# Harvey -- problematic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803 "2016-09-02T18:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/1 "2016-09-02T18:50:14Z")
I was thinking about \*Harvey \*(1950)…James Stewart, giant invisible rabbit. It’s warm, charming, funny, everybody loves it - but it seems that it has some problems that have dated it badly. First: not to put too fine a point on it…Elwood P. Dowd is an alcoholic. But he’s a cute one, and never seems drunk. No one has a problem with his excessive drinking. Second: the story’s attitude about mental illness, as summarized by the cab driver: people suffering psychosis and hallucinations may be happier and better adjusted than the sane and normal ones. (Not even going into the dubious science behind the plot point, that a single shot will cure the severely mentally ill.) I think society has changed, and we see alcohol dependency and mental illness as grim and serious real problems, and there’s nothing funny about it. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/2 "2016-09-02T19:13:33Z")
I don’t know how much things have changed, really. For alcoholism as an example, the recent seasons of Game of Thrones spent several episodes joking about a certain character drinking far too much wine and it was always handled as a mildly serious plot point and he sobered right up and handled life just fine when it was important. (Well, just fine for a GoT character anyway). Happy chronic drunks are still portrayed in a positive light fairly frequently, as is teen/college binge drinking like at frat parties. As for mental illness: 1950 was essentially the peak of lobotomies in the US, and yet was banned by the end of the decade thanks to new medications and a movement against psychiatry. I think the movie was strongly influenced by that. It addresses both the idea that insanity might not be so bad, and that new wonder drugs will change how we treat it. Reality hasn’t played out quite so neatly as the fantasy it presents, but it’s not such a foreign attitude to how we function today. A lot of modern shows think OCD is kind of funny, and more than one show has played up autistic people as having mental superpowers rather than a disability. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/3 "2016-09-02T20:30:01Z")
Of course, once they established that Harvey was real (opening doors and altering dictionaries and such), it becomes unclear if a diagnosis of mental illness (at least on Elwood) even applies. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/4 "2016-09-02T23:07:53Z")
Long ago, I had a Ford Vanette I called Harvey, because a six-foot rabbit could stand up inside it. That’s a fine old movie. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/5 "2016-09-03T01:50:37Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Thoughts? Oh jsc, don’t be didactic. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/6 "2016-09-03T04:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=Elwood P. Dowd] Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be” - she always called me Elwood - “In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart… I recommend pleasant. [/QUOTE] He added “You may quote me”. So I did. Still one of the best movies, and both my 90-yr-old mom’s favorite, and mine. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvey-problematic/764803/7 "2016-09-03T04:38:21Z")
I agree with the OP’s observations about alcoholism in vintage movies. I can’t watch the _Thin Man_ movies with William Powell because of all the drinking–having lived with an alcoholic, I just don’t find drunkenness amusing. Even consider the _Andy Griffith Show_ with Otis the town drunk. He’d go to the jail and lock himself in overnight. Haha. Watching someone who is constantly falling down drunk just isn’t entertaining. Even less so if you’ve seen it in person.