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‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and the Consequences of Societal Apathy to Mental Illness
Let’s be clear: the message is still not getting through.
When I went to see the movie version of Dear Evan Hansen on its opening weekend in the United States, I didn’t know how I would feel. My only real connection to the story was that I have had a visceral, emotional connection to the song “Waving Through a Window” ever since I first saw it performed on the Tony Awards years ago. Ever since, the song is one I have gone back to often, particularly when I want to feel “seen” in regards to the bouts of loneliness I experience. A character like Evan Hansen airing out the truth of being so weighed down with solitude — I felt like I knew him when, really, no one I’d met in reality’s sphere had ever voiced such things.
Maybe the fact that I have listened to Evan Hansen’s musical soliloquy hundreds of times made me all the more willing to be sympathetic to him despite how, now that the movie version has been released, all the critics have come out to play to say just how much of an awful character he is.
However, that’s a story for another day. You may one day yet read an article titled “In Defense of Evan Hansen” (coming soon to a Medium page near you).
