Stuart Hackshaw's Short Film The Yellow Wallpaper

The Feeling of Life It is human nature to crave interaction with other humans. The relationships that are formed through social interaction are vital to our survival. Without this, a person may come distant or isolated. When isolated, a person may lose sight of what it is to feel human. In Stuart Hackshaw’s short film The Yellow Wallpaper it depicts how a lack of human interaction can dehumanize a person with an already severe mental illness and now Psychology Today has released an article informing individuals of the negative effects isolation and loneliness can have on people. When a person has been ripped away from others, a sense of loneliness sets in, causing a dramatic declines in mental health and takes away essential parts of feeling human and alive. Although most individuals feel lonely at many points in their lifetime, excessive time alone is not healthy for a person’s physical or mental well being. Without human interaction a person may begin to isolate themselves which can open a door and they will become more susceptible to mental illnesses. In a Psychology Today article, Hara Estroff Marano finds that we as humans “have a fundamental need for inclusion in group life and for close relationships.” (Marano) Social interaction is a

Depression is one of the many mental illnesses that thrive in environments where relationships are not strong or sturdy. In the short film The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character, Jane, has been kept away from the relationships she needed to assist in her healing of postpartum depression. Without the relationship she needed from her husband and others, she began to lose sight as herself as an actual human being. Instead, she saw herself as a woman in the wall. This tore away at her already withering mind. Had she been provided with the interaction she yearned for, she would have possibly overcame her illness rather than slipping further into