Why DiD?
Dissociative identity disorder as a phenomenon tends to be heavily overlooked in society; in the times that it is brought to awareness, it tends to paint people with dissociative identity disorder in a poor light. Many films, including Split, Glass and The Silence of the Lambs demonize this disorder by portraying people with dissociative identity disorder as someone who will inherently cause harm to others because they lack the self control to refrain from doing so. DiD, however, does not. Instead, it represents doubles and doppelgängers with how it would relate to dissociative identity disorder in a way that shares compassion with those that struggle with the disorder rather than contributing to the narrative that people with dissociative identity disorder are a danger to other people. With only 490 views total at the time of the creation of this article, DiD is heavily overlooked and underrated in comparison to other films that have also been more destructive to the public’s perception of dissociative identity disorder.
Background
STRANGE VAULT is a Youtube channel run by Jake Wynne. Wynne describes himself as a “director, editor and filmmaker based in the UK” on his professional website, https://www.jakeswynne.com.
The plot of the short film is based around the protagonist, struggling with both dissociative identity disorder as well as the death of his mother and the emotions he feels related to her.
Doppelgängers in Relation to DiD
There is a major internal conflict that occurs within the protagonist between many different dissociated parts of himself. Due to his disorder, he struggles to place what is happening to him and suffers as a result of his condition. He also struggles with traumatic experiences, which is connected to the disorder itself. These doppelgängers cause major distress to one another, however they are integral and fundamental to one another for their shared identity. Ultimately, each part is trying to protect the self in a different way: one by acting as though they are in fight-or-flight, the other through denial and fawning. On top of that, they are all having to process the loss of their mother. He struggles heavily within the short film because of his past and his disorder, but does not harm other people as a result- only himself. It brings light to the concept that people with dissociative identity disorder are not inherently any more of a danger to others than anyone else, and yet experience suffering as a result of the symptoms of their disorder which includes these dissociated parts. Ultimately, I would highly recommend engaging with this short film, as it deserves more attention for its portrayal of dissociative identity disorder and dissociative parts.
