Girl, Interrupted A Disappointment By Nicole Burkholder and Dan McClure Capital Times Staff Writer It was the 19605, and the psy chiatric community was just as crazy as its patients. Girl, Interrupted examines this strange and unnerving phenome non of 30 years ago. However, the story of young Susanna Kaysen seems just as relevant to our current, Xanax obsessed culture. There are a proud few depres sion sufferers, our best friend included, that have tried the new methods of recovery. She did not get shipped to the “House on the Hill” but, sadly enough, the rest of her supposed treatments were not far from Kaysen’s experience. It is true that electric shock treatments and storage in the “House on the Hill” are rare today, but there is a fundamental aspect of Kaysen’s treatment that has either stayed the same, or worsened. We are a pill fixated, quick fix culture. We willing endure at least two commercials for Paxil, the drug that “cures” social anxi ety, within an hour’s television watching. We quietly answer questions posed in those commercials, such as, “Do you have trouble talking to people?” only to pin point ourselves as new wanna-be members of the psych ward. In the film, Kaysen was given sleeping pills and Valium as treatment. Today, these pills are as passe as Prozac, and replaced by Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and lots of other scary sounding, lobotomizing cures with a fair amount of x’s and z’s in their names. This friend of ours, who shall be called Michelle, now snickers at what was supposed to help her. She tried the pills and the touchy-feely, “How do you feel about that?” therapy only to find herself feeling worse than before. She told us about the book, “Girl, Interrupted,” about three years ago. The book refers to wearing depression as a badge. When the character suffered, she was better and smarter than all those happy morons around her. We laughed about it, but hav ing gone through some trying events of our own, we knew it was true. According to Michelle, the book was a better cure than Prozac. Girl, Interrupted on film just didn’t quite cut it. Sure, Winona Ryder as Kaysen was impressive. For the first half of the movie, she wore the symbolic “Badge of Depression” mentioned, but then came the movie’s downfall. In a weak moment, the movie turned from its critical look at society’s social diseases of the mind and launched itself into a weepy chic-flick. Reminiscent of 1984, Ryder’s character gives in, accepts the crackpot treatment of her prob lems, and amazingly gets better. This is not to say that some one suffering from depression can’t recover. It is only to say that we’ve seen it happen in front of our eyes and it sure did not contain one good night’s rest and a heart-to-heart with Whoopi Goldberg. Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Lisa, the unyielding sociopath friend of Kaysen, is absolutely remarkable. Jolie brilliantly por trayed an obviously troubled young girl who made you ques tion whether she was crazy or not. Not unlike Ryder though, Jolie’s character will eventually warm your heart, which we do not see as a good thing. As clear ly screwed up as Lisa is, she recovers just a little too easily with one Joan-of-Arc style speech from Ryder. These flaws should be attributed to the screenwriters, not the actresses. The treatment of the issues got a little too light and fluffy to be real and striking, and became, in many ways a little insulting. Since neither of us have read the book, this insult may be part of Kaysen’s story. We don’t know. We do know that for the most part the movie was quite enjoyable. Although the movie fails in the true sense of critical com mentary, a good soundtrack fea turing Wilco, decent cinematog raphy, and great acting earn the movie a place fairly high above mediocre. FEATURES/SPORTS Spring Intramural Season Begins . Spring semester classes at Penn State Harrisburg started just a little over a week ago and intramural play has already begun, with co-ed basketball beginning on Tuesday. Four other intramural activi ties are also being offered for the spring semester: co-ed volley ball, co-ed softball, co-ed table tennis, and a Sk race. Students interested in partici pating in these four events can pick up an Official Entry Form from the Recreation/Athletics office in room 122 of the Capital Union Building. On the entry form, list the names of your team members along with any times your team will not be available, and arrange ments will be made accordingly. Each team must name a team captain who will report to all captain’s meetings. Once the schedule is complet ed it is the team captain’s respon sibility to pick it up from the Recreation/Athletics office. Team members are also reminded to frequently check the Intramural Bulletin Board out side the Recreation/Athletic office for team standings and schedule changes. The Tentative Intramural Schedule reads as follows: Co-ed Volleyball Entry Deadline: Jan. 24 Bryce Jordan Center Turns 4 The Bryce Jordan Center offi cially opened Jan. 6, 1996 host ing the 1995 Penn State Fall Commencement. Since opening four years ago, the Bryce Jordan Center has played host to the topnames in the entertainment industry and quick ly became the source for academ ic, conference, and sports excite ment in Central Pennsylvania hosting over 3 million people. During its first four years of operation, the Jordan Center has been the recipient of numerous national accolades, while also becoming the top grossing uni versity venue in North America. The Bryce Jordan Center attributes its success to all of the patrons who have supported the world-class events at the Center By James J. Gadinski Capital Times Staff Writer Captain’s Meeting: Jan. 24 Play Begins: Jan. 25 Co-ed Softball Entry Deadline: March 27 Captain’s Meeting: March 27 Play Begins: March 29 Co-ed Table Tennis Entry Deadline: April 3 Captain’s Meeting: N/A at this time Play Begins: April 5 5K Races Entry Deadline: April 29 Captain’s Meeting: N/A at this time Play Begins: April 29 Further questions regarding intramural activities can be directed to Bud Smitley, Recreation/Athletic Coordinator, at 948-6267 or Marilyn Demey, Staff Assistant at 948-6266. In addition to the intramural program being offered on cam pus, the Capital Union Building is open to any student who wants to work out in the fitness room, weight room, gymnasium, or rac quetball courts. The CUB is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 8 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. A valid PSU Student Identification card must be pre sented in order to use the CUB facilities. and to the many promoters who have so confidently entrusted both the University and the Commonwealth in endorsing their acts and sporting events. The Bryce Jordan Center averages 750,000 visitors annu ally. Every three days, the Jordan Center has hosted an event. The Bryce Jordan Center has played host to 159 performances from Jan. 1996 to Dec. 1999. The Jordan Center has also housed 172 collegiate athletic events and 97 academic, local events and trade shows from Jan. 1996 to Dec. 1999. After four years, the Bryce Jordan Center has gone through an estimated 3,834 miles of toilet paper, 387 miles of paper towels and 85,200 garbage bags.
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