I Am Normal – Short Drama Review
What’s it All About
I Am Normal – Keira, a very normal and sane woman, volunteers for a psychiatric experiment wherein she is checked into a mental hospital as Cara Lane. Cara is a mental patient who claims to hear voices, but otherwise makes no further pretenses. Although her every day behavior is not congruent with a mental illness, she is perceived by the staff only through the lens of her supposed illness. Any effort by Cara to speak to the doctor on staff about her condition is rebuffed, and regarded as her being in denial. After about a month and a half in, the experiment is terminated by the psychologist who initiated it. Cara is released, but in the process of her release something very strange happens that gives the viewer pause, and makes one wonder if she took on too much of what she witnessed within the confines of the facility in which she stayed.
My Opinion
I was fascinated by this short. The narrative that Keira was to follow as Cara Lane was a pretty simple and straightforward one, which the psychologist heading the experiment believed would only last two days at most. The outcome demonstrated the brainwashing that goes on in our society, and the authoritarian nature of letters and degrees to a person’s name that sometimes dehumanize. Policies, procedures, and routines are too often entrenched, cause caretakers to miss the forest for the trees, and to remove the human element entirely, leaving them to carry out their duties in robotic fashion. In too many institutions, questioning of the status quo has the potential of being derided, and dismissed out of hand.
The Verdict
I Am Normal has a very compelling story line. With mental health issues becoming more pervasive in our society, it is increasingly important for our caretakers to exercise discernment. Beyond simply not taking things at face value, and missing a diagnoses here or there, it’s critical that our suffering citizens receive personalized care that is less prescribed and more compassionate. As seen in the closing scene of this short, being treated a certain way can translate to a person seeing themselves that way, as their subconscious tries to figure out how to make sense of their world and the externals that are being thrust upon them.
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