Game On was a relatively successful British show first aired in 1995, following three flatmates in London. The main character, Matt, inherited his parents’ money after they passed away in a car crash, which seems to be the cause of his agoraphobia. There is a large comedic value placed on his condition that portrays the issue as less of a serious matter and more of a gag on the show.
A psychiatrist – Jason - begins seeing him in the second season but seems to fall in love with him rather than focusing on his issue, and when they do focus on his agoraphobia it always seems to be in a comedic light. Laughing tracks are played over scenes that could be taken quite seriously otherwise. There is a point where he leaves his flat alongside Jason in an oversized football jersey and helmet over his head to go to the park and is afraid of anything that moves – especially the ducks beside the lake. This is a scene that seems particularly mocking to his condition. At the end of the first season, he manages to leave the flat in an attempt to tell a band living above to keep the noise down. He faints, and eventually makes his way back to his own flat where he reveals that he has been recruited as the lead singer of Pro-Active. He is later invited to perform a gig with the band, during which he screams and sobs into the microphone, playing at a pub. Again, this is an attempt to mock him and his suffering.
There is a point where he seems to have almost overcome his fears of going outdoors and goes to the shop alone (along with a surfboard to hide himself from other people but goes alone nonetheless) and the store is robbed at gunpoint, setting him right back. Despite his obvious fear of going outdoors, he is extremely reluctant to admit it. He has a cocky attitude around his flatmates that seems to disappear when other people come around. His condition is not only used for a laugh but used to mock his character and belittle him.
This is not necessarily a huge critique of the show – it is very enjoyable and there are some scenes that take his issues more seriously and do a good job of representing his condition – it's just interesting to see in the media the way mental illness is often portrayed in a way that makes it humorous to look at.
The show portrays the issue in this way as the show is a comedy, and it is a running joke that viewers can keep up with - and there is a wide variety of things to turn in to a comedic aspect as the show displays. Below is the cast of the show (from season 2):
I will be comparing an article by CBS news about a man suffering with agoraphobia to the way the condition is displayed in Matthew Malones character in Game On (1995).
Agoraphobia is an extreme and irrational fear of being in crowded areas or leaving one’s own home, as defined by Oxford Languages. It is usually triggered by a traumatic childhood experience, a stressful event, previous history of mental illness, or drug abuse. Even the thought of leaving home for those with this condition can cause panic attacks, dysphagia, diarrhoea, hyperventilation and feeling sick. It causes fear of losing control in specific situations and is an issue that has been misrepresented by the media and has been thought to have severely heightened since the pandemic.
The CBS article titled ‘Agoraphobia is a prison’ is about Cecil Jackson who has battled this since he was 19 years old. Now at the age of 35, he tells CBS about how he suffers after deciding to take a clearer look at his struggles. His condition has meant missing birthdays, weddings and even funerals, limiting his life to within a one-mile radius of his home, and hasn’t travelled beyond this in over 10 years. He recounts on how he developed the condition, when on the way to school he went into a state of complete panic. It changed the way he viewed the world and describes his life as feeling like he is ‘trapped in a glass box.’
The article interviews someone with experience of what living through this is like, so it is a fair representation that doesn’t attempt to generalise or stereotype those with agoraphobia. This is done to show others that this is something many struggles with and they’re not alone, and as to not belittle those feeling this way by having someone who understands it speak on the issue. The article is factual and attempts to give people who have never heard of the condition an insight on what the struggles of it are.
The article portrays the condition in this way so that people can understand what these people are going through and not just base it on the stereotypes that they have heard. Below is a capture from the display of this:
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