Nothing is funny about suicide or depression, but the 1998 film “Dead Man on Campus” used humor to address those issues. The Counseling Center kicked off a month-long campaign to raise awareness about suicide and depression on college campuses Monday night with a viewing of the movie at the Bridge Lounge in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The movie was followed by an open discussion led by counselor Angie Parker and graduate assistant Smita Srivastava.

This week’s theme was “Sadness Masked by Happiness.” In other words, people cannot always tell who is suicidal or depressed. While symptoms for suicidal or depressed people include isolation, change in sleeping patterns or a downturn in academic performance, among others, Parker said not everyone outwardly displays these signs.

“Sometimes it may be the person who does mask some of the stuff and seems like the life of the party at times,” Parker said. “They may try to hide that depression. It may not always be the person that stays in their room and doesn’t talk to anybody.”

In the movie, roommates Josh (Tom Everett Scott) and Cooper (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) are both failing out of their first semester in college because they partied too much. As a result, they act on an old, and very fictional rule that awards straight A’s to the roommates of a student who commits suicide. They target their future roommate by looking for students who displayed all the stereotypical suicidal personas: the dark, gloomy goth singer, the paranoid delusional, the maniacal alcoholic. None of them turn out to be suicidal, and in the end, their next-door neighbor – who they think is “normal” – attempts suicide to the shock of everyone.

“It’s a very important message they’re trying to convey, but they do it by being funny,” Srivastava said.

Taylor Hall resident assistant Martha Rauch attended the event to have a better understanding of the topic, to be able to help any of her residents who may be in need.

“It definitely pointed out that it’s not always the people that you stereotypically think are the suicidal ones,” Rauch said. “Sometimes it’s the really happy ones.”

Only a handful of students showed up to the event.

“I think it’s sad that only a few people came,” Rauch said. “It’s too bad that the campus is so big and nobody gets involved.”

Parker said that while they hoped for a bigger turnout, the goal remained to get information out to the campus about depression and suicide.

“Sometimes it is nicer to have small groups like this one where people can ask questions and feel more comfortable,” Parker said.

Representatives from the Counseling Center will be in the South Quad from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday, handing out information about depression and suicide. Future topics in coming weeks are depression-related to cultural issues, female depression and male depression. The campaign wraps up on Nov. 6 with a presentation in Coleman Hall encompassing all the topics.