tion, health communication, and sport communication, along with freshman
introductory and senior exit classes.
Christopher J. Olson, Ph.D. candidate, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Christopher J. Olson is a Ph.D. candidate in the English Department at the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with a Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies con-
centration. His research interests include cult cinema, professional wrestling,
 Contributors xv
and networked digital archives. He is author, co-author, or co-editor of several
books, including The Greatest Cult Television Shows of All Time (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2020), Convergent Wrestling: Participatory Culture, Transmedia
Storytelling, and Intertextuality in the Squared Circle (Routledge, 2019), 100
Greatest Cult Films (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), Heroes, Heroines, and
Everything in Between: Challenging Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes in Chil-
dren’s Entertainment Media (Lexington, 2017), Possessed Women, Haunted
States: Cultural Tensions in Exorcism Cinema (Lexington, 2016), and Making
Sense of Cinema: Empirical Studies into Film Spectators and Spectatorship
(Bloomsbury Academic, 2016). Olson expects to complete his doctoral work
sometime in 2022.
Shannon O’Sullivan, Assistant Professor, Salisbury University
Shannon O’Sullivan is an assistant professor of Communication at Salisbury Uni-
versity in Maryland. O’Sullivan earned her doctorate in Media Studies from
the University of Colorado at Boulder. During her doctoral work, she also com-
pleted graduate certificates in Comparative Ethnic Studies and Women and
Gender Studies. She has published articles in The Journal of Popular Culture
and The Journal of American Culture. Her interdisciplinary research agenda
explores the relationships between popular culture, political rhetoric, and the
reproduction and subversion of systems of power therein.
Daniel Preston, Ph.D. candidate, Syracuse University
Daniel Preston has taught writing and literature courses for SUNY Oswego and
SUNY Albany, and he specializes in disability studies and its intersections with
popular culture and education. He speaks often at conferences on ways that
the social construction of disability operates within familiar narratives. He has
published work on The Breakfast Club, Finding Nemo, and Batman, as well
as some work on parenting while negotiating a disability. If all goes according
to plan, Preston expects to complete his degree requirements and defend his
dissertation in 2021.
Benson Rajan, Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Journalism and
Communication
Benson Rajan is an assistant professor at Jindal School of Journalism and Com-
munication, India. He specializes in visual culture and media semiotics. His
research on social media, gender studies, and human computer interaction
studies has been published in various journals, such as Punctum: International
Journal of Semiotics, Hypertext.Net, Funes: Journal of Narratives and Social
Sciences, and MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture. His chapter “New Mytholo-
gies of Fake News: WhatsApp and Misrepresented Scientific Achievements
of Ancient India” was published in the Handbook of Research on Deception,
Fake News, and Misinformation Online (2019), a volume in the IGI Global’s
AMEA Book Series. His latest book chapter, “Curating an Affective Push:
Indian Women’s Facebook Profile Pictures and their Affective Turns” was
xvi Contributors
published in Deleuzian and Guattarian Approaches to Contemporary Com-
munication Cultures in India (2020, Springer Nature).
Tara Walker, Assistant Professor, St. Bonaventure University
Tara Walker is an assistant professor of Communication at the Jandoli School
of Communication at St. Bonaventure University. She received her Ph.D. in
Media Research and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has
published in Advertising & Society Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, and
the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. Her research
primarily focuses on representations of mental illness in direct-to-consumer
advertising, news coverage, and other forms of mass media.
Sherryl Wilson, Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England, Bristol
Sherryl Wilson (Ph.D.) is a senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the
University of the West of England, Bristol. Her research interests lie in Brit-
ish and American television; her work includes the representations of mental
illness in British television dramas, looking specifically at TV plays from the
1960s and the 1980s. She is a founding member of Women, Ageing and Media
(WAM) and has authored a range of works exploring representations of aging
including “She’s Been Away: Ageing, Madness and Memory” published in
Aging Studies. An article titled “The Life Review and the (alternative) Politics
of Ageing” is published in a special edition of the Journal of British Cinema
and Television titled “Screening Old Age.” More widely, she has published
work on television talk shows, the politics of health care represented in TV
drama, and contributed articles to Transgressive Cultures and Critical Studies
in Television. Dr. Wilson has also researched audiences’ use of second screens
while watching television.
1 Introduction
Why depictions of mental illness matter
Malynnda Johnson and Tara Walker

Villains in various media have long been portrayed as “mad.” Looking closely at
depictions of the classic villain reveals numerous mental illnesses on display. The
use of characteristics such as wild eyes, unpredictable shifts in behavior, incessant
muttering, or hiding away from people for long periods of time in cold dark caves
invokes fear in the audience as they know what will happen next.
Beyond the media, the medical establishment itself has traditionally focused
on mental illness as one end of a binary concept: a subject is either mentally ill
or mentally healthy (Keyes, 2005). However, a far more nuanced approach to
understanding how mental illness and health interact is necessary, both from a
clinical perspective and from a media representation perspective. Such perspec-
tives are vital given that an individual’s perceptions about any illness or health
condition have tremendous impact not only on their own life but also on the lives
of others. If a person believes that they are at risk for contracting an illness, they
may choose not to engage in a behavior or to seek out preventative options. In the
same way, understanding susceptibility to an illness, or health condition, impacts
an individual’s behaviors. Yet a person’s beliefs and opinions about an illness also
influence how they treat others. Often, when we can see the health condition a
person is facing, feelings of empathy and compassion arise. We open doors for the
girl with a broken leg. We reach out and grab the box on the top shelf for the man
in a wheelchair. However, this is not the case for illnesses or other conditions that
are misunderstood or invisible to the eye.
Illnesses resulting from personal choices (lung cancer, HIV, STIs, and cirrhosis
of the liver) are often met with far less compassion and eagerness to help. Peo-
ple living with conditions that are less talked about or seen in person (alopecia,
vitiligo, and dwarfism) are stared at and/or questioned, if not avoided altogether
for fear of “catching” something. Yet each of these health concerns can often be
treated, explained, and accepted by the general population. For those living with
mental, emotional, and developmental disabilities, however, the ease of treatment,
explanation, or acceptance is far less common.
The fear, stigma, and dehumanization surrounding mental health is partly due
to the complex and often invisible nature of these conditions (Parker, Monteith, &
South, 2020). To those unable or unwilling to understand, a person incapable of
getting out of bed due to depression just seems to be “not trying hard enough.”
2 Malynnda Johnson and Tara Walker
Because of such misconception, onlookers may believe it is possible to just “push
through the sadness” and “get on with life.” However, for the one embedded in
the experience of depression, it may appear there is nothing to push toward and
no light at the end of the tunnel. The thought process for anyone facing a mental
health condition is simply different than those who are not, but this difference
remains largely invisible. There are numerous explanations and possible causes
of mental illnesses or developmental disabilities, including biochemical imbal-
ance, trauma, or genetic and environmental factors. Yet, despite this diversity in
thinking, there is little variance in portrayals and discussions of mental health
and illness.
Perhaps it is because many mental health conditions remain largely invisible
that media depictions are often exaggerated; media representations work to help
audiences visualize an experience that is not always visual. Nevertheless, media
depictions of mental health conditions have historically relied on stereotypes and
misinformation. For example, media often use mental illness as an explanation for
crime and villainous behavior as in many crime dramas and nightly news shows
(McGinty, Webster, Jarlenski, & Barry, 2014; Ma, 2017). Furthermore, Granello
and Gibbs (2016) highlight the importance of terminology: referring to people as
“the mentally ill” has a much more stigmatizing effect than saying “people with
mental illness.” The former associates the person fully with their disorder, while
the latter cites the disorder as just one characteristic that makes up an individual’s
experience. Yet it is not only the words used when discussing mental health that
shape the way people think but also the representations and frames themselves. As
such, people living with, and often struggling with, mental health issues continue
to be stigmatized and therefore avoid seeking help.
Thankfully, throughout the past decade numerous books, movies, and televi-
sion shows have featured characters that offer new and more accurate viewpoints
of mental health lifestyles. These characters often speak openly about the strug-
gles of living with depression, panic attacks, even autism. Each of these characters
and storylines offers audiences the opportunity to see and hear what it feels like to
live with a mind that works differently. As the chapters in this book demonstrate,
while entertainment media still have a long way to go in terms of representation,
significant strides are being taken to provide audiences with a far more realistic
and less dramatized view of mental health. Many of the portrayals discussed in
the chapters that follow offer complex and nuanced characters that have populated
the screen more recently. These characters illustrate to audiences that people cop-
ing with mental, emotional, and/or developmental disabilities need not be labeled
“mentally ill.”

Framing mental health

Representation and accurate depictions of any health topic are vital to overcome
the stigma often surrounding mental health, but they also help those living with
the conditions to see people who think and act like them. Identifying with a char-
acter not only allows an audience member to feel less alone and provide a sense
 Introduction 3
of belonging (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009) but such identification might
also offer the first opportunity to see that others endure the same experiences.
This depends, of course, upon media produces providing thoughtful framing and
writing of such characters.
When looking at how media representations have shaped perceptions of both
mental illness and mental health, two media theories are particularly important
to consider. The first, cultivation theory, supports the idea that media, such as
television, have powerful effects on their audiences – more specifically, behaviors
are cultivated by repeated exposure to media (Gerbner & Gross, 1976). In other
words, by seeing/hearing the message repeatedly over time, our perceptions are
formed. For example, most of the media coverage discussing mental illness has
centered around crime and violence (Corrigan, P. W., Powell, K. J., & Michaels,
P. J. (2013); McGinty et al., 2014). Researchers have also found that coverage of
mass shootings is more likely to mention “dangerous people,” than “dangerous
weapons,” sending the message that serious mental illness may even be a cause of
mass shootings (McGinty et al., 2014).
Similarly, Bandura’s experiments regarding aggression and the development of
social cognitive theory also helped to cement the idea that the media have a con-
siderable impact on behavior. He provided evidence that television is “an effective
tutor,” noting that desensitization and habituation occur after repeated exposure to
television violence (1978, p. 16). Television helps people form impressions of real-
ities they have not experienced firsthand (Bandura, 1978). One key finding from
cultivation studies is the “mean world” syndrome: the idea that people with long-
term exposure to television tend to think of the world as a more dangerous place
full of untrustworthy people (Morgan, Shanahan, & Signorielli, 2009). However,
the same would be true if the script were to be flipped. When media created realities
focus on positive accounts of the world the viewpoint of the viewers would then
shift. Therefore, by offering realistic or less dramatic conversations about mental
health, as opposed to the barrage of negative and fear-induced language, media can
help people’s thoughts and attitudes surrounding mental health to evolve.
While cultivation theory emphasizes the amount of exposure an audience mem-
ber has to specific media, framing theory posits that audiences are affected by
the way something is presented. Humans use frames to construct meaning, and
primary frameworks are the starting point for forming these constructions (Goff-
man, 1974). Primary frameworks work as scaffolding to support perception, and
transform something meaningless into something meaningful (Goffman, 1974).
Entman (1993) devised four primary functions for frames: they define problems,
diagnose causes of those problems, make moral judgments, and, lastly, suggest
remedies. Media often contribute to the development of these frames, including
when it comes to understanding mental health.

Framing mental health in the media

In Disease and Representation: Images of Illness from Madness to AIDS, Gil-
man (1988) writes, “Society, which defines itself as sane, must be able to localize
4 Malynnda Johnson and Tara Walker
and confine the mad, if only visually, in order to create a separation between the
sane and the insane,” (p. 48). Most certainly, representations of mental illness in
media have been doing just that for years – drawing a strict line between crazy
and sane, and giving audiences a window into deviant behavior. Humans deter-
mine when differences exist, and when those differences matter socially (Link &
Phelan, 2001). Once differences are identified, we tend to take them for granted;
they become a kind of cognitive shortcut that requires oversimplification to func-
tion (Link & Phelan, 2001).
Overall, it is rather unlikely that the entertainment industry set out to degrade
and devalue people with mental illness or developmental disorders when releas-
ing unsavory portrayals. Nevertheless, regardless of intent, historians and media
critics agree that mental illness has been “systematically stigmatized in Western
culture” (Harper, 2009, p. 2). In film and television, for example, people with
mental illnesses are often depicted as looking physically different from every-
one else. Some of the most common visual clichés include messy “crazy” hair,
enlarged pupils, and unkempt, dirty clothing. These kinds of cues may work to
reassure audiences that there are clear physical boundaries between them and the
characters on TV – mental illness happens to other people but not to them (Wahl,
1997). Visual cues of mental illness are as present in children’s media as they
are in adult media. For example, children who watch Disney movies are often
exposed to characters who are labeled as being mentally ill (Lawson & Fouts,
2004). Most of these characters are objects of ridicule or derision and this may
encourage children to label and stereotype people, thinking terminology such as
“loony” or “crazy” is funny (Lawson & Fouts, 2004).
Some of the most salient negative portrayals of mental illnesses have come from
the horror film genre. For example, Cook (2007) argues that the film Halloween
(John Carpenter, 1978) established a plot structure that many subsequent horror
films followed – the idea of the mentally ill killer escaped from the local asylum
menacing a community and targeting a group of friends. In Halloween, Michael
Myers is characterized as a homicidal psychopath, and, indeed, this “homicidal
maniac” trope is frequently identified in the horror movie genre (Goodwin, 2014).
Recent films such as The Visit (M. Night Shyamalan, 2015) repeat the familiar
plot device of the escaped mental patient, reifying social anxieties around the
proximity of people with mental disorders to the public. Violent antagonists in
horror films are also often depicted as schizophrenics or those dealing with split/
multiple personalities. The character of the Joker (from various Batman films
and comics) has been portrayed as having numerous mental illnesses including
schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and dissociative identity
disorder (DID), formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder (Goodwin & Tajju-
din, 2016).
Variations of DID have appeared in Hollywood movies for decades. Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) offered audiences one of the earliest
examples of the villain with a split personality. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
introduced audiences to the split character of Norman Bates and laid the ground-
work for films such as Primal Fear (Gregory Hoblit, 1996) and Identity (James
 Introduction 5
Mangold, 2003) (Butler & Palesh, 2004). Most recently, the film Split (M. Night
Shyamalan, 2016) has been critiqued for its representation of DID (see Virzi,
2017; Alter, 2017; Nedelman, 2017; Rose, 2017), to the extent that audiences
even boycotted the film (Davidson, 2017). Critics argue the film’s plot rests on
the cliché of the mentally ill violent antagonist once again, further entrenching the
idea that people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses pose a threat to society.
Additionally, many films that rely on mental illnesses to provide backstories for
villains are rife with misinformation: psychosis is often confused with psychopa-
thy or linked with identity disorders, and schizophrenia is often used as a general
term for any kind of mental illness (Goodwin, 2014).
In recent years, mental illness has also become a recurring topic on reality TV.
Shows such as Hoarders, Intervention, Obsessed, and The OCD Project highlight
the effects of mental illness and the process of treatment. There is some evidence
that shows depicting exposure therapy for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD)
has made a positive impact on perceptions of this treatment, but researchers also
comment that programs such as The OCD Project potentially sensationalize the
disorder (Miller, Deacon, & Valentiner, 2015).
While Ma (2017) found that media still overwhelmingly portray mental ill-
ness negatively, findings suggest that OCD is less stigmatized in media than
other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. One of the first shows credited with
actively changing the framing of mental illness on television was Monk. Though
lead character Adrian Monk lives with OCD, he is also portrayed as a brilliant
detective who describes his struggle as both a blessing and a curse. While Monk
does not represent the first time that entertainment media has posed challenges
to stigmatizing portrayals, it is the first to receive widespread critical acclaim for
doing so (Johnson, 2008).
Other shows receiving acclaim for their inclusion of mental health narratives
and or characters depicting areas of mental illness include The Good Doctor,
This Is Us, and even Doctor Who. These shows, and others, include poignant and
essential discussions about various areas of mental health. Even more surprising
are the number of comedies and cartoons that have taken up the topic. Shows such
as Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Lady Dynamite have
received praise from critics for their handling of mental health issues including
borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder diagnosis, as well as direct
discussions on depression.
Though many media outlets continue to use mental illness as an easy expla-
nation for crime or justification for a villain’s actions, many shows and films
now offer strong, smart, and relatable characters that highlight the idea that life
with mental, emotional, and developmental disabilities has many challenges, but
that those challenges can be overcome with support. News coverage increas-
ingly focuses on social factors such as health disparities and society-wide mental
health care, instead of focusing strictly on individuals (Zhang, Jin, Stewart, &
Porter, 2016). Some of these changes may result from recent advocacy for the
public health model of reporting, which acknowledges that causes for a disease
arise from interactions between multiple agents and focuses on altering the social
6 Malynnda Johnson and Tara Walker
conditions that underlie public health concerns (Coleman, Thorson, & Wilkins,
2011).
Additionally, several organizations issue awards for positive or destigmatiz-
ing portrayals of mental illness. Mental Health America honors journalists, media
companies, and filmmakers who produced nuanced, sensitive media that reflects
the realities of mental illness instead of the stereotypes (Mental Health America,
2019). Even best/worst media depictions released by outlets such as The Mighty
work to increase awareness of stigmatizing or problematic portrayals and to shine
a spotlight on those that “get it right” (Virzi, 2017). By adopting a more holistic
view mental health, media professionals help to disperse the thick fog of stigma.
Given that research on mental illness in the media has largely focused on the
negative depictions and their consequences, this volume seeks to shift the per-
spective to examining where these portrayals of mental, emotional, and devel-
opmental disabilities succeed. The chapters in this volume identify and analyze
various characters, viewpoints, and experiences across a variety of popular media.
The chapters work together to examine the presence of these depictions in enter-
tainment media, including animated series, TV shows, movies, and more. Each
chapter considers how the different texts reflect, reinforce, and/or challenge soci-
ocultural notions regarding mental health. This collection is designed to reveal
how these messages become disseminated across the entire media ecology aimed
at audiences of all ages.

Quieting the madness: an overview

While entertainment media still have a long way to go regarding depictions of
mental distress, many texts that present positive, accurate, and altogether healthy
portrayals of mental, emotional, and developmental disabilities have emerged in
recent years. The chapters included in this book seek to analyze just a few of these
texts and consider how the rhetoric they use when portraying mental health issues
can potentially inform the way audiences think about such issues.
Chapters 2 through 5 focus on texts that seek to destigmatize mental illness or,
at the very least, portray it in a positive but frank way, thereby allowing viewers
to see honest depictions of mental distress and possibly initiate candid discus-
sions about cognitive disorders, such as short-term memory loss, anxiety disorder,
social phobia, and more. Jerralyn Moudry considers how two popular children’s
shows help young viewers understand and accept the commonness of mental dis-
orders by allowing younger viewers to see the experience of psychological dis-
orders and therapies as “normal.” Hayley T. Markovich explores the evolution of
the popular Pixar character Dory from the films Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton,
2003) and Finding Dory (Andrew Stanton, 2016) through a critical perspective
of stereotypes surrounding female mental health to argue that Dory refuses to let
her lived experience define her. Following this, Ali Gattoni analyzes the hit NBC
series This Is Us to understand how the show’s narratives of mental illness, as well
as the communication between the characters, provide a more honest and positive
depiction of mental illness to viewers. Finally, Craig A. Meyer and Daniel Preston
 Introduction 7
examine how the Star Trek franchise represents mental disorders, arguing that the
evolution of the character Reginald Barclay mirrors societal understanding and
acceptance of cognitive disabilities.
Chapters 6 through 8 shift the focus to portrayals of emotional and develop-
mental disabilities. In this section, the authors consider how depictions of autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) contribute to viewers’ understanding of those dealing
with autism and Asperger Syndrome. Benson Rajan considers how the sitcoms
Community and The Big Bang Theory depict the condition of Asperger Syndrome,
thereby potentially informing their audiences’ perspectives toward ASD. Then,
Malynnda Johnson questions the opportunities and challenges that arise when
framing a character as living with an emotional or developmental disorder without
ever providing a clear diagnosis through her analysis of the BBC series Sherlock.
After that, Magnus Danielsson and Mike Kemani conduct a narrative analysis
of selected scenes from the Swedish/Danish coproduced TV series Bron (The
Bridge) to analyze how the lead character, who demonstrates a social awkward-
ness seemingly located somewhere on the autism spectrum, causes social distur-
bance during her interactions with other characters.
In Chapters 9 and 10, the authors turn their attention to depression and its
effects. McKenzie L. Caldwell and Rodney F. Dick analyze the critical and com-
mercial discourses surrounding director Joe Wright’s film adaptation of Jane Aus-
ten’s Pride and Prejudice (2005) to uncover how the film shaped the public’s
awareness of mental illness and consider how viewers might react to the signs of
depression seen in the character of Elizabeth. Afterward, Marta Lopera-Mármol,
Mònika Jiménez-Morales, and Manel Jiménez-Morales analyze the British
coming-of-age dramedy My Mad Fat Diary to explore its impact as a primary
source of information about mental illness, suggesting there is hope in facing
depression but not without encountering difficulties along the way.
Chapters 11 and 12 explore how comedy can be used to better understand the
topic of mental illness. Sarah Symonds LeBlanc argues that situation comedies
that aired after the January 2009 episode of Scrubs titled “My House” moved to
portraying the issue of postpartum depression (PPD) as an “everyone problem”
rather than a celebrity or female problem. Sherryl Wilson, meanwhile, discusses
how comedienne/actor Ruby Wax counters a growing trend of celebrities glamor-
izing mental illness.
Finally, Chapters 13 through 15 explore popular depictions of trauma. Jason
Lee examines the trajectory of the recent depiction of the impact of war on the
mental health of returned soldiers, specifically through an analysis of how the
films Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) and You Were Never Really Here
(Lynne Ramsay, 2017) explore the representation of PTSD. Following this, Shan-
non O’Sullivan considers how the Showtime series Shameless offers a realistic
and dignified representation of bipolar disorder through the character of Ian Gal-
lagher. Rounding out this section, CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and Christopher J.
Olson consider how the frank discussions occurring in tangential World Wrestling
Entertainment (WWE) programming could potentially subvert mainstream pro-
fessional wrestling’s long-standing negative portrayals of mental illness. In the
8 Malynnda Johnson and Tara Walker
conclusion chapter, Olson synthesizes the ideas put forth throughout the collec-
tion to describe how the various theories, concepts, and ideas work together to
underscore the importance of accurate depictions of mental illness and to propose
how other avenues of study can build off the theoretical and analytical foundation
laid with this volume.
The chapters gathered here offer different perspectives on accurate depictions
of mental, emotional, and developmental disabilities found throughout entertain-
ment media produced around the world. The authors analyze these different por-
trayals to uncover what they say about mental illness, as well as how they can
influence sociocultural attitudes toward those dealing with mental distress. This
collection seeks to highlight those areas where entertainment media offers more
frank and nuanced representations of autism, social anxiety, eating disorders, and
other classified forms of mental illness or disabilities, while also noting those
areas that still need improvement. Ultimately, we hope that the analyses presented
here will help those who struggle with mental illness or developmental disabilities
to quiet the madness.

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2 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said”
Portrayals of mental health care in
Nickelodeon’s The Loud House
Jerralyn Moudry

Portrayals of mental health care in child-targeted television programming are

uncommon (Byrd-Bredbenner, Finckenor, & Grasso, 2003). In an analysis of over
500 children’s programs from the early 2000s, Wahl, Hanrahan, Karl, Lasher, and
Swaye (2007) found that while portrayals of characters with mental illnesses were
unusual, when they were depicted the characters were treated poorly by other
characters in the program. They also found that few characters were “depicted
as receiving care of any kind” and in only one case was treatment shown to be
helpful (Wahl et al., 2007, p. 130). In addition, just under half the programs used
mental health terms, often in a disrespectful and disparaging manner. Mueller
et al. in a 2016 meta-analysis found only six studies that addressed what is being
communicated about mental health in children’s media and noted that “little is
known about positive representations in children’s media” (p. 68).
Recently, producers of children’s content have been more socially aware and
intentional in portraying themes that are beneficial to youth, with Nickelodeon
emerging as a leader in this area (Owen, 2019). This chapter examines how their
program The Loud House (Savino & Marshall, 2016-) depicts mental health care
in a positive, applied, and frank way. The Loud House serves to reduce the stigma
of receiving care for mental illnesses and teach viewers the modes and methods
that they will experience if they need care from a therapist.
At a very young age, children hold “persistently negative attitudes about both
the constituent behaviors and labels signifying mental illness” (Hinshaw, 2005,
p. 714). This is disturbing because mental illness is very common. According
to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in 2016, 7.7 million American chil-
dren, 16.5% of youth aged 6–17, had mental health disorders (NAMI, 2019).
An additional frightening statistic from this study is that only 50.6% of those
who had a disorder received treatment. Wahl, Rothman, Brister, and Thomp-
son (2019) summarize the current need for early education about mental illness
stating, “by educating children about mental illnesses before (or as) their con-
ceptions about mental health problems are formed, we may be able to prevent
the formation of negative attitudes and foster more accurate understanding and
acceptance of people with psychiatric disorders” (p. 188). This need for present-
ing affirmative images of mental illness and health to children before stigmatized
attitudes develop is repeatedly called for (Hinshaw, 2005; Mueller, Callanan, &
12 Jerralyn Moudry
Greenwood, 2016). Children’s popular television has the power to do this if pro-
grams follow the model of integrated and positive portrayals of mental health care
shown in Nickelodeon’s The Loud House.

Portrayals of mental health in children’s programming

While parents, teachers, and friends are sources of attitudes about mental ill-
ness for children, another socializing agent for very young children is television
content, which is enhanced when the characters are socially meaningful like
those in the most popular programs on television (Lauricella, Gola, & Calvert,
2011; Mares & Woodard, 2005). After studying 527 children’s television pro-
grams, Wahl et al. (2007) found that across all the programs, only 21 characters
were depicted as having a mental illness and the most common attribute was
aggressive behavior. They also found that the characters with mental illnesses
were “treated badly by others” including a tendency to be excluded and labeled
with “slang and disparaging terms [including] . . . crackpots . . . nuts . . . loony”
(p. 129, emphasis in original). Cultivation theory (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan,
Signorielli, & Shanahan, 2002) posits that seeing regular and repeated messages
like this will lead youth to form the belief that they represent societal norms.
These individually held perceived norms then influence decision-making and
behaviors (Lapinski & Rimal, 2005). Therefore, the advent of programming that
goes against these cultivated perceptions and disrupts the negative portrayals has
the potential to be very impactful.
Wahl et al. (2007) also found that few characters were shown receiving any
treatment for their mental illnesses and that in only one instance was the charac-
ter helped by this treatment. Although it appears that no research has been done
specifically on the portrayals of mental health care providers (e.g., therapists, psy-
chologists, and psychiatrists) in child-targeted programs, research has shown that
“on-screen mental health professionals generally have been depicted negatively”
(Pirkis et al., 2006, p. 532) and most of the portrayals lack realism. Pirkis et al.’s
meta-analysis also investigated studies of the portrayal of treatments for men-
tal illness, finding that no studies systematically analyzed on-screen therapies.
However, research on the syndicated talk show Dr. Phil, in which former clinical
psychologist Dr. Phillip McGraw gives advice, has shown that for instances when
viewers felt a positive parasocial relationship with the onscreen psychologist the
audience had greater intentions of seeking mental health care for themselves and
their children (Rasmussen & Ewoldsen, 2016).
Variety Magazine online notes that Nickelodeon has been “an early pioneer
in outward-facing pro-social causes for children” (Owen, 2019), and while cri-
tiques of their efforts toward encouraging diversity and acceptance exist (Bradley,
2017), The Loud House has been credited for its multiple depictions of varied
gender roles for girls (Sa & Tavares, 2017) and its portrayal of a gay couple as
significant secondary characters (Gajanan, 2016). When a child-targeted charac-
ter that is well-known and well-liked by youth models a behavior, the potential for
behavioral impact is enhanced (Lauricella et al., 2011). A recent study of popular
 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said” 13
Nickelodeon shows including The Loud House in Nigeria found that over 50% of
the youth studied (aged 9–14) believed that the program had an influence on them,
that the content could teach them how to behave, and that they tend to imitate their
favorite characters’ mannerisms (Asakitikpi, Adeyemi, & Nnaman, 2018). As one
of the most watched programs in recent years, The Loud House holds the potential
for meaningful effects.

The Loud House

The Loud House is a cartoon that debuted on Nickelodeon in May 2016 and within
months emerged as the number one kid’s animated show on television with almost
2 million viewers (Foster, 2016). It was recently announced that The Loud House
will be renewed for a fifth season and has spawned the spin-off series The Casa-
grandes (Rubiner & Savino, 2019–). Nickelodeon has the largest share of two- to
eleven-year-old viewers in “linear television” (Owen, 2019) and new episodes of
The Loud House consistently draw the channel’s highest ratings. A Netflix crosso-
ver film is also in the works.
The Loud House’s main protagonist is Lincoln Loud, a middle school-aged boy.
The first few seasons focus primarily on his life with his ten sisters, parents, and
friends. Over time, the episodes have begun to focus more on individual storylines
for each sister. A significant character in the show is Lincoln’s best friend, Clyde,
another middle school-aged boy from his class at school. Clyde lives near enough
to visit the Louds’ home that he regularly and often plays a major role in stories.
In “Making the Case” (S1E2) the audience is introduced to the fact that Clyde
sees a therapist named Dr. Lopez when he calls her on the phone to seek her help.
Throughout the show, Clyde and Lincoln both regularly mention Dr. Lopez, and
this study investigates how the show portrays her and psychological therapy.
An analysis was conducted of all episodes from the first three seasons of The
Loud House. Episodes were recorded on a DVR and because episodes are often
replayed and stories reordered, episode numbering was determined based on
IMDB.com’s designations (2019). Every instance in which Dr. Lopez’s therapy
and/or psychological techniques were mentioned was transcribed.
At the time research was conducted, the show was wrapping up its third season
and had aired 78 half-hour episodes. Nearly all episodes contained two different
stories running approximately 12 minutes in length. Dr. Lopez is discussed in 19
(24%) of the episodes. In 14 instances Clyde mentions Dr. Lopez, two times his
father Harold does, two times his father Howard does, and once Lincoln does. See
Table 2.1 for a summary of the 19 instances.
Dr. Lopez is largely discussed by Clyde and his gay parents Howard and
Harold. Howard is often portrayed as an overprotective, emotional father while
Harold is steadying. Clyde is portrayed as multifaceted. He is nerdy, allergic to
many things, sensitive to emotion, prone to panic attacks, mature, and mannerly.
He is a sidekick as Lincoln’s best friend and, literally, in the many episodes in
which they portray fictional comic book characters Ace Savvy and One-Eyed
Jack. However, Clyde is also obsessed with Lincoln’s older sister to the point of
14 Jerralyn Moudry
Table 2.1 Portrayals of Dr. Lopez and/or psychotherapy in The Loud House

Episode Speaker Summary of Content

“Making the Case” Clyde Clyde calls Dr. Lopez from a cell phone
(S1E2) and says, “Hello Dr. Lopez, I know that
I am not supposed to call you at home,
but it is a Lori emergency.”
“Overnight Harold and Harold tells Howard, “. . . remember what
Success” Howard Dr. Lopez said about letting go. Now
(S1E12) let go.”
“Two Boys and a Clyde and Lincoln While babysitting Lincoln’s baby
Baby” sister, Clyde applies the lessons in
(S1E15) child-rearing that he learned from the
(fictional) books Food for Tots, Oopsie,
My Baby Made a Poopsie, NapQuest,
The Impossible Journey, and Take a
Walk on the Child Side while waiting in
Dr. Lopez’ waiting room.
“Save the Date” Clyde Clyde calls Dr. Lopez at home and leaves
(S1E16) a message saying that he knows he
is not supposed to call but it is an
emergency.
“11 Louds a Harold and “Now Howie, you remember what
Leapin’” Howard Dr. Lopez said about . . . Oh forget
(S2E2) Dr. Lopez. This is the most wonderful
thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Brawl in the Clyde and Lincoln Clyde models a therapy session
Family” interviewing Lincoln about his sisters’
(S2E3) fighting.
“The Whole Clyde and Lincoln Clyde quotes Dr. Lopez: “The first step
Picture” in healing is to honor your feelings”;
(S2E5) although the boys ignore this and go
straight to “Denial; that is actually a
step backward.”
“Making the Clyde Clyde is forced to move to a different seat
Grade” in the classroom and calls Dr. Lopez
(S2E6) asking, “Dr. Lopez. Do you have any
openings this week? I’m having trouble
accepting change again.”
“Out of the Picture” Clyde and Coach Clyde models a therapy session
(S2E12) interviewing his coach and helping him
resolve childhood issues.
“Back Out There” Clyde, Lincoln, Clyde tries to help Lincoln get over the
(S2E13) and a group of 3 fact that the girl that Lincoln liked has
friends moved away using advice gleaned from
reading pamphlets (with titles, such
as Shame Theory, Not Guilty, and Am
I Misunderstood?) about PBB, Post
Breakup Blues while in Dr. Lopez’s
waiting room.
 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said” 15

Episode Speaker Summary of Content

“AARGH you for Clyde, Harold, and Clyde is “having an episode” but
real” Howard Dr. Lopez is on vacation. Ultimately,
(S2E17) though, Howard runs off crying saying,
“That’s it I’m calling Dr. Lopez.” While
Harry says, “Howard no, she needs this
vacation. She and Robert are trying to
make it work.”
“Lynner Takes All” Lincoln and Lynn, Jr. asks, “Hey, I was just
(S2E19) Lynn, Jr. wondering. Do you guys know of any
good therapists?” In the story, she
is baiting her siblings because she
says they will need a therapist to deal
with losing to her. However, Lincoln
matter-of-factly replies “Well, Clyde
recommends. . .” before being cut off
by Lynn.
“Tricked” Clyde and Lincoln “Dr. Lopez says that I need to look out for
(S2E22) me more.” Lincoln responds by saying,
“She’s worth every penny you’re
paying for.”
“Snow Way Down” Clyde, Harold, and Clyde’s dads engage in over-the-top
(S2E26) Howard protective practices prompting Clyde
to tell them that they must let him
grow up. Howard recommends a group
session with Dr. Lopez but then decides
to go for a session alone.
“Deal Me Out” Clyde and Lincoln Clyde conveys that Dr. Lopez has told
(S3E10) him that he “can’t move forward if
[he is] always looking in the rearview
mirror.” He ultimately doesn’t follow
her advice but, this is quickly followed
by, “Please don’t tell her I said that.
I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“What Wood Clyde and Lincoln Clyde quotes a poster on Dr. Lopez’s wall
Lincoln Do?” encouraging the characters to accept
(S3E13) mistakes because “Every ‘Uh Oh’ is a
Chance to Grow.”
“Game Boys” Clyde and Lincoln After worrying about being honest with
(S3E17) Lincoln all episode, Lincoln kindly
responds to his honesty and Clyde tells
him, “You’ve given me a lot to talk
about in therapy Thursday.”
“Jeers for Fears” Clyde and Lincoln When considering going to a haunted
(S3E20a) house, Clyde says: “I won’t even get up
to pee at night if my Blarney night light
isn’t on. Oh no, I’d better call
Dr. Lopez . . . Oh no, it went to
voicemail.”

(Continued)
16 Jerralyn Moudry
Table 2.1 (Continued)

Episode Speaker Summary of Content

“Tea Tale Heart” Lincoln and Lola Lincoln’s sister asks him why he is not
(S3E20b) hanging out with Clyde and he responds
that “Clyde’s at his weekly therapy
appointment. He invited me, but . . .”
and is then interrupted.
“Predict Ability” Clyde and Lincoln Clyde sneaks out of class to call
(S3E23) Dr. Lopez stating, “I know you are in
Aruba, but I am really starting to spiral
right now.” At the end of the episode,
Clyde tells Lincoln: “Please don’t ever
change again. At least not while
Dr. Lopez is out of town.”

fainting and he frequently idealizes being a “man’s man,” even though the boys
usually learn a more nuanced lesson about masculinity in the end (Sales, 2019).
One might argue that Clyde’s portrayal as a secondary character would decrease
the impact of his perspectives. However, he appears frequently, and as can be seen
in Table 2.1 the other characters treat his relationship with Dr. Lopez and her
advice with such sincerity and pragmatism that the message is quite powerful.
Lincoln is shown frequently taking advice from Dr. Lopez through Clyde, who
talks about how useful therapy is, and even interacts with Dr. Lopez on the phone
to solicit help for Clyde in one episode. The following sections delve into how
this content can reduce the stigma of mental health care and model modes and
methods of therapy.

Reducing the stigma of psychotherapy

For many, stigma prevents them from participating in and receiving the greatest
benefits from needed mental health services (Corrigan, 2004). This is true for both
children and parents who may resist seeking treatment because of the attitudes
of others or themselves about the types of people who attend therapy or the use-
fulness of therapy. Corrigan and Watson (2002) found that stigma takes on two
forms: public stigma and self-stigma. These stigmas begin with a stereotype and
can proceed to prejudice and ultimately discrimination when negative stereotypes
are believed and acted upon.

Public stigma
Corrigan and Watson (2002) define public stigma as the way that the general
population negatively reacts to mental illness. They describe that the general pub-
lic often holds stigmatizing perspectives that mentally ill individuals are danger-
ous or incompetent and should, therefore, be feared or avoided. This leads to
peer group stigmatization for both adults and youth (Corrigan & Shapiro, 2010;
 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said” 17
Goffman, 1963; Heary, Hennessy, Swords, & Corrigan, 2017). Studies reveal that
negative attitudes about mental health treatment are prevalent among youth, with
young male adults holding the most negative attitudes of all demographic groups
(González, Alegría, & Prihoda, 2005). Thus, it is important that the subject of the
portrayals of therapeutic care in The Loud House is a preteen male. Socialization
theory regarding norms in general and in health practice specifically predicts that
positive portrayals in very popular children’s programs should lead to a percep-
tion that these behaviors are “normal” and beneficial (Signorielli, 1990).
When Clyde interacts with friends and family, he often unashamedly applies
psychological advice from his therapy sessions. For example, after fighting with
Lincoln, Clyde tells the Loud sisters that, “I should go and make up with him. Dr.
Lopez taught me a lot about conflict resolution” (“Overnight Success,” S1E12).
Dr. Lopez is also quoted as having advice on healing: “The first step in healing is
to honor your feelings” (“The Whole Picture,” S2E5); making mistakes: “Every
‘Uh Oh’ is a Chance to Grow” (“What Wood Lincoln Do?”, S3E13); and not
dwelling on the past: “[Clyde] can’t move forward if [he is] always looking in the
rearview mirror” (“Deal Me Out,” S3E10).
In the episode “Back Out There” (S2E13), Clyde takes the lead and guides a
group comprised of Lincoln plus three of their male friends from school in an all-
day mental health improvement outing to try help Lincoln get over the fact that
the girl that Lincoln liked has moved away. Through multiple venues the boys
use advice gleaned from reading pamphlets with titles such as Shame Theory, Not
Guilty, PBB, Post Breakup Blues, and Am I Misunderstood? while in Dr. Lopez’s
waiting room. The boys all listen to and support their application of different
therapeutic methods.
Additionally, one of the most subtle but significant examples of how the pro-
gram’s tone proves beneficial is found in an episode in which Dr. Lopez is not
mentioned by name. In “Lynner Takes All” (S2E19), Lincoln’s competitive ath-
letic sister asks, “Hey, I was just wondering. Do you guys know of any good
therapists?” In the story, she is baiting her siblings because she says they will need
a therapist to deal with losing to her. However, Lincoln matter-of-factly replies
“Well, Clyde recommends . . .” before Lynn cuts him off. Although her name is
cut off, Lincoln’s tone of voice clearly indicates that he sees Dr. Lopez as a valu-
able therapist and is unashamed to publicly recommend her.
Hinshaw (2005) argues that to decrease stigmatization, one thing that the media
needs to do is increase “promotion of poignant and realistic disclosures by chil-
dren and families who deal with mental illness on a daily basis” (p. 729). These
positive portrayals from The Loud House have the potential to increase the will-
ingness of children to attend psychotherapy and provide a positive model for how
friends of youth who utilize mental health care and are supportive of their peers.

Self-stigma
Stigmatization directed at individuals by others is often the only type that is con-
sidered, but Corrigan and Watson (2002) emphasize that when individuals with
a mental illness live in a society that stigmatizes them, they can “turn against
18 Jerralyn Moudry
themselves” (p. 16) and hold prejudiced viewpoints about their own identities.
They explain that these can include diminished self-esteem/self-efficacy, right-
eous anger, or relative indifference. To help mitigate a sense of low self-efficacy,
individuals need to see themselves as capable, powerful, and competent.
One way that The Loud House portrays Clyde as powerful is that he is shown to
be in control of his therapeutic care. Clyde himself calls Dr. Lopez in five of the
episodes. For example, in “Making the Grade” (S2E6), Clyde is forced to move
to a different seat in the classroom farther from Lincoln. He then calls Dr. Lopez
from the 5th grade classroom and asks, “Dr. Lopez. Do you have any openings
this week? I’m having trouble accepting change again.” Later, when he is plan-
ning to go to a haunted house, he attempts to call Dr. Lopez but only gets voice-
mail (“Jeers for Fears,” S3E20a). A running joke of the series is that Dr. Lopez is
often unavailable when Clyde calls, and this is most often due to the fact that he
calls at inappropriate times, as in “Making the Case” (S1E2), when he calls and
says, “Hello Dr. Lopez, I know that I am not supposed to call you at home, but it
is a Lori emergency”; “Save the Date” (S1E16), when he calls Dr. Lopez outside
of office hours; and “Predict Ability” (S3E23), when Clyde sneaks out of class to
call Dr. Lopez stating, “I know you are in Aruba, but I am really starting to spiral
right now.” Although these calls are often played for humorous effect, they do
show a child powerfully requesting care, even against the rules of an authority
figure, when he needs it.
Clyde powerfully conveys belief in the efficacy of his therapy sessions and is
willing to share it with anyone and in any situation. Another example of a scene
that has subtle but significant impact is found in “Tea Tale Heart” (S3E20b), Lin-
coln’s sister, Lola, asks him why he is not hanging out with Clyde and he responds
that “Clyde’s at his weekly therapy appointment. He invited me, but . . .” before
being interrupted. Clyde is so confident in sharing his mental illness and mental
health care that he even invites his friend to participate.
Hinshaw argues that to reduce stigmatization “compassion [must] replace
blame and silence” (p. 730). Children who currently visit a therapist can see on
The Loud House a child who confidently manages his care and shares it with oth-
ers. Ideally, this will reduce any feelings of indifference, low self-esteem, or lack
of self-efficacy.
Children’s television content is often critiqued for doing harm and leading to
violence and other antisocial behaviors in the youth who view the programs, but
research has shown that television’s potential for pro-social messages is equally as
powerful (Mares & Woodard, 2005). In The Loud House, Clyde, his friends, and
his parents often endorse therapy in general and Dr. Lopez specifically. Research
indicates that children aged 6–12 inhabit a unique developmental phase for gain-
ing an interpretive understanding of the mind (Hansen Lagatutta et al., 2015), so
these lessons in psychology are fitting. This is the phase in which children form
their understanding of the motivation of others, the reasons for their emotions,
and the diversity between people. Programs such as The Loud House that provide
accurate instruction to youth about psychological constructs at this age are power-
ful in helping frame their future relationships.
 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said” 19
Modeling modes and methods of psychotherapy
Negative perceptions of mental health services constitute a significant barrier to
accessing and utilizing mental health care (González et al., 2005; Owens, Hoag-
wood, Kellam, & Ialongo, 2002). While The Loud House never actually shows
Dr. Lopez, the audience builds a relationship with her and her advice, and the
message about psychotherapy is that it is valuable and applicable. In addition to
the potential, the positive tone of the content has for reducing the stigma of men-
tal illness and mental health care, a second theme found in the content is more
pragmatic: the show models how therapy is conducted. This is impactful in many
ways, but the two that will be highlighted here are modeling therapeutic sessions
and family involvement in therapy.

Child awareness and practice of therapy sessions

Children frequently experience anxiety about medical visits, may not be sure how
to express their feelings and may be afraid of speaking in front of people that
they don’t know. To help ease the stress of doctor visits, numerous professionals
recommend preparing your child for the visit, and one popular recommendation
is reading books or watching television shows that show them what the visit will
be like. Shows such as Daniel Tiger on PBS and Doc McStuffins on Nickelodeon
have been cited as examples (Stockhausen, 2019). The modeled therapy sessions
on The Loud House also are likely to ease any confusion or fear children may have
of attending therapeutic care.
Because of Clyde’s experience in therapy, there are times when he takes the
role of the psychologist in a modeled therapy session, sitting with a pad of paper
and asking questions of a character who is lying on a couch. In “Brawl in the Fam-
ily” (S2E3), Clyde advises Lincoln about a fight that he is having with his sisters,
and in “Out of the Picture” (S2E12), Clyde runs a pseudo-session in which he
helps his coach resolve childhood issues while stalling him so Lincoln can make
changes to the yearbook. The content of these interactions is found in Table 2.2.
Seeing Clyde perform a pseudo-therapy session provides vicarious observa-
tional learning that can lead children to model behaviors they see both in real-
world therapy sessions and during peer play (Bandura, 2001). The value of
modeling therapy sessions for real-life therapists is clear; youth are more com-
fortable if they are aware of what will occur in an unfamiliar setting. In addition
to modeling positive communication as a family, the series introduces youth to the
methods and settings of therapy. Even a simple thing such as mentioning sitting
in waiting rooms for extended periods normalizes that experience and teaches
children to expect this as part of the process.

Family involvement in therapy

The portrayal of therapy as a whole-family behavior is important in reducing stig-
matization and placing emphasis on the mental health of the entire family system.
20 Jerralyn Moudry
Table 2.2 Transcripts of modeled therapy sessions in The Loud House

“Brawl in the Family” (S2E3) “Out of the Picture” (S2E12)

Lincoln: “. . . and the next thing I know, Clyde: “Coach, you seem to be dealing
they are all fighting.” with some anger issues. I have nine years
Clyde: “Interesting, and how did that of therapy under my belt. Do you want
make you feel?” someone to talk to?”
Lincoln: “Clyde, what are you doing?” Coach: “Yes.”
Clyde: “When I take my problems to Clyde: “Let’s go somewhere quieter.”
Dr. Lopez, this is how she helps me.” Coach: “You think I really wanted to be a
Lincoln: “Okay, okay. Anyway, I feel gym teacher? My real passion was Irish
frustrated. Their ridiculous sister fight step dancing, but my father told me with
protocol only makes things worse. If my fallen arches I was kidding myself.
they’d just let me help them, I can fix I’m sorry.”
everything.” Clyde: “Interesting, and how did that make
Clyde (pouring tea): “I see. So, what do you feel?”
you plan to do?” Coach: “So I said, ‘It’s my life dad, I’ll do
Lincoln: “I’m going to march back in what I want,’ but mom was like ‘listen to
there tomorrow and talk some sense your father.’ But did I listen to them? Well,
into those girls.” I’m here aren’t I? Trying to get a yearbook
Clyde: “That seems sensible. Hmmm, out by 10:00 p.m. All these years I could
I see our time is up.” have been Irish Step Dancing. But here
Lincoln: “What? Can’t I stay over?” I am, my dancing career over and with
Clyde: “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so used to it my hopes, my dreams and my reason
hearing Dr. Lopez say that.” to live. Anywho, I’d better check on that
progress bar.”
Clyde: “Wait coach, I think we’re really
close to a breakthrough.”
Coach: “Quit tailgating me McBride; I got
a yearbook to get out . . . Huh, normally
I’d be very angry about this. Thanks
McBride.”

While individual therapy is most common and usually combined with whole fam-
ily therapy (WFT), research does show that WFT “affords the best understanding
of the system involved in a given problem . . . helps members solve problems by
releasing the family’s own underutilized resources . . . [and] builds family resil-
iency” (Breunlin & Jacobsen, 2014). In addition to normalizing Clyde’s therapy
with Dr. Lopez, The Loud House also indicates that his parents attend therapy
individually with Dr. Lopez and that they attend as a family.
At least one of Clyde’s fathers is portrayed in seven of the episodes, and in four
of those (57%) Dr. Lopez is mentioned. Clyde and his parents endorse and apply
therapy in “Snow Way Down” (S2E26), in which Lincoln, Clyde, and Clyde’s
dads travel to a cabin in the snowy mountains. The parents engage in over-the-
top protective practices (e.g., bubble wrapping Clyde, cooling his hot chocolate),
prompting Clyde to tell them that they must let him grow up:

CLYDE: “You don’t have to worry about me so much.”

HAROLD: “Worry? We don’t worry.”
 “Remember what Dr. Lopez said” 21
HOWARD: “I’m scheduling a group session with Dr. Lopez. We have to talk
about this.”
CLYDE: “No, you don’t need to call Dr. Lopez. You just have to let go a little bit.”
Howard agrees to try then says: “I’m still calling Dr. Lopez. Just for me.”
HAROLD (TO CLYDE): “That was good judgement, son.”

Although this interaction does not lead to a whole-family session, the parents and
child are all given a voice in therapeutic decisions and discuss how best to apply
the advice that they have been given in the past.
Clyde’s parents also discuss advice Dr. Lopez gives them on parenting. In
“Overnight Success” (S1E12), Harold tells Howard, “Remember what Dr. Lopez
said about letting go. Now let go.” Howard is then able to let Clyde sleep over at
Lincoln’s house. They also seek her advice in “ARGGH! You for Real” (S2E17),
when Clyde worries that everyone lies to him and his parents feel he is “having
an episode.” Howard runs off crying saying, “That’s it, I’m calling Dr. Lopez.”
In addition to portraying the importance of whole-family therapeutic interven-
tion, in these portrayals Clyde is respectful of his parents and their time com-
municating with each other in and about visits to Dr. Lopez. These depictions
model open communication for the youth in the audience. Harold is also shown
respecting Clyde’s input and wishes, which is essential to a child’s acceptance and
compliance with medical care.

Conclusion
The Loud House provides an example of how a modern children’s cartoon can portray
seeing a therapist and applying her advice as commonplace and provide the children
who view the show the opportunity to understand mental illness and mental health
care through a positive lens. Clyde’s overt acceptance of Dr. Lopez and “Therapy
Thursday” (“Game Boys,” S3E17) is integrated into his life choices and interactions
with others and is a welcome break from past portrayals of mentally ill people in chil-
dren’s programs as rare, negative, untreated, and open to ridicule (Wahl et al., 2007).
Public and self-stigmatization are two of the greatest challenges facing the
mentally ill and a substantial barrier to participation in mental health treatment
(Corrigan, 2004; Corrigan & Watson, 2002). The Loud House facilitates overcom-
ing public stigmatization by depicting a middle school-aged boy who is open and
unashamed about receiving therapy, discusses and applies therapeutic strategies
with his male friends, and recommends his therapist to others. Additionally, it
helps reduce self-stigmatization in that Clyde is depicted having good self-esteem
and self-efficacy while in control of his care.
Additionally, the program models positive practices in psychotherapy includ-
ing WFT and therapeutic listening sessions. These can positively influence youth
by preparing them for and supporting them through their mental health care and
maintenance. In “Brawl in the Family” (S2E3), Clyde says, “When I take my
problems to Dr. Lopez, this is how she helps me.” More children’s programming
should aspire to this type of constructive portrayal of mental health care.
22 Jerralyn Moudry
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Series]. Chris Savino Productions, Nickelodeon Animation Studios.
Signorielli, N. (1990). Children, television, and gender roles: Messages and impact. Journal
of Adolescent Health Care, 11(1), 50–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/0197-0070(90)90129-p
Stockhausen, A. L. (2019, April 17). Preparing your child for a doctor’s visit. UW Health
Growing Up Healthy Website. Retrieved from https://parenting.uwhealth.org/2019/04/
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illnesses in children’s television programs. Journal of Community Psychology, 35(1),
121–133. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20138
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3 “And I suffer from short-term
memory loss”
Understanding presentations of
mental health in Pixar’s Finding
Nemo and Finding Dory through
communication theory of identity
Hayley T. Markovich

Disney-Pixar has built an empire anchored in the medium of animation. Animated

film can provide the viewing audience an outlet for understanding people and
popular issues. One way that animated movies, specifically Disney and Pixar
films, have functioned in this capacity is the changing representations of charac-
ters with various levels of physical and mental abilities. In 2003, Pixar introduced
audiences to a brand-new undersea world through the film Finding Nemo and then
again in 2016 with Finding Dory. The undersea world in these films is overflow-
ing with characters exhibiting different disabilities (e.g., Nemo and his smaller
fin, a seahorse with a water allergy). While many of the characters have physi-
cal disabilities, both Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) strug-
gle with mental health (Dory with her short-term memory loss, and Marlin with
PTSD). Though two main characters have lived experience with mental health
issues, Dory is the one remembered for her diagnosis. Pixar Animation Studios
has been celebrated for its willingness to give disability, especially mental health
challenges, high-profile exposure via the character of Dory (Heady, 2016). Dory
is an important character to study because of her evolution as a comic relief side-
kick in the first film, to leading titular character in the second film.
In popular culture studies, it is understood that media products such as films
shape and reinforce current values and beliefs (Nachbar & Lause, 1992). As cul-
tural products, films are meaningful in relation to broader contexts, institutions,
and discourses because they help form our social knowledge (Edgerton, Mars-
den, & Nachbar, 1997). Children’s and family films, such as Disney films, have
been a key area of study for scholars because of the potential implications for chil-
dren’s exposure to the characters and storylines that can influence how children
navigate their own experiences (Wills, 2017). Due to Disney/Pixar’s association
with films meant for children and families, it is likely that these films indirectly
help children understand certain viewpoints and realities. As such, both Find-
ing Nemo and Finding Dory’s inclusion of disabilities, especially mental health
experiences, is important to study because of the potential implications for what
children may learn about mental health from the films.
 “And I suffer from short-term memory loss” 25
People understand our experiences and what is happening in our worlds through
language. Yet, according to the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis, language determines a
speaker’s perceptions and resulting categorization of their experiences (Kay & Kemp-
ton, 1984). Studying film portrayals of mental health experiences shows how society
relies on labeling elements it finds mystifying or threatening (Beveridge, 1996). This
ultimately includes labeling and identifying neurodiverse individuals, such as defin-
ing Dory by her short-term memory loss. Sometimes these labels can be negative and
lead to nonacceptance of these individuals, especially if they are depicted or under-
stood as threatening. Neurodiverse individuals are more than their diagnoses.
According to communication theory of identity (CTI) (Hecht, 2015), identity
is performative and not just a result of communication. Using CTI, this study
seeks to explore Dory’s complex identity as a neurodiverse character. Specifi-
cally, through analyzing Dory’s neurodiversity at the different levels of the CTI
this study seeks to understand how Dory’s view of herself becomes more positive,
even while other characters and audiences still define her by her neurodiversity.

Film as a cultural indicator

Beginning in the 1970s film studies literature “include[d] the ‘public visions’ of
popular filmmakers, ‘box office’ and industrial factors, and the idea that a movie
says as much about its audience as it contributes to the development of its art
form” (Edgerton et al., 1997, p. 1). When applying a sociocultural tradition to
film studies, it is important to note that the cultural context trumps the medium.
According to Edgerton, Marsden, and Nachbar (1997), film is a cultural product
and form of social knowledge that is meaningful within its relationship to broader
contexts, institutions, and discourses.
Popular culture is mass produced, available for the largest group of people, reflects
and shapes current beliefs and values, is commercial, imitative, and is part of our
everyday lives (Nachbar & Lause, 1992). In fact, “the health of a society is directly
reflected in the liveliness and quality of its entertainment” (Inge & Hall, 2002,
p. XVI). In popular culture, the work of art, film, or other media produced appeals to
the mass audience’s tastes and indicates a status quo in culture (Himmelstein, 1981).
According to Hall (1977), the dominant view of what is acceptable is constantly gain-
ing legitimacy through shaping and producing consent from the public through the
media. Gail Dines (Sun & Picker, 2001; Brode, 2005), meanwhile, contends that peo-
ple who have been socialized by society and have internalized norms and values from
that society write Disney scripts. The scripts and work produced express these norms
and values unless they decide to operate within another ideology. Therefore, Disney
films are not free from stereotypes or assumptions. However, to step outside of the
dominant societal ideology, the creators must make the choice to do so.

Previous studies of Disney films

As mentioned, children’s film has been the focus of various studies regarding how
they portray and describe characters, because of the view that there are possible
26 Hayley T. Markovich
implications for children’s exposure to these characterizations. According to
Wills (2017), cartoons offer a childlike view of the world that helps influence
how children navigate their own experiences. The Disney Company has promoted
various fundamental notions and ideals that have shaped American mass culture,
including universal love, good conquering evil, happy endings, a Protestant-style
work ethic, absolute morality, and traditional family roles (Wills, 2017). Studies
of these films have dealt with character portrayals and behavior. Previous research
indicates children learn and internalize traditional gender roles from television
and film (Witt, 2000). These studies have found demonizing or attributing a char-
acter as evil was based on certain character traits, including negative emotional
states and queering or gender transgression (see Lawson & Fouts, 2004; Fouts,
Callan, Piasentin, & Lawson, 2006; Li-Vollmer & LaPointe, 2003). Making vil-
lains out of those who are not “socially acceptable” enhances the positive gender
qualities of heroes and heroines (Putnam, 2013).
Other Disney film studies look at positive behaviors within the films. Disney
films have a high level of pro-social behaviors, and though these acts were rarely
paired with aggression, targets were more pro-social with friends and helped those
like themselves (Padilla-Walker, Coyne, Fraser, & Stockdale, 2013). Overall, it is
important to note that Disney films portray both positive and negative behaviors
that could influence how children act in real life. Disney films have also previ-
ously indirectly taught audiences about intellectual disabilities through the char-
acters of Gus, LeFou, and Dopey from the films Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast,
and Snow White, respectively. The characters do not need to be expressly stated
as having a disability for audiences to pick up on the differences; the characters’
traits reveal their status and audiences make those connections (Schwartz, Lutfi-
yya, & Hansen, 2013). According to Scherman (2011), children’s cinema can be
used as a signal that social change has occurred in mainstream society. Given that
films increasingly include neurodiverse characters, and characters with varying
abilities and disabilities (like in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory), it is possible
that a social change on the topic has happened.

Communication theory of identity

Communication theory of identity (CTI) articulates a layered perspective of
identity whereby identity is performative and not just a result of communication
(Hecht, 2015). In other words, we act out our identities when we communicate.
This theory stems from the views of many scholars including those who viewed
communication as an element of identity that is influenced by our social interac-
tions (Goffman, 1959). Our self-image does influence our level of confidence
and accuracy in communication (Gergen, 1971). Current scholars such as Bergen
and Braithwaite (2009) have also followed along the thought line of identity as
performative.
Communication theory of identity recognizes four layers of identity – personal,
relational, enacted, and communal – that comprise our complete identity (Hecht,
2015). In the personal layer, the individual defines himself or herself. The relational
 “And I suffer from short-term memory loss” 27
level defines identities in terms of relationships, other identities, and how others
see an individual. The enacted identity is how our behavior expresses who we are.
Lastly, the communal identity focuses on how society defines identities. These
communal identities are larger than the individual person and instead describe
cultures and societies. According to Hecht (2015), we learn about this layer from
larger discourse including media representations such as, but not limited to, film.
It is important to note that these different identity levels do not exist independent
from each other. Instead, they are interdependent and are constantly influenced by
each other. CTI has been used qualitatively to study different groups and cultural
identities from bilingual speakers, to intergenerational familial relationships (see
Heinz, 2001; Kam & Hecht, 2009). As a theory, CTI is useful in improving rela-
tionships and getting people to understand each other. Applying CTI to presenta-
tions of neurodiversity, such as in the films featuring Dory, provides an avenue for
not only understanding the presentations within the film (personally, relationally,
and enacted) but also how the film is understood more widely (communally).

Method
Klinger (1997) proposed a new addition to the academic area of reception stud-
ies called histoire totale, or total history, which aims to put the film(s) studied in
larger cultural contexts. This is accomplished in either a synchronic or diachronic
method. A synchronic focus believes the object of interest has multiple histo-
ries. Specifically, this is studied in three zones: cinematic practices, intertextual
zones, and the social and historical contexts (Klinger, 1997). Cinematic practices
are “primarily all of the practices associated with film production, distribution
and exhibition that shape the film the audience finally sees” (Klinger, 1997,
p. 115). Intertextual zones are focused on the influences between film and prac-
tices outside the film industry in other media and businesses. Lastly, the social and
historical context looks at the social processes that can impact what a film means
publicly. Diachronic studies look at the film’s total life span through revivals and
retrospectives, reviews, academic theory, criticism and history, television, video
and laserdisc reproduction, fan culture, biographical legend, and cross-cultural
reception (Klinger, 1997). While not the only way to study film, total history pro-
vides a way of engaging with the film to understand its role as a cultural object.
Cultural texts, such as films, are inherently polysemic resulting in multiple
meanings. As such, this study will employ Klinger (1997)’s diachronic total
history. Under total history, there are three zones: (1) cinematic practices, (2)
intertextual zones, and (3) social and historical contexts. These zones were
explored through applying Hecht’s CTI to provide a more detailed understand-
ing of how Finding Nemo and Finding Dory depict neurodiversity through the
character of Dory.
To complete this study, the author watched and transcribed each of the two
films, specifically looking for instances in which Dory’s lived mental health expe-
riences were present in the films. The bonus feature content on both the DVD
and Blu-ray discs was also watched and transcribed for moments that focused on
28 Hayley T. Markovich
Dory’s character and specifically her mental health. To better understand the films
and their reception, the author also collected reviews from major newspapers and
YouTube videos reviewing the films. The videos were found by searching the
terms “Finding Dory Reviews Verified” on YouTube. Videos were included for
this part of the analysis if they came from verified channels on the platform.
The analysis focused on the four levels of Hecht’s CTI. After watching the
films and the bonus features and reading through the reviews and watching the
review videos, the author coded the data by highlighting the transcripts and cat-
egorizing them into the four levels of CTI they corresponded to.

Results
Instances in the films were found to correspond to all four levels of CTI. The indi-
vidual, relational, and enacted levels were present in the films themselves. The
communal level was found in the bonus features and film reviews.

The individual level of CTI and Dory

When considering the individual level of CTI, it seems Dory does not define
herself as someone with a mental illness. She instead views herself as someone
who will not let any setbacks that she does experience from her memory loss
affect her. She sees herself as someone capable of helping Marlin find his son in
the first film, and as capable of finding her family in the second film. Even with
her memory loss, Dory can help get Marlin and herself out of some precarious,
dangerous situations in Finding Nemo. In Finding Nemo, Dory can read. Her abil-
ity to read the word “escape” frees her and Marlin from a dangerous situation
involving a trio of sharks. This ability also helps the two characters learn where
to find Nemo after the diver takes him from the Drop Off. While Marlin is most
concerned about the location of 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney, Dory is excited that she
remembered something instead of forgetting as she normally does. Later in the
film, what Dory considers her ability to speak whale also helps the two characters
out. At one point, they need directions and Dory begins to ask a whale. As a result,
they find themselves in the whale’s mouth. When the quest to find Nemo seems
doomed, Dory’s ability to speak whale comes in handy again when she helps
convince the whale to let her and Marlin go. Dory is so certain that she can help
Marlin, and while sometimes her “helping” sets them back in the quest to find
Nemo, ultimately Dory proves helpful just like she believed. In Finding Dory,
Dory can now remember, which once again makes her feel good about what she
can do. Her memory is triggered by certain experiences in the present day that
flash her back to events from before she was separated from her parents. The more
Dory remembers, the more she grows confident in her abilities and her quest to
find her family. Dory’s confidence in what she can do increases so much that, by
the end of Finding Dory, she is orchestrating the plan to rescue Marlin and Nemo
from the truck traveling to the aquarium in Cleveland. Even when Dory fails to do
certain things in different situations, she immediately turns to things she can do
Other documents randomly have
different content
 IV

“I ain’t noways aimin’ tuh be hollerin’,” explained old

Hank, spraying a sage bush with tobacco juice. “I jest
want that you boys should know what kind of a skunk
yo’re workin’ fer and how he’s throwed the hooks to me.”
Tad and Shorty, riding on either side of the cattle-man, nodded.
“Two years ago, come July fourth, my son, Pete, gits into a jam
over a hoss that Black Jack is abusin’ on the street in Alder Gulch.
Black Jack pulls a gun. He’s tanked up on Injun whisky and onery as
——, sabe? He hates the Pete boy anyhow, and comes a rearin’
when Pete tells him tuh quit beatin’ the hoss over the head.
“His bullet ketches Pete in the thigh and Pete limbers up his six-
gun as he’s a fallin’. Black Jack goes down with a .45 slug in his gun
arm and the fight is over.
“But the Black Jack gent and Luther Fox is playin’ of a deep game
and they sets out tuh bust us. They has Pete throwed in jail and
tried fer attempt tuh murder. They’s a dozen LF pole cats that
swears on the witness stand that Pete starts the fight and shoots
fust. Pete, not havin’ ary witness, is railroaded.
“Trials is expensive, boys. Pete’s law sharp bleeds me fer all I kin
scrape up. The price uh cattle is lower’n a rattler’s belly and I’m bad
crowded tuh git the coin. I borrys ten thousand dollars from the
bank and gives my note, never thinkin’ they’d sell the note tuh
Luther Fox. I ain’t wise tuh them throat-cuttin’ tricks that’s called
good business by some.
“That fall finds me busted and in debt. I’m doin’ business with
Fox’s bank, buyin’ grub from Fox’s store and the pore specimens uh
cowpunchers that’s workin’ fer me is drawin’ double wages from Fox
and stealin’ me blind. Up till then, Pete has bin runnin’ the round-up
and takin’ care uh that end. He’s made me and Ma take it easy like,
sendin’ us to Californy and Florida fer the winters and a babyin’ us
scan’lous thataway. Now we’re throwed up ag’in’ it onct more and
we pitches in tuh do our dangdest.
“The day Pete is sentenced to twenty-five years at Deer Lodge,
Ma takes the train fer Helena tuh see the governor and I comes back
and starts the fall round-up with as sorry a crew as ever rode a good
hoss tuh death. My range covers the country between the lone
cottonwood and the Missouri River. Some eighty thousand acres and
she’s supposed tuh be fair stocked. Gents, it sounds scary when I
tell it, and yuh kin believe it er not, but we works that range and we
don’t gather five hundred head uh steers. Somebody’s beat us to it,
understand, and I’m cleaned out complete!
“I ships the five hundred head which don’t bring no kind of a
price, pays off these hoss killers, and gits Joe Kipp tuh help me
home with the remuda uh sore-backed hosses. Then me and Joe
starts in fer tuh hunt them stolen cattle.
“There’s old sign a plenty and when we cuts the main trail, we
splits up and follers it into the bad lands. There’s mebbe so a stretch
uh rough, timbered brakes fer fifteen-twenty miles betwixt the open
prairie and the river. Timbered some and stood on end fer the most
part. I follers a trail along a timbered ridge while Joe takes the main
trail which seems tuh twist eastward towards the LF range.
“I’ve rode mebbe so eight-ten miles when my hat gits knocked off
and I hears the pop of a 30-30. Some gent has drilled my hat. Over
behind some boulders is a puff of white smoke. The range is
upwards uh five hundred yards. I picks up my hat, unlimbers ole
“meat-in-the-pot” and heads fer Mister Bushwhacker.
“Ping! Off goes my hat onct more and this time the shot comes
from the other side, a good four hundred yards away.
Whoever is doin’ that shootin’ is —— good shots. Thinkin’ along
them lines, and wonderin’ where the next bullet will hit, I jabs home
the spurs and goes a shootin’ towards Mister Polecat behind the
boulders.
“Wham! A Winchester barks and my hoss piles up, shot between
the eyes. I takes my stand behind his carcass and throws some lead
in the direction uh the brush patch where I sees the white smoke
fadin’ away. When my gun is empty, I commences shovin’ fresh
shells in the magazine. Then —— busts loose. Seems like a army is
bombardin’ me. But every danged bullet is goin’ about a foot high.
Sudden like, the shootin’ quits.
“Got a plenty?” calls a stranger voice. “We bin foolin’ up to now.
The next shootin’ we does will be the real article. Git on yore laigs
and hit fer home.”
“I feels the wind of a steel-jacket bullet as she misses my nose by
about a inch. Mad? I was b’ilin’, gents. Only fer leavin Ma a widder,
I’d uh stayed till they got me. But het up as I was, I sees how plumb
useless it is tuh make a fight, so I drags it.
“At the edge uh the bad lands, where we’d split up, I finds Joe
Kipp. He’s kinda white and shaky like, and he’s afoot, the same as
me. The drawed look around his mouth and the way his eyes looks
at me, makes me feel plumb sorry fer him. He’s takin’ it wuss than I
am.
“‘They shot yor hoss and made a danged target outa yuh, Joe?’ I
asks, not knowin’ how else tuh ease his feelin’s.
“‘Hank,’ says he, solemn like and earnest as ——, ‘I wish tuh ——
they’d uh killed me, instead uh wingin’ me, like they did.’
“And he shows me his gun arm, busted between the shoulder and
elbow by a soft-nosed bullet. I ties up the arm the best I kin and we
commences that thirty-mile walk home. Ol’ Joe never whimpered
onct durin’ that night’s walk, though I knowed he was sufferin’ bad.
Ner did he do ary talkin’. Up till then he’d bin right hopeful about
gittin’ them stolen cattle back. But bein’ set afoot and sech musta
drug it outa him bad, fer he ain’t never bin the same man since.
“There’s them that claims he’s scared uh Fox, and sometimes it
shore looks like they done read the sign right. Me, I don’t know.
Seems like, if he was scared uh Fox, that he’d throw up his tail and
quit. But he still holds the job down. Some day, I look fer him tuh kill
Fox er git killed a-tryin’.”
“Didn’t yuh never make no more fight tuh find them cattle?”
asked Tad after some silence.
“Kipp done went down into the hills two-three times. Each time he
went there, he come back afoot, lookin’ like he’d seen a ghost. And
somewhere in his hide ’ud be a bullet hole. Not bad, jest a kinda
souvenir uh the occasion, as the feller says.
“Onct, I gathers me a posse uh cow-men from around the county
and we slips into the brakes after night. Injuns couldn’t uh done it
more quiet. We’d gone mebbe so five-six miles and was goin’ single
file down a steep trail that led into a canyon. Sudden like, fifty feet
ahead uh my hoss—I’m in the lead, sabe?—a match sputters. Before
I kin unlimber my cannon, a heap uh brush blazes up. There we are,
square in the light uh the blaze, the trail too narrer tuh turn around,
with a dead drop uh two hundred feet on one side and a shale cliff
on the other. On the trail behind us, afore we gits our senses good,
another brush pile busts into flame.”
“‘Do you idjits turn back from here er does we start a shootin’?’
bellers a gent from the dark up above.
“It don’t take no more’n a half-witted sheep herder tuh decide
which to do. We tells this gent that we’re turnin’ back.
“‘Fifty feet down the trail,’ says he, ‘the trail widens. When the
front fire goes out, ride over it to that place and turn. Ary man that
passes that wide point, gits a free ticket tuh ——. Us boys is holed
up here fer a spell and we ain’t cravin’ no visitors. The next man that
rides into these brakes, don’t see his happy home no more.’”
“That ended it, eh?” inquired Tad.
Hank nodded.
“I ain’t never bin back there. What’s the use? They got the bulge
in that country. They kin set on a pinnacle and see every rider
between the brakes and my place, if they got ary fieldglasses, which
they likely has. The only way tuh git into the hills is along them trails
and every danged trail is watched. Them cattle is like so many flies
in a bottle and Fox’s hand over the mouth tuh keep ’em in. The
same crew uh gun fighters that keeps folks from goin’ into the hills,
keeps the cattle from driftin’ out.”
“Hmm,” mused Tad aloud. “Regular hole-in-the wall proposition,
ain’t it? Yeah. How many trails leadin’ into that section, Hank?”
“Two,” came the prompt reply. ‘It’s a kinda pocket, widening out
beyond where the brakes meets the bottom lands.”
“Trails along the river bottoms, ain’t there?”
“Nary trail ’ceptin’ late in the fall when the water’s low. It’s what
they call the Narrows. Except fer where trails has bin cut out, a man
can’t water his saddle hoss along the riverbank fer ten miles. Thirty
and forty foot banks, sabe? And at each end uh the ten-mile stretch
is a gorge cut out by spring rains and the cricks, which is so full uh
quicksand that they’d bog a jacksnipe. A danged pocket, I tell yuh, a
danged, gyp-water, soap-hole, shale-banked pocket. And they’s feed
in them cañons tuh winter half the cattle in Montana.”
“Uh-huh. Yet, some way er another, Hank, it don’t sound noways
reasonable that a man can’t git in there. Supposin’ that a man was
tuh cross the river, say at one uh the ferries, ride back on the
opposite bank till he come opposite them Narrers, then swim across
to where one uh them trails is cut in the bank?”
Hank laughed mirthlessly. “Can’t be done, pardner. My boy Pete is
the only human that ever done it and he crossed when the river was
down. Now, at high water, the —— hisself couldn’t make it.”
“Yore Pete done it?” put in Shorty, silent up till now.
Hank smiled reminiscently.
“Pete knowed the river better’n ary human alive. As a kid, he used
tuh kinda look after the hosses durin’ the summer. He’d go into the
pocket with a pack outfit and stay there till time fer the fall round-
up. Long afore I even knowed he could swim, that kid was bustin’
that river wide open, jest fer the fun of it. He like tuh drowned a
dozen hosses, learnin’ ’em the channel. I never knowed nobody else
that ever swum the Missouri at the Narrows.”
“Got ary uh them water hosses at the ranch, Hank?” Shorty’s eyes
were dancing excitedly.
 “Shore thing, but even if you was fool enough tuh tackle it,
Shorty, the river’s up and boomin’ now and the current swifter’n a
blue-racer snake. I wouldn’t let yuh tackle it, boy. ——’s bells, what
’ud yuh do if yuh did git across?”
“Now there’s where yuh got me guessin’,” grinned the little
puncher, but that dancing light still flickered in his eyes as they rode
on.
“If yo’re figgerin’ on playin’ fish, runt, fergit it,” grunted Tad as he
licked the paper of a cigaret.
They rode on in silence for some time, heading back toward the
Basset ranch.
“Hank,” Tad broke a lengthy silence, “Did Kipp ever try tuh git
help from the Stock Association on this deal?”
“If he did, he never said so ner nothin’ ever come of it. Why?”
“I was jest a-askin’, that’s all,” came the evasive reply. “Jest tryin’
tuh git a squint at the lay from all sides. How long have yuh knowed
Kipp?”
“Ever since he come to the country. Lemme see. About eighteen
years, near as I kin figger.”
“Where’d he come from?”
“Don’t know as Joe ever said, and I never asked him. Look here,
if yo’re figgerin’ that Joe Kipp is mixed up with Fox and ain’t square,
yo’re plumb wrong. Joe’s honest, bank on that. I’d bet my last steer
on it.”
“Mebbe so yuh done bet ’em already, and lost ’em,” laughed Tad.
Hank smiled bitterly.
“I reckon not, Ladd. Does ol’ Joe look like a crook er a cow thief
tuh you?”
“No, Hank. If ever a man had honest eyes, it’s Kipp. A right nice
ol’ feller from what me’n Shorty seen uh him. How long has this Fox
pole cat bin clutterin’ up the range around here?”
“Three years. He leased and bought all the range he could git holt
of and throwed in some dogie stuff from the south. Black Jack come
with the cattle. He’s bin after my range ever since he come to these
parts, but he never offered nowhere near a fair price. He told me,
last time he made me a offer, that it was his top price and if I didn’t
take it, he’d bust me. It looks like he’s shore doin’ it, too. Him and
that black-whiskered Injun.”
“Is Black Jack a Injun?” asked Tad. “Half-breed, so they claim.
Apache, I reckon, by his looks. It wouldn’t surprise me none if he’s a
outlaw. If he wasn’t scared uh bein’ recognized, why does he wear
them whiskers? I asked Joe but he ’lowed a man couldn’t arrest a
man and shave him without havin’ danged good reason, and I
reckon he’s right.”
They rode on, each of the three busy with his own thoughts. Ma
Basset was waiting for them at the corral. Beside her stood Joe Kipp.
Both seemed unusually excited. Ma Basset’s eyes showed signs of
weeping.
“God help us and him, Hank!” she cried out as Hank dismounted,
“Pete’s escaped the pen!”
“Have they caught him yet?” asked Hank, his lips white with fear.
“He got clean away, Hank,” said Kipp. “I rode over tuh tell yuh.”
 V

If ever a man looked worried, it was Joe Kipp. Every

feature of his tanned face was drawn and haggard. His
eyes were bloodshot and seared with some tortuous
pain. His hands shook so that he spilled the tobacco he
was pouring into a brown paper.
“Pete was a sorter trusty at Deer Lodge,” he went on to explain.
“He waited till the chance come, then made a clean getaway. He was
gone two hours afore they found it out. I got orders tuh watch out
fer him, Hank. Yuh see, they figger he’ll be showin’ up around these
parts.”
“Look here, Joe Kipp,” said Ma Basset firmly, her eyes still wet, “I
don’t intend to sit by with my hands in my lap while you or any other
man is gunnin’ fer my Pete. Yo’re a law officer and there’s no way to
keep yuh from hangin’ around here, but I’m givin’ yuh warnin’ here
and now that no man kin take Pete while I kin hold a gun.”
She turned to her husband.
“Hank, I’m glad the boy’s loose and a breathin’ good clean air
again. He ain’t goin’ back if I kin help it. Are you standin’ by yore
wife and son er do you line up on the side uh the law that sends
innocent boys tuh prison? Are yuh——”
“Hush, Ma, yo’re excited,” interrupted Hank. “Uh course, I’m
stayin’ by Pete, right er wrong. But there’s no need tuh——”
Ma Basset sent him a withering glance and whirled on the
uncomfortable sheriff.
“If you was as eager tuh git back them stolen cattle as yuh are
tuh shoot our Pete boy, we’d not be facin’ poverty in our old age. It’s
a wonder tuh me that you got the nerve tuh show yore face on this
ranch, Joe Kipp.”
The sheriff winced as if struck. Shoulders sagging, eyes fixed on
the ground, he made no reply. Tad and Shorty, unwilling spectators,
were heartily wishing themselves elsewhere.
A mother cat will face a dog fifty times her size in defense of her
young. Face him without fear. Men call it mother instinct and there is
in this life no more courageous, more self-sacrificing, nor more
beautiful trait. Not a man there but respected Ma Basset for the
stand she took, Joe Kipp included.
“Ma’am,” he said, his eyes still fixed on the ground, “I don’t
reckon I blame yuh none fer the way yuh feel. But yo’re plumb
wrong about me gunnin’ fer Pete Basset. No matter how the play
comes up. I ain’t drawin’ no gun on him if I should cut his trail. If I
was as onery as you figger I am, I’d uh kept my mouth shet and laid
low till Pete showed up. My idee in ridin’ over was tuh kinda let yuh
know it in time tuh warn him. In doin’ that I’m violatin’ my oath uh
office.”
Kipp turned abruptly and swung into his saddle. Before Hank
Basset or his wife could say a word, he had ridden through the pole
gate and was lost to sight in the trees.
“I’d orter have my tongue cut out,” said Ma Basset contritely.
“Talkin’ to the pore ol’ feller thataway when he was doin’ us a good
turn. Hank, git on yore hoss and ketch him. Tell him I was jest a fool
woman talkin’ a lot uh fool nonsense.”
Hank shook his head.
“I reckon ol’ Joe savvys, Ma. He ain’t holdin’ no grudge. Supposin’
we tackles some grub? It’s past sundown and we kin talk this thing
over better after we’ve took on a bait uh beef and beans.”
He jerked the saddle off his horse and followed his wife to the
house.
“Holler when supper’s ready, Hank,” Tad told him. “Me’n Shorty
wants tuh tack a shoe on one of our hosses.”
Hank nodded appreciatively. He knew that there was no horse to
shoe and he thanked Tad with a look for the kindly lie that gave him
and his wife a chance to discuss in private the escape of their son.
When Hank had gone in the house, Tad turned serious eyes on his
partner.
“Shorty, I got a hunch that Joe Kipp’s a worryin’ over somethin’
besides this Pete gent. He’s sick inside as if he was gut shot and I
aim tuh find out what’s eatin’ on him. Yuh seen how he flinched
when Miz Basset lit on him?”
“Yuh don’t think the ol’ feller’s playin’ a double game do yuh,
Tad?” Shorty’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“I hate tuh be thinkin’ he’s that ornary, but dang me if there ain’t
some things about this deal that has me guessin’. I’m goin’ tuh foller
Kipp and see what comes uh it. Tell Hank and Miz Basset some
durned lie er another about why I rode off. Look fer me when yuh
see me ride through yonder gate, sabe? This may be a hour’s job, er
on the other hand, mebbe so it’ll take a week.”
“Why can’t we both go?”
“Because, my well-meanin’ but plumb onsenseless amigo, it’s a
one man job, this trailin’ business. Stick around here, keep yore eyes
peeled, and if the Pete boy shows up, tell him not tuh quit the flats
till I show up and kin make a medicine talk with him. This deal has
my curious bump a-itchin’ and we’ll see ’er through, no?”
“I’d tell a man. Taddie, ol’ war hoss, I’m rearin’ tuh tackle that
river from yon side and——”
“Of all the plumb dehorned, knee-sprung, narrer-foreheaded idiots
that ever dealt his pardner misery, yo’re the wust! We ain’t here tuh
do no fightin’, dang it. And I don’t want tuh put in the rest uh the
summer hangin’ around them sand bars waitin’ fer yore fool carcass
tuh come floatin’ along. Haze that fool idee plumb outa yore system
and start all over on some plan that listens sensible.
“A man ’ud think yuh had more lives than a tom cat. Fork yore
geldin’ and come down the pasture with me while I ketches me my
Yaller Hammer pony. And git this here idee circulatin’ through yore
system, son: We’re peaceful cow hands, me and you. This ain’t our
scrap that’s goin’ on and the best we’ll git is the sharp end uh the
prod-pole if we cuts in heavy.
 “Leave the thinkin’ parts tuh yore pardner. If I hollers fer he’p,
come a runnin’ but not lessen I hollers. We want tuh be all in one
piece and enjoyin’ health and prosperity, as the sayin’ goes, when
we presses our ponies fer Arizony this fall. Keep yore tongue
between yore jaws and yore gun in the scabbard and we stand a fair
tuh middlin’ show uh makin’ our home range, come Christmas. Go
rearin’ and fightin’ yore head and like as not we’ll winter in a two by
four hoosegow somewheres in Montana.”
Ten minutes later, Shorty watched his partner ride his fresh horse
out the pole gate and along the trail Kipp had taken. A wide grin
spread across the little cow puncher’s weather-tanned face.
“Yuh long-legged preacher,” he muttered good humoredly. “Yo’re
plumb —— on givin’ forth wise words, ain’t yuh? Yuh give more
danged advice than a Jersey cow gives milk. Then yuh rides away
tuh hog all the fun whilst I hangs around the kitchen door like a dad-
gummed blowfly and whittles sticks till yuh chooses tuh come back.
Now I gotta go in there and lie tuh cover yore trail, dang yuh. We’ll
see about swimmin’ that river, big ’un.”
“Grub pile!” called Hank from the kitchen door, thus putting an
end to Shorty’s muttered tirade against the tyranny of his big
partner.
A wicked look gleamed in his eyes as he made his way to the
cabin.
“Where’s yore partner?” asked Ma Basset.
“Gone,” said Shorty, shaking his head sadly.
“Gone? Gone where?”
“Tuh town, I reckon, ma’am. I done the best I could tuh stop him
but ’twan’t no use. Yuh see, Miz Basset, he’s one uh these here
habitual drunks. Goes fer months without tetchin’ a drop. Then,
sudden like, he jest busts out. He’ll swim rivers, climb pinnacles, go
afoot if he has tuh, till he locates licker. Then he bogs down till he’s
soaked up enough tuh kill ary ten men, forks his hoss and comes
back. And the queer part of it is, he looks cold sober all the time. I
bet a new hat yuh won’t be able tuh tell he’s had a drink when he
gits back.”
 “Land sakes! The pore, diseased critter. Who’d uh thunk he was
inflicted thataway, Hank? I hope he gits home safe.”
Hank gave Shorty a suspicious look and when Ma Basset’s broad
back was turned, the little puncher winked broadly. Hank chuckled.
“Hank Basset!” Ma whirled at the sound. “Shame on yuh. Makin’
fun uh that pore, diseased boy. If that ain’t like a man. Cow
punchers is the most cold-hearted humans livin’, I do believe.”
“Yes’m,” agreed Hank. “Shorty, if yuh’d crave the use of a brush
and comb, I’ll herd yuh to it.”
He led the way into the living room and to the bed room beyond.
As he passed the cupboard, his hand slipped behind the curtain and
when the two gained the bed room, Hank uncorked the bottle of
snake bite cure.
“Happy days, Hank.”
“Drink hearty, Shorty,” came the reply, soft whispered, barely
audible above the ensuing gurgling noise.
 VI

With Shorty left behind to excuse his partner’s absence

at supper, Tad, despite gnawing pangs of hunger, made
no complaint.
In the graying dusk of twilight, he rode slowly along
the dusty trail, a solitary, graceful figure as he sat his horse with a
careless ease, a cigaret drooping from the corner of his straight lips.
Not a trace of weariness was perceptible, in spite of the fact that he
had been in the saddle since dawn. He had the appearance of some
cowpuncher bent on a careless mission and time was a minor factor.
Yet his keen eyes constantly swept the rolling hills with a restless
gaze. Always, that gaze came back to focus on the moving speck far
ahead on the trail.
“Looks like he was headin’ straight fer town, Yaller Hammer,” he
said softly to the twitching, dun colored ears of his horse. “Mebbeso
I’m havin’ this here ride fer nothin’, I dunno.”
From his chaps pocket he produced a weatherbeaten square of
plug tobacco, gnawed to a ragged edge at one end. He surveyed it
critically; wiped it carefully on the sleeve of his jumper and bit off a
generous piece.
“Nothin’ like chawin’ tuh keep down the hungry feelin’s,” he
mused aloud. “Ain’t smelt grub since daylight. Mebbeso won’t sniff
none till mornin’, neither. It’s —— but it’s honest, pony, if yuh want
tuh figger it thataway.”
Darkness slowly gathered and Tad and Yellow Hammer closed the
gap that separated them from Joe Kipp. Tad grinned his thanks to
the full moon that rose majestically from beyond the skyline.
 He rode more alertly now, eyes and ears strained to catch any
sign of the man he followed. Also, he watched the wagging ears of
his horse. When those furry points stiffened, pointed forward, Tad
would halt. Twice, when he thus stopped, he was rewarded by the
sounds of a traveling horse, ahead on the trail. Once, Kipp’s horse
had nickered and Tad’s big hands closed over Yellow Hammer’s black
muzzle just in time to prevent an answering nicker. He allowed Kipp
a bigger lead from that point on.
The hours dragged. Tad dared not risk lighting a cigaret now. The
plug of tobacco was gradually being gnawed to smaller size. Then,
silhouetted against the skyline, showed the lone cottonwood that
marked Hank Basset’s border line. Tad could make out the form of a
horseman, halted beneath the wide branches. The waiting man
lighted a cigaret and Tad recognized the features of Joe Kipp.
Nodding sagely to himself, Tad dismounted and led Yellow
Hammer into the tall greasewood.
“Hate tuh treat yuh so or’nary,” he whispered as he slipped a
burlap sack across Yellow Hammer’s muzzle and fastened it to the
cheek bands of his bridle, “but I jest can’t have yuh makin’ no hoss
howdy’s, sabe? This ain’t the fust time I’ve cluttered yuh up with one
uh these contraptions, so don’t act spooky. That’s the good hoss. I
wisht Shorty had half yore sense, dang his or’nary li’l hide. I bet he’s
in the saddle this minute, streakin’ it fer the river. Playin’ hookey like
a school kid and worryin’ a man plumb ga’nt.”
With the caution of an Indian, Tad, devoid of spurs and chaps
which were hung to his saddle horn, crept through the brush toward
the cottonwood. Two horses stood beneath the lone tree now. The
glowing ash of two cigarets showed where the dismounted
horsemen squatted against the wide tree trunk.
A clear space separated the tree and the greasewood patch where
Tad lay prone on the ground. A space wide enough to prevent him
making out the words of the low-toned conversation. Only when the
voices momentarily laid stress on some spoken thought, could he
make anything of the murmur. The voice of Kipp was clearly
recognizable. The other speaker’s voice was vaguely familiar.
 “I tell yuh,” came Kipp’s voice, raised with emotion, “I’ve come to
the breakin’ point! I’ve stood it till I can’t stand it no longer. Why, in
——’s name, can’t you and Fox let me quit and pull outa the
country? I tell yuh now, I can’t be crowded no more. I’ll tell the
whole —— miser’ble story!”
“Like —— you will,” came the sneering reply, low pitched, calm,
distinct. “You’ll play yore string out. When we clean up the Basset
deal, you kin go. Not till then. We need yore protection.”
Kipp’s reply came in a hoarse whisper, indistinguishable to the
listener hidden in the brush.
A coarse, jeering laugh came from the other man in reply. A
match flared to light a cigaret and Tad recognized the black-bearded
face of the half-breed, Black Jack.
“You know —— well you won’t do no talkin’,” came the breed’s
voice with cold conviction.
“Where’s Fox?” asked Kipp, breaking a brief silence.
“Somewhere on the LF trail, headin’ this way. And I don’t aim that
he should ketch me here, neither. I’m draggin’ it for the Pocket.”
Black Jack got to his feet and took a step toward his horse. Then
he halted.
“Goin’ to stay here all night? Better be gettin’ to town where yuh
belong. Fox’ll be along directly and he’ll wonder what brung you
here. Pete Basset breakin’ his stake rope has put the old gent in one
—— of a humor, and he might treat yuh rough. Better hit the grit.”
“I’m aimin’ tuh wait fer Fox,” replied Kipp hoarsely.
“Don’t be a plumb —— fool. He’ll mebbe kill yuh.”
“Reckon not.”
“It’s yore funeral. I’m driftin’. Good luck. Mind what I say, now.
Fox’ll beat yuh to it, if yuh make ary gun play. That ol’ ——’s a
snake. So-long.”
Tad listened to the thudding of hoofs as the breed rode away into
the night. A few moments and all was silent as a grave yard.
Kipp got to his feet, pinching out the glowing ash of his cigaret.
He led his horse to a patch of brush beyond the tree. When he
returned, the pale rays of the moon fell on the blued-steel barrel of
the Winchester in the crook of his arm.
Tad, watching the sheriff’s every move, whistled noiselessly. He
saw Kipp settle down behind a small patch of brush. This shelter hid
Kipp from the trail but Tad could see him plainly, outlined against the
pale sky. Came the clicking of the sheriff’s carbine lever as he threw
a cartridge from the magazine into the barrel. Then the gun raised
and Tad saw Kipp squint along the barrel.
“Testin’ his sights,” mused Tad. “If ever a man went through the
motions uh bushwhackin’ a enemy, Kipp’s a-doin’ it now. He don’t
noways aim tuh give Fox a chanct.”
Tad pondered this decision for some time, his eyes fixed on Kipp.
“——,” he muttered inwardly. “Puts me in one —— of a mess. Fox
needs killin’ and needs it bad. Shore does. Even shootin’ him from
the brush is mebbeso what’s comin’ to him, I dunno. But that won’t
keep Kipp from bein’ a low-down, bushwhackin’ killer iffen he does
the job. Looks tuh me like this Black Jack Injun and Fox is shore
th’owin’ the hooks to the ol’ sheriff plumb scan’lous. They got him
nigh loco, ’pears tuh me. But shore as he’s a foot high, Kipp’ll hate
hisse’f fer pullin’ the trigger, afore his gun barrel cools off. Yessir.
Bound tuh. Then what’ll he do? He’ll go to the bad, complete.
Booze’ll put him in the bog fer keeps. Either that, er he’ll turn that
gun on hisse’f and blow his own head off. Which won’t do nobody no
good ’ceptin’ mebbe this Black Jack skunk. Hmm. I never cut into no
man’s game up till now, but I’m shore declarin’ myse’f in on this.”

Noiselessly, he slipped back to his horse and swung into

the saddle. As Yellow Hammer scuffed along the dusty
trail at a running walk, Tad raised his voice in song to
herald his coming. He rightly guessed that his approach
would, for a few moments, so startle Kipp that the old sheriff would
not have time to beat a retreat until Tad was too close.
“Sam Bass was born in Indiana, it was his native home,
And at the age of seventeen young Sam begun to roam.
Sam fust come to Texas, a cowboy fer to be,
A kinder hearted feller, you seldom ever see.”

The words of the old range song came in full-toned, discordant

abandon as Tad rode into the clearing.
From the brush, Kipp’s horse nickered and this time Tad allowed
Yellow Hammer to give answer.
“Whoa, geldin’,” mumbled Tad, loud enough for Kipp to hear.
“Looks like we got company. Halloo, pardner. Come out so’s we kin
read yore brand.”
A second of silence, then Kipp stepped into sight. The sheriff’s
bushy white brows bristled in a frown of annoyance. Yet Tad was
certain that the old fellow looked relieved. He eyed Tad with
suspicion. “He’s wonderin’ if I’m suspectin’ him,” was Tad’s inward
comment. Aloud he said with hearty pleasantness:
“Howdy, Sheriff. Yuh git bucked off er was yuh ketchin’ some
shut-eye?”
“Dozin’ a spell,” lied Kipp. “What brings you out this time uh night
on this trail?” Tad had not expected this question but his ready wit
came to his rescue.
“Miz Basset ’lowed she’d acted plumb or’nary towards yuh and
’lowed that Hank should ride after yuh and bring yuh back. I knowed
Hank was tuckered out and a-feelin’ a heap upset about Pete, so I
took the job off his hands. They want that I should bring yuh back.”
This last statement came to the nimble-witted Tad as a happy
after thought. If the sheriff returned with him, Fox would ride his
homeward trail without being shot.
“No need uh me ridin’ plumb back there, Ladd. I done told her
and Hank I didn’t bear no hard feelin’s. I got business in Alder Gulch
that should be tended to.”
“’Twon’t do, Kipp. I give my word that I wouldn’t come back till I
brung you along. Don’t make me go follerin’ yuh around fer a week
er so.”
 Tad’s tone was that of light banter. Yet there lay an undercurrent
of determination that did not escape the sheriff.
“All right, if there’s no other way to it, let’s git goin’.”
He led his horse from the brush and mounted. Together, they
headed back for the Basset ranch.
For some time, they rode in silence. Tad, from the shadow of his
wide-brimmed hat, studied the sheriff’s features. Kipp was staring
fixedly at his saddle horn, deep in brooding thought. The reaction
was setting in now and he was shaking like a man with palsy. Then
this passed and the old sheriff’s shoulders straightened.
“Ladd,” he said abruptly. “You don’t know it, but yuh saved my life
tonight. I wisht I could tell yuh about it, but I can’t. There’ll come a
day when I will, though.
I come —— nigh doin’ somethin’ that would uh made life a livin’
hell. I come nigh bein’ a low down, or’nary coyote. I’m plumb
obliged. I hope, some day, I kin pay yuh back in full.”
“——, that’s all right, Kipp. Fergit it. If I he’ped yuh ary way, I’m
right glad tuh uh done it. Yuh know, there ain’t none uh us humans
that ain’t got a or’nary streak hid out somewhere in our innards. And
some time er another, that there or’nary streak jest nacherally busts
all holts and comes a-rearin’. Sometimes, we kin grab a tail-holt and
jerk ’er back in time. More often it’s some other gent that heads off
that or’nary streak and herds it back into our system tuh stay put fer
the rest uh our life. I mind the night mine broke out.”
Tad grinned into the sheriff’s eyes, lighted a cigaret, and went on,
the words coming lazily in his soft, Southern drawl:
“My mammy died when I was little more’n a yearlin’, leavin’ me
tuh grow up kinda keerless like, my daddy not payin’ me much
attention when I shows I kin kinda do my own rustlin’. He’s a
cowpuncher fer the Turkey Track at the time and I’m wranglin’
hosses fer the spread. When they ships, I goes tuh town with the
boys and while they’re a-blowin’ their coin fer licker and gamblin’
and such, I’m squanderin’ my ten a month fer sody pop and sweet
truck. I’ve likewise bought myse’f a sore-backed, ring-boned Mexican
mule which I gits from a drunken Pisano fer six-bits and a pint uh
rot-gut licker.
“My daddy, bein’ a good drinkin’ man and jest about slick enough
at stud poker tuh hang and rattle all night afore he loses his taw to
the tin-horns, ain’t much better off, financial, as me.
“Then one fall night, in a Mex town along the Rio, my daddy gits
downed in a gun scrap. I’m sleepin’ on a poker table at the time,
waitin’ till paw goes broke so’s I kin load him on his hoss and go tuh
camp. By the time the smoke’s cleared away and I gits full waked
up, dad’s a-passin’ out fast and callin’ fer me. I sets there on the
’dobe floor and wipes the blood off his mouth while he crosses the
Big Divide, a grin on his face while his eyes goes glassy.
“‘Kid,’ says he, afore the blood chokes him, ‘it was Pedro Sanchez,
the bronc peeler, that done it. Here’s my gun. When the time comes,
git that greaser.’
“I’m some twelve years old then. That night I pads that mule uh
mine with gunny sacks, throw’s my dad’s saddle on him and
proceeds tuh foller this Sanchez gent who has left town pronto after
the killin’. My ol’ rusty Chihuahua spur is tied to my bare foot and the
long-barreled .45 gouges my ribs and starts wearin’ the hide off my
hip bone. Thus burdened, as the sayin’ goes, I hits the trail uh the
gent that’s downed my daddy.”
Tad smiled reminiscently.
“Yuh found him?” asked Kipp, his own troubles momentarily
forgotten.
“Ten years later, I finds him. He dealin’ faro bank in Juarez and
alongside him on the table lays a white-handled six-gun with five
notches filed on the handle, plain and insultin’ like. Sanchez, havin’
got off to a good start, has done turned out tuh be a killer, sabe?
“Up to now, I bin as peaceful a kid as ever follered a long-horned
steer. I’ve done got outa the notion, almost, uh shootin’ up this
greaser. I’ve done met up with fellers, as the years passes and I gits
rings around my horns, that tells me as how paw was or’nary mean
when he’s lickered and the Sanchez gent has done no more than
right when he’s kills him off. I’m beginnin’ tuh think that mebbeso
I’m not bound and beholdin’ tuh down this Sanchez after all. Right’s
right and wrongs no man, thinks I, and if paw had it comin’, he done
got it and jack-pot’s played and won. So yuh see I ain’t noways
huntin’ no trouble ner makin’ no play tuh hunt down this greaser
feller. It jest pops up sudden.
“There I stands, a awkward, long-legged, high-withered ol’ kid,
and I’m lookin’ into the wickedest pair uh snake eyes that I ever
seen. His lips is kinda smilin’ but the smile don’t go higher than his
black mustache which is twisted to sharp points. Sudden like, I
recollects a-holdin’ of my daddy’s head and wipin’ that sickish lookin’
pink froth from his mouth so’s he kin talk. Somehow, my gun has got
into my hand and I’m coverin’ this snake-eyed killer.
“‘I come tuh kill yuh, Sanchez,’ I says, and my voice sounds weak
and unconvincin’ as ——.
“‘So?’ says Sanchez, laughin’ short and nasty, like I’d sprung a
josh on him. ‘I wish yuh luck, sonny.’ And with that he goes right on
dealin’ like he’s clean fergot I’m there.
“If he’d a knocked the gun outa my hand, er slapped me
alongside the jaw, I could uh waded in and done battle. But he’s
treatin’ me like I was a yearlin’ kid a-packin’ of a pea gun. I feels my
face go hot like I was settin’ over a fire. My hands is cold as ice and
bigger’n snowshoes. The barrel uh my gun is rattlin’ on the edge uh
the table, I’m that shaky. Wust of all, a kinda blurry look looms up in
my eyes and I know it’s tears. Man, it was jest nacherally ——!
“The crowd snickers and grins. A Mex vaquero makes a funny
crack and his friends giggles. Sanchez, holdin’ his head kinda
sideways tuh keep the smoke uh his cigaret outa his eyes, goes on
dealin’ without lookin’ up, payin’ bets and rakin’ in chips uh them
that loses.
“Somehow, I makes it across to the door, dizzy and all sickish
inside me like a kid that’s swallered a chaw uh terbaccer. It ain’t till I
gits out into the dark and sets down on a empty beer keg, that I
finds that I’m still holdin’ my gun in my hand.
“Fust off, I starts tuh th’ow that —— gun as fur as I kin sling it.
Then I gits a idee. I’m goin’ tuh lay out there in the dark till this
Sanchez comes out. Then I’ll down him. I ketches myse’f talkin’ out
loud like a loco sheep herder and tears is runnin’ like cricks down
inside my shirt collar.
“I wipes off the tears, blows my nose and takes a chaw uh line-
cut tuh make me feel more like a man. Then, squattin’ in the shadow
near the door, I cocks my gun and waits fer Sanchez tuh come out
fer his midnight lunch, which I knows most dealers does.
“Sudden like, there’s a noise behind me. I swings around, startled
sorter.
“‘Fer gosh sake, put up that cannon yuh got stuck in my belly,’
says a good Texican American voice that don’t sound none too old.
‘She might go off, bein’ cocked that-away. Ease ’er tuh half-cock and
shove ’er back in yore jeans. Me’n you’s gonna have a medicine talk,
Slim.’
“I dunno yet why I done it, but I does as he says without a
whimper. He leads me into a saloon down the street and orders two
sody pops. I gits a good look at him in the light.
“He’s a kinda runty built kid with a face that’s plenty sprinkled
with freckles like some cow has coughed bran in his face. He ain’t
much tuh look at till he grins, then he’s right easy tuh stand. He’s
got one uh these grins that makes yuh grin right back afore yuh
know it. His left eye is black and swole up and his lower lip is split
bad. He’s about twenty and a cowpuncher.
“‘My last two bits,’ he ’lows, as he pays fer the sody pop. ‘I bet
that’s two bits more than you got, long boy.’
“I admits the charge and he nods happy like.
“‘Then we starts even, feller. Down yore p’izen and loan me the
use of a fresh chaw. Then I’m gonna take yuh back and watch yuh
pull that Sanchez gent’s fangs.’
“‘Yuh seen him bluff me down?’ I asks, plumb ashamed.
“‘Yeah, I seen it. And I follered yuh outside. I seen yuh while yuh
made up yore mind tuh shoot him from the dark.’
“‘How come yuh know I was layin’ fer him?’ says I.
“‘You was talkin’ to yorese’f about it, pardner. All set? Then rattle
yore hocks and we’ll git goin’. They th’owed me outa that wigwam
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