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Characters On The Couch

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

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Taxi Driver Is Travis Bickle A Hero? Reality Or Grandiose Fantasy?

TAXI DRIVER
Is Travis Bickle A Hero?
Reality Or Grandiose Fantasy?

May 2, 2019 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro), age 26, is Taxi Driver’s lonely, alienated “hero.” Yes, he’s a Vietnam War vet, ex-marine, and likely has his share of PTSD. But, his problems stem from something much deeper than war trauma. He must have suffered some kind of childhood trauma, to be sure. He wouldn’t be so troubled if …

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Is Travis Bickle A Hero?
Reality Or Grandiose Fantasy?
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 …

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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.”

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