I’ve written about social anxiety in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Essentially the Dark Side is social anxiety, and the Force is mindfulness. Now the time has come to complete the trilogy with Part VI – Return of the Jedi. Continue reading
The Chumscrubber is about Dean (Jamie Bell) a high school loner whose only friend, Troy, commits suicide. Dean has to deal with school bullies who want him to steal a stash of prescription drugs from Troy’s room. Plus, he and the other kids in the town have to deal with their parents, who aren’t exactly model citizens themselves. Continue reading
Punch-Drunk Love is a Paul Thomas Anderson version of a romantic comedy between Barry and Lena, two shy, socially awkward characters. Continue reading
Stranger Than Fiction is about Harold Crick, (Will Ferrell) a lonely introverted accountant who begins hearing a voice narrate his life. He discovers the voice is an author, (Emma Thompson) and he is a character in her latest novel. Everything she writes about him comes true, so Harold grows concerned when she writes that he is soon going to die. 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
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
Dummy is about Steven (Adrien Brody), a shy socially awkward almost 30-year-old man who gets fired from his job and decides to pursue his dream of becoming a professional ventriloquist. He uses his dummy to help deal with problems involving his family, friends, and love life. Continue reading
Thumbsucker is about Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci), who at 17 years-old, still sucks his thumb. His thumb-sucking has led to problems with friends at high school and at home with his family. The story follows Justin through his various attempts at trying cure himself of his thumb-sucking. Continue reading
T.Z. Barry 