I wouldn’t go so far as to say consuming or supporting it is immoral. And honestly, I feel that the “romanticization of mental illness” in media can be a little subjective. Someone else’s interpretation/writing of mental illness may be considered “romanticized” to one person, while to another person, it may not necessarily seem that way. As for me, I’ve never really felt that distressed with the various takes on mental illness, regardless of how they were portrayed, and I suppose this is one of those reasons.

Also, I don’t believe that the “romanticization” of something is inherently bad. Because when you strip the word down to its bones, it basically means creating a fun, fantastical version of something that’s more fun to engage with than how it is in reality. You may romanticize past friendships, for instance, choosing to hold only the positive parts of it close to you instead of dwelling on the bad parts. However, romanticization may obfuscate the full picture of something, causing the person engaging with it unable to develop a well rounded perspective.

Taking this further, people who are severely struggling with mental illness may react badly to reading/watching a poor representation of mental illness. (You might have heard of the controversial netflix show “13 Reasons Why,” and studies show that after its release, suicide rates among adolescents sky rocketed.) Honestly, I do think it’s good to point out the wrong doings this show did, because many people don’t know how to separate real mental illness from a “romanticized” version of it. And that factor can naturally siphon some problems, not regarding an author’s writing, but their “failure” to be “socially duty-bound.” In essence, it’s an issue regarding social activism rather than romanticization as a literary technique.

This indicates that we as a society should be educating people more on mental illnesses, reducing stigma, and bettering mental health care. Because at the end of the day, it’s fiction--authors should have a right to share their interpretations of the human experience in the way they wish. No one should be looking to a fictional story as guidance for what to do regarding their mental health. We are responsible for our own mental health and wellbeing. If a specific portrayal of mental illness upsets you in a piece of media, you should not engage with it any further.

I kinda rambled here, but I hope what I said makes sense ueueueuueueue. >.<