All American is Telling Some of TV’s Most Authentic Mental Health Stories
When All American debuted in 2018, it came with promises to be more than just another “teen sports drama.” It vowed to extend itself into real-world politics, shed light on social justice, and give voice to the young Black experience in America.
Since its pilot, it has delivered on each and every one of those promises. Where it has been a surprisingly vocal pioneer and advocate is in highlighting the importance of mental health and proper depiction of mental illness in media.
Using both mental health and mental illness in the TV landscape is nothing new. It’s been a storytelling tactic since television dramas began, and the teen genre has been no exception.
The issue arises in how those stories get told.
When TV and film choose — as they so often do — to use mental illness in their storylines, it often ends up as a cheap plot point or moment of dramatic shock value. Intentional or not, this only inevitably adds to the villainization and the negative connotation of the mental health community.
All American demands better from the media we consume. It introduces mental illness into its carefully crafted world and vows to take a realistic and complex approach to the subject, and it starts with Layla Keating’s harrowing journey down the rabbit hole of depression.
TV dramas may make you believe otherwise, but mental illness isn’t something that simply manifests after a single bad day. It’s a process that decays the mind slowly, biding its time with each and every new trauma.
So often, people who look the most well off are the ones secretly screaming for help. All American does something invaluable with Layla, by making viewers look for the signs of her unraveling.
Introduced as a character who has it all together, the more disparity and isolation Layla faces in her personal life, the more depression creeps up inside of her, and Greta Oniegou plays a spiraling Layla with utmost precision.
In understanding the severity of her character’s situation, Layla’s growing despondency shows itself through small, continuous moments throughout the first half of All American Season 2, forcing the audience to be vicariously aware of her character’s small, ongoing shifts.
As her emotions gradually become more unhinged, her previously picture-perfect image goes with it. It becomes an unbearable experience, watching a character slowly drown in their own hopelessness.
But it isn’t just Layla’s undoing All American focuses on, it continues to set new precedents in how it writes her story post-rock-bottom.
After the ultimate climax of a character’s worst moment, television often rushes the rehabilitation. Mental illness becomes a weak moment for a character, not a deeply rooted trait deserving of a developed road to recovery.
All American strays from this path, gifting Layla an entire season’s worth of time to heal. The show not only places her at an in-patient center –giving her story the breathing room it’s earned — but tells that story through a positive lens.
As Seasons 2 and 3 progress, All American never paints Layla’s depression as something she went through, but instead as a part of who she is. It is a constant factor in every decision she makes, shaping her relationships, future, and everyday way of life.
Even in doing the work, depression can isolate not only with the sickness itself, but in other people’s inability to understand the immensity or complexity of the disease itself, and All American uses Layla’s relationships to properly explore that.
But regardless of how depression affects All American’s characters, it never portrays them as weak links. Layla Keating is a character who knows her depression only adds to her strength as a woman — more specifically a woman of color — and the show is determined in showcasing that through dynamic and captivating story structure.
This is also true with Spencer James, a protagonist who finds himself with PTSD.
All American uses Spencer’s injuries to highlight the various ways PTSD can haunt an individual, while also showcasing what it means to be a Black man in America seeking therapy.
While most shows would choose to tell a story of toxic masculinity, pushing a male character away from the need for professional help, All American embraces it. The show allows Spencer to immediately accept the idea of therapy, and in doing so, combats a stigma that’s been enforced on Black men for decades.
Daniel Ezra takes every moment of Spencer’s therapy seriously as an actor, giving it the same level of performance as any other moment on screen, weaving his newly recognized trauma into core aspects of her characterization.
No one shames Spencer or Layla for attending therapy or refuses to take them seriously in their biggest moments of weakness. There is only respect, admiration, and positive information surrounding both journeys, and that depiction of overwhelming support aims to alter a viewer’s real-life approach to the mental health community.
With the mentally ill being some of the most devalued and stigmatized populations in society today, the societal abuses faced by those struggling become endless, adding a myriad of obstacles in the way of accessing health care, proper employment, and adequate housing.
No show has put the time, effort, and accuracy into telling such well-developed and complex stories around the subject of mental illness until now, and All American is actively erasing various stigmas by giving characters agency to deal with realistic emotional issues that carry them throughout the entirety of the show.
Not only is All American giving characters agency to deal with emotional issues in a positive light, but it continuously breaks boundaries by elevating typical teen drama tropes and placing people of color in situations previously reserved solely for white characters.
All American has made it a mission to find new ways to expand on stories that center around topics surrounding underrepresented and marginalized communities, and it’s doing so with flawless ease.
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September is Suicide Prevention Month. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a loved one, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
All American Season 4 premieres Monday, October 25th on The CW.
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Kat Pettibone
Kat Pettibone is an aspiring TV writer, artist, and poet. As a Pacey Witter Fan Club lifer who never missed a TGIF, she has dreams of becoming your generations small screen Nora Ephron. She's also an avid lover of coffee, dogs and all things spooky.
One thought on “All American is Telling Some of TV’s Most Authentic Mental Health Stories”
You forgotten to mention how they tell addiction too. I’ve enjoyed the storytelling of Olivia’s addiction the most because of how many teens can related. The stress of it all and how many teenagers do fall into drugs at early stage in their lives.
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