Genius and Madness in Netflix’s Adaptation of Walter Tevis’ Coming-of-Age Novel, The Queen’s Gambit
Anyone who knows what it’s like to win can probably sympathize with Beth Harmon. Played by the terrific Anya Taylor-Joy in Netflix’s most-viewed mini-series based on Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel-of-the-same-name, Harmon is considered a prodigy for her obsession over triumph in the game of chess. But along with the winning streaks come the challenges that hamper the glory.
I first read Tevis’ novel in December before watching the series in the week between Christmas and New Year. The adaptation remained loyal to the novel, with a few added details that haven’t been explored much in the latter. It tells the story of Beth Harmon who becomes an orphan after her mother dies in a car crash. Taken to an orphanage, she learns to play chess from a reclusive janitor and later becomes addicted to sedatives. She grows up in a time when it was still legal to provide children with this kind of drug to help them manage their behavior, and the addiction later becomes an obstacle in her growth as a chess player.
Years later, she gets adopted by a couple with a troubled marriage. Despite the indifference and perpetual absence of her foster father, she gains a deeper connection with her foster mother who later supports her in her early career. She eventually wins the first tournament she joins, marking the start of a series of wins that eventually secures her position as a world champion. Along the way, she meets competitors, friends, rivals, allies, and lovers. She later beats a Russian chess player who held the title for a long time.
While both the series and novel depict the intriguing techniques of chess and Harmon’s prodigious feat, it also focuses on one issue that many can associate with greatness. In one scene of the series, the teenage Harmon participates in an interview with a journalist from Life magazine after recently scoring two wins and earning the reputation as a child prodigy. One statement highlights one of the major themes that the series tackles.
“Creativity and psychosis often go hand in hand,” the journalist says. She then goes on to explain the relationship between genius and madness. This assumption establishes the point that the series is trying to emphasize. As she grows older, Harmon begins to consume alcohol along with the sedatives which she used to take. When she loses a game and admits defeat, she beats herself up and causes self-harm by taking these substances in excess.
The series attempts to connect the relationship between brilliance and the vulnerability of mental health. Although Beth succeeds at an early age and continues to obsess over winning as she grows older, her greatness comes with her addiction. History has shown quite a good number of great people who have encountered challenges due to issues on mental health, some of which involve partaking substances or causing self-harm. The brilliant Vincent Van Gogh whose impressionistic painting brought color in his generation when everything seemed bleak and dull once cut off his ear before being confined to an asylum. In the realm of literature, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf both died by suicide. In modern music, the tragic deaths of Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, and Whitney Houston, among others, left many in the world in shock and grief.
But does that mean that greatness and mental health illnesses often come hand in hand? I’ve recently seen a YouTube video by The Art Assignment tackling this issue. Although they also released a separate video that explains some truth to the topic, I want to underscore the dangers of romanticizing mental illness for the sake of achieving greatness as realized in the circumstances experienced by many individuals considered great in their field.
The video featured various studies that attempted to find out and explain the concept of the tortured artist as well as the data to debunk it. One of the quotes they provided was that of Kay Redfield Jamison, author of the article, “Manic Depressive Illness and Creativity” published by the Scientific American in 1995 — “No one is creative when severely depressed, psychotic or dead.”
In other words, mental health illness is an obstacle against greatness. But does that mean that one would lose their greatness if they go through similar experiences brought by mental health issues? In The Queen’s Gambit, Harmon has found trust and belongingness from her friends, the social circle which she later finds herself in after getting acquainted and establishing relationship with chess players. They help her practice and improve, support her during her final tournament where she would later obtain her title as the world’s newest and youngest chess world champion, and celebrate her victory. Their presence by her side has made her feel that she is not entirely alone.
Although Harmon’s past trauma and pain have remained obstacles that she needs to overcome, one major takeaway that I have in this series is that we all have these challenges that we need to confront. The series shows more of her backstory than the novel did, tracing the moments when her mother died due to a vehicular accident. It would be tough to witness a parent’s demise, to grow up in an orphanage, and then to get defeated by a sport that one is ultimately passionate about. For Harmon, chess has become a way for her to fulfill her existence’s purpose amidst all the trials she’d been through. At least that’s how I understand the story.
With mental health issues being discussed today, it’s important to take the necessary measures to address them. Some mental health conditions are caused by a person’s environment and experiences, while others are hereditary. It’s still a lingering debate between nature vs. nurture. But it is without question that the tortured artists we’ve known who died tragically are brilliant on their own, and we can’t entirely blame them for their sudden demise. Awareness is always key to taking the first step to healing. Everyone, at some point in our lives, has to undergo pain because this world is definitely not perfect. Sometimes, the way to recover from the damage that the pain has caused us can be up to us.
It’s best to talk about what we’ve been through and what we currently go through. We can reach out to our friends, our loved ones, our family, and the people we can trust. For issues that we think are out of our control but are having a hard time accepting them, professional help is always there to aid us whenever troubles seem too much to bear.
The Queen’s Gambit is one of Netflix’s most-watched series last year. But regardless of its popularity, its theme makes it stand out. With conversations, depictions and awareness about mental health going on these days, it’s always best to take such crucial issues seriously, to assess ourselves, to seek help when we know we need it, and to do what we can to reach out to people in need.
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Take a chance to help someone today. Visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For Philippine residents, help raise awareness now.
