I SAW THE TV GLOW: When Sadness Can Be Just Too Much

I SAW THE TV GLOW: When Sadness Can Be Just Too Much

Owen and Maddy can’t be who they are in Jane Schoenbrun‘s I Saw the TV Glow. Those reasons started in traumatic childhoods but are now inside themselves. For Owen, his dad’s control and lack of acceptance. He doesn’t even try to “get” Owen. If Owen expresses interest, like in the Pink Opaque, he humiliates him:…

Read More

MATERIALISTS: Love Isn’t Easy When Your Childhood Was Hard

Materialists: Love Isn't Easy When Your Childhood Was Hard

Materialists, written and directed by Celine Song, starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, tells the story of how love isn’t easy when your childhood was hard (with a little matchmaking mixed in). Childhood trauma sets you up for confusion, insecurity, hopelessness, and various defenses against being hurt again, like going cold and choosing…

Read More

THE BRUTALIST: Severe Trauma & Complicated Guilt

THE BRUTALIST: Severe Trauma & Complicated Guilt

Why do so many people who’ve suffered severe trauma live with complicated guilt? Guilt that has nothing to do with anything they’ve actually done? Or, like László Tóth in Brady Corbet’s 2025 The Brutalist – guilt about lesser things that is blown way out of proportion? This irrational guilt is because trauma involves unfair blame,…

Read More