How ‘My Mad Fat Diary’ Escaped the Tumblr Renaissance of Romanticised Mental Illness
The mid 90s teen drama that flipped the online script TW: mentions of mental illness, suicide, and body image. Before the flashy aesthetics of 'Euphoria' or the melodrama of '13 Reasons Why', Channel 4 presented British viewers an innovative look at teenage mental illness. And they did it to the tune of Britpop. Set in an unassuming Lincolnshire town in the middle of the 1990s, 'My Mad Fat Diary' tells the story of Rae Earl (Sharon Rooney), music-loving and precocious sixteen-year-old, who is attempting to re-enter the Stamford social scene after a recent suicide attempt. Rae quickly discovers her best friend Chloe (Jodie Comer), who believed Rae to have been living la vida loca in France for the past four months, has become prettier and more popular since she's been away. Getting in with Chloe's new, cool friends - a motley crew of '90s archetypes - proves difficult for Rae as she struggles to keep her worsening mental state under wraps. At the tim
