Joe Berlinger is the director of the newest Netflix binge-worthy show. His four-part docuseries Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel goes through both Elisa Lam’s disappearance and the mysterious past of the Cecil Hotel itself.
Elisa Lam’s disappearance is folded in early during the first episode, but before the docuseries dives into Elisa’s story, it gives the viewer a background on the hotel itself. Though the underlying tone of the series is that the Cecil Hotel has had an increased amount of death within its walls due to paranormal activity, I came to a more logical conclusion. It’s not that I don’t believe in ghosts (I don’t mess with spirits…just in case), but the Cecil Hotel is not plagued with death because of hauntings, it’s because of humans society has cast aside.
The series explained how the area is known today as “Skid Row” was created. As the homeless population began to increase, the LAPD decided to corral these citizens into a few-block radius. This is where “Skid Row” was birthed. It then became the area in which all “undesirable” LA citizens were dropped off. These included people who were addicts had mental health issues or were formerly incarcerated. It seemed as though instead of setting up programs to help these people in their most vulnerable state, they were thrown away to “Skid Row”, hoping that they won’t return to live among the “regular population”. These couple of blocks are referred to as the “wild west” stating that not only were most crimes such as drug use or theft were overlooked (because no one wanted to go there), but women disappeared on a regular basis. When learning that the Cecil Hotel is in the center of “Skid Row” how can one not see the connection between the location of the hotel and the number of deaths within the walls of the Cecil? It is not angry spirits that are driving people to OD, murder, or complete suicide, but instead, it is a society based on silencing those who are deemed “unfit” and isolating those with mental health issues and not assisting them. The lack of police presence, or the amount of time it takes the police to get there, also adds to the amount of crime at and around the Cecil Hotel.
Unfortunately, this theme of casting away people who struggle with mental illness aligns with Elisa Lam’s story as well. The breakdown of Elisa’s disappearance and untimely death can be found in my last post, so in this post, I just wanted to briefly touch upon the ending of Berlinger’s series. There were tons of conspiracies and theories about Elisa’s disappearance, and even more, were created once her body was actually found. When it comes to these theories, the internet both started the fire and doused it with gasoline which led to some far-fetched concepts that ended up having a cult following. Whether you believe the theories of possession, tuberculosis, murder, or spirits is up to you, but I think the one concept everyone can agree upon is Elisa Lam was in dire need of help. Help that she will never receive. Between the Tumblr posts, notes to her bunkmates, actions in the lobby, and the elevator video, it is clear to see that Elisa was suffering a major mental breakdown (likely due to her bipolar disorder). The saddest part is knowing that so many people witnessed her pleas for help, but chose to ignore her. We, as a society, have this construct that it is “not our place to get involved” or that people with mental health struggles are “crazy” and “can’t be controlled”. What we don’t realize is that these stereotypes and labels that we put on mental health completely dehumanize those who are struggling. That is why stories like Elisa’s have happened, and they will continue to happen so long as we ignore how horribly our society treats people with mental illness.
If you have a Netflix subscription, I recommend that you watch Joe Berlinger’s Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.
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