DID Movies #1: Split
My system and I wanted to watch and react to movies “about DID,” and I thought I would start with the most obvious choice.
Because there was apparently a petition a while back to remove this movie from all major streaming services, I had to rent it on Youtube and thusly pay money for it. Kids, bad examples exist for a reason, and if everyone genuinely thought it was bad enough to banish it from existence, then there’s your good reason for keeping it there as a bad example for people to point to and to use in discussion
Anyway, I know this is a painfully controvertial take, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I could tell the movie was at least trying to work off the new information about DID and to portray it as a relateable struggle. The alters were relateable and were all there for a reason. I desperately wanted Neat Freak Guy (I’m bad at names) to make the leap to get better because he kept going back to the therapist and trying to reach out for help but never made the first step, and it hurt me to watch. I know I’m too nice and tend to see the good in people, but I genuinely wanted Kevin’s system to embrace change.
But yeah it also had some issues to it. Mostly just in the story and presentation.
The movie didn’t feel like a horror/thriller at most times with the drama atmosphere and the bright lighting. It would go from a heartfelt scene in the literary therapy office to the kidnapped girls in a gritty basement screaming, and it felt so jarring at times. And yes though the main character and his system were relateable, they were also very obviously the antagonists of the movie, and no amount of heartfelt scenes was going to change that. I feel like it should have been more of a drama/documentary-type movie to play off those scenes with the therapist and everyone. If it stayed horror, maybe have Casey be a foil to Kevin’s system with her having DID as well. It would make sense considering she rolled very easily with the alters and got close to Hedwig, the child part. It would round out the whole thing and show there are good and bad people with systems
The therapist was a little wacky at times. She was advocating for people with DID and the new information about the conditon, but she had this odd hyper-fixation about the physical aspects (Which are a thing but not to that degree portrayed in the movie) and seeing it as a new form of human evolution. Kevin’s antagonistic alters played off this idea and tried to induce multiplicity in kidnapped teens to give them these “powers” or thusly some kind of cosmic revenge. This was an odd aspect of the plot since, in reality, the kidnapped subjects would have to be toddler age in reality, but that’s too dark to have on film (but not in my personal life lol). It would have made more sense if the therapist was the one who became unhinged and had some people doing these tests on the side or something, and Casey would have been one of them but she already had the condition. But then again, changing the story so the therapist is the antagonist would be harroingly similar to the theories that DID was a made-up disorder brought on by therapists forcing their clients to make up self states. Maybe there’s room for commentary, though?
The Beast is absolutely ridiculous. That’s all I have to say about that. I get it was supposed to represent his father and maybe there were supernatural elements naturally at play in this universe, but the Beast and his sudden appearance and everything was so out of left field.
Random closing notes
The part where Kevin responds to his full name because it was what his mom called him when she was angry was painfully relateable. Also the fact he casually comes back and is like oh isn’t it 2016 now and then has an existential crisis was really relateable to my twin alter who had the same thing happen
It felt like it was at least trying to come from a good place, but having sympatetic character be the antagonist is not how you do it. Even the best writers in the world can’t pull that kind of feat off successfully.
The sequel is superhero trash and is the real mockery of everything, in my opinion. It REALLY plays off the superhero aspect and trust me, I get it. I feel like a superhero with DID. But I also feel like the most unfortunate child alive so
Stay tuned for next time
