Artist Suicide in the Cinema (IN: Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by S Stack & D Lester)

This chapter explores the frequency of representations of artist suicide in the cinema, whether some subtypes of artists are portrayed more often, & whether internal motives for artist suicides are more likely to be portrayed than for suicides of other occupations. The second section of the chapter qualitatively assesses 5 apparent patterns in the presentation of artist suicide in the movies: occupational strain with a focus on the loss of creative skills; occupational strain related to artist labour markets & competition for contracts as a motive for suicide; the psychological context of introversion in conflict with the extroverted occupational demands of performers; illustrations of standard psychiatric factors; & comorbidity with physical disease. (4 refs.)