Introduction
The growing suicide rate is a pressing issue in modern reality. Public health concerns find portrayal in popular media such as films and television. Unfortunately, depictions aiming at raising awareness often exaggerate and misrepresent the subject. It stands to reason that unresponsible coverage of a topic so sensitive can lead to terrible tragedies. To reduce the prevalence of media-induced suicide, reporters and filmmakers must learn how to handle the subject correctly or not do it at all.
Media representations and reporting are directly connected to increased suicide ideation among vulnerable individuals. Prominent fictional or factual instances of suicide, if conveyed improperly, induce ideation, leading many to succumb to the pain of existence and take their lives. This phenomenon has a formal name, which is the Weather effect. This effect is best understood as suicide rate growth following reports thereof in the media.
Papageno Effect
Fortuitously, the adversities caused by unresponsible suicide portrayal can be countered. Contrary to the Weather effect, the tendency for suicide rates and ideation to drop due to proper depiction is also well-documented. This phenomenon is known as the Papageno effect, deriving its name from Mozart’s famous opera. The effect manifests as blues, sadness, or worsening mood due to bad weather, which Figure 1 demonstrates. Supported by years of research and guidelines from the World Health Organization (World Health Organization [WHO], 2019), responsible reporting of suicide is essential to spreading accurate information and preventing future self-inflicted death.
There is no need to dig deep to find the effect’s examples. The release of 13 Reasons Why, an infamous Netflix series about mental struggle and suicide, was followed by a 30 percent rise in teen self-inflicted death rates (Wang & Parris, 2021). Additionally, the stories of celebrity suicide followed by increasing waves of copycat deaths in South Korea and Japan in the past two decades are thoroughly documented. It takes a few seconds of intentional search to find overwhelming evidence of the media’s adverse effects on the vulnerable populace.
Conclusion
People’s dependence on their environment is relatively high, so naturally, bad weather causes an adverse reaction. This problem is essential to combat because many people are prone to evil suicidal thoughts, which can often lead to death. The media, as mentioned above, actively covers this phenomenon, which is helpful because drawing attention to this effect helps to combat a common problem.
References
Bridgeman images. (n. d.). Goethe: Werther ‘Das Leiden des Jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther),’ by Johann von Goethe. Wood engraving, German, 19th century. Web.
Wang, H., & Parris, J. J. (2021). Popular media as a double-edged sword: An entertainment narrative analysis of the controversial Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. PloS One, 16(8).
World Health Organization. (2019). Preventing suicide: A resource for filmmakers and others working on stage and screen (No. WHO/MSD/MER/19.4). World Health Organization.