NICKEL BOYS: Holding On to Your Self Even When Abused

NICKEL BOYS: Holding On to Your(self) Even When Abused

How do you hold onto yourself amid threat, abuse, and constant attempts to make you feel “less than?” Elwood Curtis does, in RaMell Ross’s powerful, disturbing, and timely 2024 film, Nickel Boys. Abuse can tear a person down. Create hopelessness, despair, and resignation. Repeated abuse, with no way to protect yourself, makes it difficult for…

Read More

THE SUBSTANCE: A Sad Gory Story of a Woman’s Self-Hate

The Substance: A Sad Gory Story of a Woman's Self-Hate

Elizabeth Sparkle, an aging yet beautiful actress, hates herself. That’s why The Substance is a sad, gory story of a woman’s self-hate. Self-loathing always stems from early trauma. And, both childhood trauma and self-hate are devastating. You never feel good enough, are vulnerable to feelings of rejection, and do everything you can to prove you’re…

Read More

A REAL PAIN: To Numb or Not to Numb?

A REAL PAIN: TO NUMB OR NOT TO NUMB

Numbing pain is not a conscious choice. It’s a common survival strategy, a self-protection from emotional overwhelm, during and after trauma. And, it is often passed down for generations. Take cousins Benji and Dave, for example, in Jesse Eisenberg’s film, A Real Pain. They both struggle with their feelings in very different ways, revealed in…

Read More