I think films are personal, and Rory decided to make a film in a way he wanted, about a mother daughter relationship.
That's it really, there are so many facets to life with ME that its impossible to even begin to tell all the possible stories.
I think this is missing the point of people's concerns entirely. No one expects on films (or story) to tell all possible stories, but do we really need
that story told again [which I would argue is largely from the imagination of the BPS perspective on ME/CFS]? Yet more focus on "over-protective" mothers, holding back their children and "causing" them to be "housebound"?
The perception that poor parenting is a major problem in a child's ME severity is already a theme in the UK amongst some service providers in some areas [health and education]. I heard in the last few years that the problem of parents being falsely accused of abuse had increased, not decreased. I think even AYME recognised this?
I have seen parents in the UK speak of their relief when the child reaches adulthood, as the threat of enforced treatment or being taken into care (mostly) go away overnight. And look how sympathetic and knowledgeable doctors like Nigel Speight are treated (admiteddly he won his case in the end, but what a nightmare for him. No doctor is perfect but I have to say that I have never heard anything negative about Nigel Speight at all, from either a parent or any support group leaders who had contact with him, which is unusually good, so he certainly sounds above average).
Of course none of us have seen the film, so it is speculation at this point (speculation, however, based on information released by the film makers themselves). The film may well not give the impression that the mother is holding the daughter back in a bad way, but it sounds like this could be a central theme of the film. Or it sounds like people could be left with this impression, even if that was not the intent of the film. I hope not. The comedic element might make this viewed as a more light-hearted thing, so it might do less damage even if parts of it are bad, so that might be an advantage.
There is a chance the film gives the impression the mother was correct in being cautious. I hope so, but this might be too nuanced a view for the non-informed average viewer to pick-up on, unless it is really obvious.
I think there is an interesting story to be told about (any) severely disabled child's struggle for independence, when they are very physically dependent on the parent for care in a way that a healthy child is not, and when they are mostly stuck at home unable to participate in normal teenage activities. I think this would make for a very interesting theme in a book or film, and could be sensitively done (but the author would really need to be good to avoid giving the impression that the parent was the cause of the disability.). Yes some parents will get it wrong occassionally, just as patients will make some mistakes, but that is different from the parent being the main barrier to progress. It is a bit like people thinking disability benefits keeps people disabled, on the basis that the people in receipt of greater levels of benefits are sicker, or sicker for longer (ignoring the obvious point that only the sicker people are on these benefits in the first place). Now there is another "lovely" theme the BPS-school likes to promote.
People might find it easier to picture why some of us are worried about if they look at a different condition. Imagine if it was the 1960's and there was a short film on the theme of a refridgerator mother being the cause of the child's autism [this was a mainstream medical view then. I even saw a comment by a psychologist a few years ago, suggesting autism was caused by poor parenting, which made me think that this view might still be knocking around amongst some people working in the mental health field]. Do people think that a film on autism and refridgerator mothers causing autism would be helpful or harmful? Would people think it was ok for people with autism and their families to find it objectionable?
I think some people who are not minors, or do not have children with ME, are not understanding the constant stress some families are under from people thinking they are the problem and not the illness itself. This sort of view causes problems more generally, for adults also, but children with ME are particularly vulnerable to abuse from professionals. I do not have any children but have heard of problems in the UK and as I help run a patient group in another nearby country I am sometimes nervous that we could end up with similar problems for parents and children with ME as they do have there in terms of children being taken into care and put on enforced GET programmes.
Anyway I didn't mean to write such a long post, but wanted to try to get my point of view across as clearly as possibly. I know it is all speculation at this stage as I haven't seen the film yet. I hopefully will get to see it somehow to be able to see what I think of it myself. I'm in a film club and I dread people in it seeing a poor portrayal of ME, or even of disability in general (though the club i usually attend generally doesn't show shorts, except the occasional Irish one), and I also sometimes attend a local film festival which shows shorts so it might appear there. I live in a small place, and I would know a lot of people who attend the film festival, so people I know could see this, so I could end up having some frustrating "interesting" conversations as a result. But maybe the film will be good, who knows.
It would be "too real life" for it to be "nice viewing" for an audience. I do agree with you though - and I'm frightened that it is trivialising the effect of severe ME. I'm housebound (though not severe by any measure) and there's no way I could get further than the other side of the road... Indeed it's questionable I'd make it that far. But as others have said, it's hard to judge without seeing the whole film.
