Characters On The Couch

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

abandoned child

BECOMING ASTRID
Lonely Girl’s Superhuman Strength
& Pippi Longstocking Too

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Astrid Lindgren, the author of the inimitable Pippi Longstocking, knew all about superhuman strength. She had it as a young girl. At least, she had to believe she did. To get through a traumatic pregnancy and separation from her baby. “You can do it.” That’s what people told young Astrid over and over when she …

Read moreBECOMING ASTRID
Lonely Girl’s Superhuman Strength
& Pippi Longstocking Too

BLACK PANTHER
What Heartlessness Has to Do With
An Abandoned Kid’s
Need For Power?

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Heartlessness, and what causes it, is the theme in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther; as far as I can see. More importantly, Black Panther shows us how heartlessness can “create a monster,” in an abandoned child now-man, with his slow-burning hate; vengeful rage; and need for power. And, certainly, we witness what heartlessness has to do …

Read moreBLACK PANTHER
What Heartlessness Has to Do With
An Abandoned Kid’s
Need For Power?