Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is about Greg, a high school student, who is forced by his mother to spend time with a girl at his school, Rachel, after she is diagnosed with leukemia. Continue reading
In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Joel (Jim Carrey) discovers that his girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has had him and their entire relationship erased from her memory. Heartbroken, he decides to have the same procedure done, but as he relives his memories while they’re being erased, he begins to have second thoughts. Continue reading
In part one of “Social Anxiety in Star Wars” I looked at Episode IV: A New Hope, and how using the Force (mindfulness and meditation) can help us overcome the Dark Side (social anxiety). Luke Skywalker was only briefly introduced to the powers of the Force in Episode IV. It wasn’t until Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back that Luke met the Jedi master Yoda, who taught him the full powers of the Force. So what can Yoda teach us about social anxiety? Find out we will. Continue reading
May is a horror film about a lonely social misfit woman desperate to make friends—by any means necessary. Continue reading
Roger Dodger is about Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), a shy nerdy sixteen-year-old high school student from Ohio who visits Roger (Campbell Scott), his cool confident fast-talking uncle in New York City. Roger takes Nick out for a night on the town to teach him how to pick up women. Continue reading
Rocket Science is about Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson), a 15-year-old high school student in suburban New Jersey, who suffers from a severe stutter. It prevents him from speaking in school and making friends. Hal is surprised when a girl at school invites him to join the debate team. Continue reading
The End of the Tour follows Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky as he travelled with writer David Foster Wallace during the tour for his highly acclaimed novel, Infinite Jest. Like much of Wallace’s work, the film touches on the writer’s self-consciousness, existentialism, addiction, anxiety, and depression, which ultimately led to his suicide in 2008 at the age of 46. Continue reading
Room is about…actually, if you haven’t seen the movie, do not read this review until you have. Room is the type of film where the less you know about it going in, the more rewarding the viewing experience. Continue reading
Mr. Robot is about a twenty-something year-old hacker named Elliot (Rami Malek) who works for a cybersecurity company. He suffers from social anxiety and depression, feeling so lonely at times that he hacks other people in order to feel closer to them. He is recruited by Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) to form “fsociety,” a hacker group planning to take down mega corporation “Evil Corp.” As we learn more about Elliot and Mr. Robot, we discover that his psychological problems may stem much deeper than social anxiety. Continue reading
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Star Wars isn’t the first movie you think of for social anxiety. No character in the series actually suffers from shyness or has difficulty speaking—unless you count R2D2 and Chewbacca. However, Star Wars does have a message we can use, considering the Force (mindfulness) and the Dark Side (social anxiety). Continue reading
T.Z. Barry 