Spike & Crown Studios is an Asian American artist collective of Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated individuals producing narratives to amplify diversified perspectives in which mental illness and trauma are core.
Unlike other industries
The screen industry shapes the development of American culture through the stories it tells. Studies demonstrate that media images of negative actions perpetrated by people living with mental illnesses undeniably influence audiences and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. SCS strives to offer a more truthful & realistic interpretation of mental illness in order to reframe the way we think about those living with mental health issues.
One in five adults in the U.S. lives with mental illness.
Yet they continue to be socially stigmatized. Although the film industry has never shied away from addressing specific mental health conditions like depression, the public’s understanding of it has not necessarily increased. Until recently, it has done the opposite. Since the early 1970’s, about ¼ of nearly 300 best picture Oscar nominees explicitly explored mental health and most of those depicted individuals living with mental health conditions as dangerous (whether to themselves) and/or violent.
The realm of animation, however, paints a different story.
The Marvel Universe is populated with heroes and villains living with a range of mental health issues, and the DC Universe steals the show when it comes to the depictions of characters with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), for example. Animation studios like Pixar have been expanding the boundaries of conversation surrounding mental health, too.
SCS certainly aims to be among this group who pushes the conversation forward, but we want to do more than de-stigmatize. We aim to hold space, validate, and support those living with mental health conditions across all ages and cultures. Through our stories, we want to communicate that the journey towards mental health is not always linear, and that we honor the many other facets of a person outside their diagnosis.