Summary

In “Reality, On-Screen,” Wang explains her chronic difficulty discerning reality from fiction as a symptom of her schizoaffective disorder. She recalls seeing the film Lucy starring Scarlet Johansson as a woman who is gifted with the preternatural ability to “use up to 100 percent of her brainpower” (123). At some point during the movie, Wang became confused and anxious, and took her emergency medication “intended for encroaching psychosis” (124) and when it ended, she was still disoriented. She further recalls another instance of watching the science fiction show Dr. Who with C and becoming confused, asking, “Did that just happen in another place?” (125), requiring a length explanation of “the concept of television” (125) and the difference between what happens on screen and reality. Wang wanted to see the dystopian film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but knew intuitively that this would cause problems...