Characters on the Couch
Film & Television Blog
by Dr. Sandra Cohen
WICKED: Rage at Abuse Isn’t Wicked
John M. Chu‘s 2024 film, Wicked, shows us in spades what happens to an abused child. That’s Elphaba. Abandoned. Shamed. Blamed. Rejected. Bullied. Shunned. Of course, rage fills Elphaba. It’s a terrible injustice to label her Wicked. Elphaba’s no different than many abused children. Hungry for love, she keeps her hurt bottled up. Caters to…
EMILIA PEREZ: Change Isn’t Trying to Make Your Old Self Disappear
Being who you are is the most important thing in the world. That often means change. But change isn’t about trying to make your old self disappear. Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez clearly shows how and why that doesn’t work. Going from one kind of hiding to another is never the answer. There are reasons for…
ANORA: Running From Pain
Pain. We see that in Anora, Sean Baker’s raw and brutally poignant new film. Pain. Although Ani, the film’s main character does her best to hide her feelings, mostly from herself, no one becomes addicted to sex (or drugs or alcohol) if they aren’t trying to escape unbearable pain. Ani and Vanya don’t want to…
