Tears of a Clown: ‘Tortured Artists’ as Character or Caricature
“Live fast, die young… only the good die young”. It seems among many romanticised Pinterest/Tumblr quotes, ‘dying young’ is a common theme throughout the performing arts. From TV shows like BoJack Horseman and Rick & Morty, to music like twenty øne piløts and Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen, the conversation around mental illness in the entertainment industry can be seen in the ‘tortured artist’ trope. Tuesday Drive’s executive producer Jonathan Chang had a dialogue with Dr. Lauren Rosewarne, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, currently in Connecticut, on both edges of the sword. Trigger warning: this story contains mentions of mental illness and suicide.
Cover photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash
