Who was Genesis Potini?
Genesis Potini was the star of the movie Dark Horse: played by Cliff Curtis
He was a former Maori Chess player. He made a program with chess players out of 15,000 New Zealand schoolchildren, many of whom were from disadvantaged families called the Eastern knights, while he worked, he battled a disadvantage of his own: Bipolar Disorder.
What condition did Genesis Potini have?
Bipolar disorder: Mental health condition which causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs and lows.
Emotional highs: (Mania or hypomania)
Lows (Depression)
A person who has bipolar disorder expereiences changes in their energy, thinking, behavior and sleep.
The best medications for severe bipolar disorder is: olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel), aripiprazole (Abilify), ziprasidone (Geodon), lurasidone (Latuda) or asenapine (Saphris) which are antipsychotics. Or other medications prescribed by doctors: Mood stabilizers, Antidepressants, Antidepressant-antipsychotic and anti-anxiety medications. (source: Mayo Clinic)
What was he reknown for?
Genesis Potini was known as the dark horse,
a Dark horse is an idiom to which: (A candidate or competitor about whom little is known but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds or a person who keeps their interests and ideas a secret especially someone who has a suprising ability or skill.)
This means that Genesis Potini was not very known of his talent in chess but only views on his mental health and race. This was one of the prejudices he experiences.
What obstacles did he face?
a. Stereotypes/stigma: He experienced stereotypes based on his race and mental stability and disorder. Such examples were
The staring and glares the Eastern knights had from the chess players
The assumption where if someone is out of the mental hospital, they’re no good
Prejudices: Genesis Potini experienced prejudice from relatives, friends and strangers who did not know much of him. Due to his bipolar disorder, he experienced rude comments such as
“Crazy weirdo” or “Stay away from those kids.”
Societal issues: He experienced societal issues from his brother’s links with gangs. He was struggling with money and family. He lived with his brother for a while but then was given 1000 dollars and was sent out of the his house. Genesis lived in poverty and was homeless.
Family relationships: He didn’t have a good amount of family, he only had his brother (stated in the movie earlier)
“There is no one else”
throughout all this research I’ve learnt many things about Genesis Potini, I did not clearly know much about his disorder or hear what his disorder was until I did some research. I’ve learnt things about bipolar disorder: a mental disorder which involves extreme moodswings, and what kinds of medication you should take. I’ve also learnt about the idiom: Dark horse, I didn’t know that was an idiom, I thought the movie was just his reknowned name and nothing else.