Dear Evan Hansen: What Media Gets Wrong About Mental Health

Dear Evan Hansen exploits mental illness and profits from real people's pain. This movie is more than just a bad musical adaptation: it's a case study of all the myths Hollywood sells about mental health and grief. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's inspirational-sounding songs sell empty messages. The musical and the movie tells a story about grief that features a troubled teenager lying for attention, reinforcing old and hurtful myths about mental illness.

This video essay is an open letter to everyone who tells stories from someone who lost a loved one to the despair that Dear Evan Hansen plays for drama. Please be careful with the stories you tell.

SOURCES:
The Real-Life Story That Inspired Dear Evan Hansen, What Will Change in the London Run, and More From New York Comic Con
https://www.playbill.com/article/the-...

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