Just What We Need - Someone "Acting" Bipolar For The Viewing Audience

I recently read about Jessica Stroup's character ("Silver" in this season's 90210") developing Bipolar Disorder, and how she plans to present this mentally-ill character to the viewing audience.This article is from the 09/10/09 online issue of the Huffington Post:

NEW YORK — Jessica Stroup says she appreciates the challenge of playing someone with a mental disorder. The 23-year-old actress plays the bipolar Silver on the reincarnation of "90210" on the CW network. The show's second season makes its premiere Tuesday night. Stroup says she's careful not to play Silver's mood swings too over the top. She says she did as much research on the disorder as she could because "it's something that touches so many people but isn't really explored."

I am very uncomfortable having her represent the bipolar community, repeatedly, to millions of people for a number of reasons.

   1. It is not possible to "play" a bipolar person accurately. For each of us the disease displays unique symptoms, moods, attitudes and "quirks". However, an ignorant public will see her character as accurately portraying the life of a bipolar person.

   2. She said that she "did as much research on the disorder as she could" in order to give an accurate depiction of someone with bipolar disorder. That statement is pure crap. That would be the equivelent of studying one person, and then feeling adequately trained to act as all people would act. There are some common characteristics, but they become unique when individualized.

   3. She doesn't want to play the "mood swings too over the top". Why not?  What does "too over the top" mean, any way? It sounds to me like her character will go from the low of being occasionally sad to the high of jaywalking.

She has no idea what damage this can do to the stigma surrounding bipolar disorder. Through her acting and "research", she could underplay the character, and people will think that the disease is no big deal, or overplay it, sending the message that we are wierd, unapproachable and untrustworthy. How her character acts is how the viewer will relate to a person with bipo.

I don't appreciate someone "playing" with our disease, with the great likelyhood that they'll damage the cause we have all rallied around. This characterization will hurt us more than help us, and it gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.