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Characters On The Couch

How a psychologist thinks about your favorite Film & TV characters.

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2015 oscar best picture nominee

American Sniper Why Does A Soldier Go Back For More & More

AMERICAN SNIPER
What Makes A Soldier
Go Back For More … And More

February 17, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper tells the story of parental directives that live on long past childhood just as much it tells the horrors of war and its psychological costs. Chris Kyle can’t be a sheep and he certainly can’t be a wolf preying on the innocent. His dad would kill him for that. But, “finishing” …

Read moreAMERICAN SNIPER
What Makes A Soldier
Go Back For More … And More
Birdman Voices in His Head Truth or Dare Friend or Foe

BIRDMAN
The Voice In His Head
Truth Or Dare, Friend Or Foe?

February 13, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

What do we talk about when we talk about someone losing his grip on reality? When it comes to that question, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s brilliant film, Birdman, is meaty stuff for a psychoanalyst like me. Riggan Thompson, former action hero, has-been, failed husband and father, is struggling to change his life – against a Voice …

Read moreBIRDMAN
The Voice In His Head
Truth Or Dare, Friend Or Foe?
The Grand Budapest Hotel What Fake Persona's Cover Up

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
What Fake Personas Cover-Up

February 11, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Why does someone create an illusion of who they are? Wes Anderson, a master of psychological ironies, tells us quite a lot about that subject in The Grand Budapest Hotel. At the center of the film is M. Gustave trying to live as someone he is not. All around him are juxtapositions of barbarism with …

Read moreTHE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
What Fake Personas Cover-Up

Inspiration

“We come to Film and TV to find our hidden stories. If we look deeply into a character’s psyche, there is much to see about ourselves.”

Recent Posts

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