[Just a disclaimer, I myself have not seen the movie in full. I have watched clips of the film, and have researched extensively about the differences between the film and the movie. I have not seen the film because I do not want to spend money in support of a movie that handles mental health in the way that it does.]
TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of mental health (anxiety, social anxiety, depression), drug addiction, and suicide/suicidal thoughts
“Dear Evan Hansen” is an extremely popular Broadway musical. It officially opened on December 4, 2016, to rave success. People applauded the musical for opening the discussion of mental health on a stage and the music was beautiful. I saw the play several years ago for my birthday, and I cried profusely during my favorite song, “So Big/So Small.”
But even after being beloved by many people, “Dear Evan Hansen” needs to be talked about. The musical (and the new movie) is VERY problematic, and it needs to be said.
While the plot did open up the conversation of mental health in the Broadway atmosphere and allowed for many young teens and tweens to finally understand their own mental health and possibly their struggles with it, the plot itself did not represent mental health well. Evan, the title character, struggles a lot with what appears to be social anxiety (he never officially discusses what mental illnesses he suffers from), but also discusses having suicidal thoughts before the musical began.
But his messed-up approach to using a kid who committed suicide to further his success, and even get a girlfriend, is painful to watch and hard to overlook once you notice it. Evan uses a family struggling to cope with the death of their son and brother (Connor) to make himself feel better about, well, himself. And while he tells himself that pretending to be Connor’s friend is also helping Connor’s family, the truth is that it is wrong that he is exploiting their loss for his personal gain.
And the audience is supposed to be on his side, forgiving him again and again for completely horrible actions, whether that be writing fake emails between him and Connor to give to Connor’s parents, or eventually dating Connor’s sister (which is a whole other level of messed up). And we’re supposed to forgive him because he has anxiety.
As someone who suffers from anxiety myself, I understand how Evan might feel about having difficulty communicating with his peers and the world. But that doesn’t mean that he, or anyone suffering from anxiety, is faultless, or that they can be excused from wrongdoings due to their anxiety. Especially with something as serious as what Evan did. And he never apologized, not once did he utter the words “I’m sorry” throughout the entire musical, even during what is supposed to be his big apology number, “Words Fail”.
All of these problems are hard to notice when you see the musical onstage, especially if you see it for the first time. I myself never noticed a lot of the issues until I read a copy of the script and novel adaptation of the musical, nor did I forgive Evan for what he did for a long time. But with the movie, the problems become so apparent.
Like a lot of musicals today, “Dear Evan Hansen” decided to try its hand at adapting the play into a feature film. A very early issue with the movie was the casting. Instead of picking someone in their teens to play Evan, the production decided to bring in Ben Platt, who was the original Evan on Broadway. And while Platt is a phenomenally amazing singer, he is SO MUCH older than both Evan and the other characters in the cast. All of the other high school students are played by much younger people, and it is painful to watch this man (who looks ridiculously older than everyone around him) flirt with teenagers and pretend to be a teenager. It becomes increasingly hard to relate to Evan from a teenager’s point of view, because he no longer looks like or represents teenagers. He just looks like someone who got held back one too many times.
But the biggest issues is that without the glamour of the Broadway lighting schemes or the flashiness of the screens in the background, the movie becomes so quiet that the plot comes to the very forefront. All of the issues with the musical that were easier to ignore with all of the Broadway magic are staring you straight in the face. The plot seems toxic and dangerous (because it is) and Evan is the core of the whole problem.
Mental health is a huge problem. Many kids in the 21st century suffer from it, and it is stigmatized and not talked about enough. While the musical and the movie help to break down a barrier and open a conversation, it is done too clumsily to be revered. There is not an accurate and real portrayal of any mental illnesses in any part of either the movie or the musical.
Evan is a broad list of symptoms for anxiety with no real definition of what he suffers from, and Connor barely exists in the plot, only being used as a tool for Evan. Connor is brushed off too easily, even after we learn that he suffers from drug addiction. He is thought to be the “bad kid”, and therefore is not forgiven like Evan, who is the “good kid”. But drug addiction is an illness itself. Having a drug addiction can be incredibly difficult, and clearly Connor suffered a lot from both his use of drugs combined with what appears to be depression. This topic could have been handled more sensitively, but as with everything else in the plot, the writers bulldozed through it without a second thought.
Mental illness is complex, so any portrayal of it is going to be hard to do correctly. I think something that has to be done in order to more accurately portray this is to give each character their own symptoms specific to their struggles. Writers can also talk to real life people who struggle with mental health. And the characters should be held responsible for their actions. If someone has anxiety and does what Evan did, there should be consequences for their actions. Anxiety is not just an excuse to get away with everything, it is a real life struggle for people all around the world.
“Dear Evan Hansen” needs to be criticized. A conversation about real life portrayal of mental illness needs to be opened. Continue this conversation with other people and help to spread the word about the issues, because as we have learned, people need to be held accountable for their actions. And we, as a society, can learn and grow from this, so that someday in the future, we can have better representation of mental illness.