Before I dive into why I thought this series finale was so disappointing, I have to begin by saying that Penny Dreadful was the first show in several years that I followed obsessively. For years prior, I had been uninterested in anything with an ongoing story and preferred to watch shows that didn’t require any […] More
In “LT. Pickles,” Jeff (Jim Carrey) begins to lose touch with reality. At the end of the previous episode, Jeff’s body seizes uncontrollably, and he rockets up and down in his chair. At first, I thought he was having a heart attack, but now I see it as the attack of a breaking heart. Rather […] More
“The Cookie” is filled with polarities: light and darkness, endings and beginnings, life and death—all condensed into the image of a black and white cookie. There is also an exploration and illustration of creativity as a means of transforming despair and hopelessness into inspiration and imagination. Opposites, Cookies, & the Unexploded House Will (Cole Allen) […] More
“We don’t want to really be fully sane, and that seems to be our problem, usually. We would like to have a little corner of neurosis, somewhere. Even in our pockets, just a little puff here and there. So if we find too much sanity, we say, ‘Boy, it was heavy.’” – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, […] More
In “Every Pain Needs a Name,” Kidding increases in both intensity and complexity. This episode revolves around the construct of identity; mostly regarding how identity is altered by trauma, but also how identity is reinforced by those around us, whether they are our family or millions of unknown viewers around the world. In this article, I […] More
Kidding is emotionally kaleidoscopic. It is poignant, silly, cynical, and nostalgic. It is also realistic and totally absurd, and if I had to describe it in one word, I would say it is colorful. I think director Michel Gondry is trying to explore the fundamental grief and humor that are inherently part of human life, and […] More
Part 3: Dreams, Symbols, and Soul Retrieval “Wherever the mythological mood prevails, tragedy is impossible. A quality rather of dream prevails. True being, meanwhile, is not in the shapes but in the dreamer.” (Campbell, 1949/2008, p. 231). Louisiana is Dreaming Louisiana is the mythological matrix of True Detective. People have inhabited her land for thousands of years, long […] More
The Awakening of a Mystery Part 2: The Psychopathology of True Detective The etymology of the word psychopathology is quite illuminating: Psyche, meaning mind or soul; Pathos, meaning suffer or grief; Logos, meaning discourse, word, or logic. Rather than imagining “psychopathology” as a dry, clinical term, we can define it as the speech of the […] More
The Awakening of a Mystery There are countless ways to tell a story, but a good detective story usually begins with a dead body. That’s not actually where the story begins, but it is when we-the-viewer often enter the narrative. As the story progresses, we follow living characters as they retrace the past, until […] More
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