Part 3/14:
Rosen emphasizes that Michael's story is emblematic of a larger societal failure. Though celebrated initially as a heroic figure—coming out publicly as a “flaming schizophrenic,” Hollywood even bought his story for a major film—the narrative community failed to confront the profound realities of severe mental illness. Rosen laments how the romanticization of madness in the 1960s and 70s contributed to policies and societal attitudes that inadvertently abandoned the most severely ill.