University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications doctoral student Hayley Markovich is the author of a chapter in Normalizing Mental Illness and Neurodiversity in Entertainment Media, published by Routledge in April 20, 2021.

The chapter, “’…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,” explores the potential implications of the Pixar films’ inclusion of disabilities, especially mental health experiences, for what children may learn about mental health from the films.

According to Markovich, “Analyzing the films and additional related content using communication theory of identity [CTI] reveals that Dory holds a positive view of herself and her abilities, which is impacted both positively and negatively by who she associates with.” Markovich contends that “the filmmakers’ discussions about the film and the reviews about Finding Dory show that we still have a long way to go for fair depictions of mental health in mass media to help create impactful change in the long term, but that an analysis using CTI reveals the intricacies involved in communicating mental illness and mental health as both a topic and an identity.”

Image “Hank finding dory [1920×1080] – susotu” by Douglas Tofoli is marked with CC PDM 1.0.

Posted: July 16, 2021
Category: College News
Tagged as: Communication Theory of Identity, Hayley Markovich, Pixar