Epilepticon Movie Marathon Anniversary
This is technically the 5th Anniversary of me going through and reviewing epilepsy media and, having accumulated 35 different films, I wanted to highlight 5 favorite films that I've covered. Cheers and here's to more marathons and for better rep overall!
The Sacred Disease (2016)
[Image ID: Angie from The Sacred Disease. She is a young woman with short blonde hair. She has several electrodes attached to her head and is staring off with a vacant expression. /end ID]
A phenomenal short film detailing a young woman going off her epilepsy meds and the horrors that she witnesses. The final shot still gives me chills.
The film is also free to watch on Vimeo here.
[Image ID: Silas Marner as played by Ben Kingsley in Silas Marner (1985). He has dark hair down to his shoulders and is wearing a brown-grey suit and jacket with a grey neckerchief. /end ID]
A solid retelling of George Eliot's classic novel, this film follows Silas Marner, a cataleptic weaver, after he is banished from his church. Catalepsy, a potential symptom of epilepsy, is so rarely discussed and Kingsley sells the heck out of the scenes where he has seizures (without indulging in over-the-top dramatics) and the scenes where he's just a guy trying to survive after being abandoned by his religion.
3. One Day at a Time (1975) (Episode: Ann's Secretary)
[Image ID: Leslie, a young red-haired woman, sits at a secretarial desk, answering the phone. /end ID]
An episode from the show One Day at a Time (1975) where main character Ann needs to hire a secretary but fears that her new employee may have a drug abuse problem.
I loved this episode because it ended up subverting several of the clichés of "Very Special Episodes". Leslie is plucky and has a good amount of positive self-worth but also she would rather people think of her as a "pill popper" rather than as someone with epilepsy due to the negative stigma of being epileptic. Ann has to confront her unconscious ableism towards people with epilepsy and ultimately concedes that she can't get past it without a lot of effort on her part.
The episode felt more honest about how things really are, that a lot of people with epilepsy will struggle with and even deny being associated with the label of "epileptic" and that even people who are allies will similarly struggle with their own ableism.
[Image ID: A silhouette of Ian Curtis (as played by Sam Riley) on stage. He's holding a microphone. /end ID]
A biopic on the life and death of Ian Curtis, lead singer for Joy Division. This film shows up on a lot of epilepsy media recommendations lists and rightfully so. Of all the epilepsy-related biopics I've seen so far, this film had the most mature handling of the subject matter, tackling difficult issues such as drug resistant epilepsy and how people can be negatively impacted by the side effects of medication.
[Image ID: Ruth as played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Fast Color. She has short brown hair and is wearing heavily worn clothes, with several tears in her blue jeans. She's walking alone down a dirt farm road while carrying a canister. /end ID]
Following Ruth, a woman with an unspecified seizure disorder that is negatively impacting her super powers, I just love that there's a superhero film out there with a main character that has seizures. That's not even representation you can find in actual superhero comic books!
Also: shout out to Electricity (2014). I've rambled about that film in the past but it always deserves more attention. A truly amazing film.
