For this week's article, we have Yadav from TheMovieJunkie.com, writing all about psychological elements in some selected movies and TV series! You probably remember that we collaborated back in 2022 too! I'm very excited to have Yadav here once again on my blog. I hope you guys will like the new post!
These days most movies are so meaningless that they are all about special effects, action sequences, and gratuitous violence. What about movies with a good plot and great execution? Those are rare.
My wellness peer Penny inspired me to write about movies whose plots deal with the psychological aspects of the human being. Mental health wellness is still a highly stigmatized topic throughout the world in developed and developing countries.
So I think, Penny talking about mental health issues takes a lot of courage and does a whole lot of good for people like us who find it hard to discuss the same. Great job, Penny!
Movies and series that focus on psychological elements
Here I shall go through movies I have watched that have a significant psychological element in their plot and how they translate to everyday life.
We all love “The Batman” in cartoon and movie form with several successful franchises. Batman is a playboy billionaire by day and a caped crusader by night, beating up bad guys and restoring justice.
In 1994, a movie introduced a similar hero on the silver screen with Alec Baldwin playing the part to perfection. Lamont Cranston, a ruthless drug lord in Tibet is indoctrinated at a Buddhist temple and given a chance for redemption by bestowing on him the mantle of The Shadow.
The Shadow is the alter ego of Cranston endowed with telepathic and telekinetic powers that fight crime. Cranston dons the mantle of the Shadow in New York City where crime reigns, and evil rules.
This hero is a metaphor for the unconscious mind and raw animal potential of a human that is hidden in all of us. Once we understand both our conscious and unconscious mind through mindful living, meditation, and other disciplined practices, happiness is sure to follow.
In the not-too-distant future, a company has found a way to separate a person’s self into two halves depending on the location in which they are present. The minds of the employees have been compartmentalized into their work and personal life with both memories kept separate.
This is done through a brain implant and some mental conditioning. The premise of the series is really intriguing and serves as a serious metaphor for work-life balance taken to a whole new level.
Each of us working a job goes through similar conditioning where we try to keep work issues at the office and our personal lives separate. But more often than not, work spills over into personal life and vice versa upsetting such a balance from time to time. By setting firm boundaries and ensuring that work is done within time, you can probably avoid such issues.
One of the best Marvel series out there, MoonKnight is a superhero who suffers from Disassociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality). Blessed by the Egyptian Moon-God Khonshu, Mark Specter gains superhuman strength and healing abilities that he uses to fight bad guys.
Mark Specter’s personality split into various other personalities during a traumatic episode in his childhood. When faced with a near-fatal attack as an adult, Khonshu bestows on him his powers on the condition that he becomes his knight.
Multiple personality disorder is something that does exist, and people do suffer from this ailment. However, through proper psychological counselling and possible psychiatric intervention, this condition can be managed.
Rod Serling’s hit series The Twilight Zone is a true masterpiece of supernatural suspense and thriller drama. The series is based on the works of renowned horror, sci-fi, and thriller writers such as Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, and Isaac Asimov.
Most episodes of this series have the moral “Be careful what you wish for,” where the story’s protagonist gets what they desire most, only to backfire.
Coming to real life, we all crave what we don't have and are sometimes scared of things that may never come to pass. You need to be happy with what you have and grateful for the same, such acceptance will invite more abundance to your life. Live in the moment.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is a series similar to The Twilight Zone in that it is thrilling and suspenseful. The subtle difference here is that there are little to no supernatural elements in this series and it has more comical endings.
Hitchcock is well-known for his mystery movies and prides himself on curating similar stories on his show. His storytelling object of choice is human nature.
In this series, Alfred Hitchcock plumbs the depth of human nature under extreme duress and in tense situations.
We as a species are still evolving and there is still a lot of animal nature left within us. World peace is something everyone wishes for, but you see war throughout the globe perennially. We are suspicious, engage willingly in conflict, and seldom trust anyone or anything. What we as a species should strive for is understanding and helping each other - this is how we and the others we know can grow and grow together.
Summing Up
While movies are great fun to watch and enjoy, it is good to look out for films with greater depth and meaning. When looking for purpose, what can be more meaningful than mindfulness, understanding oneself and the others around you? So, check out reviews of such movies, series, and more on themoviejunkie.com. For wellness content, of course, Penny is my natural go-to!
About The Movie Junkie/ themoviejunkie.com
A content marketer with an engineering mind, Yadav crafts captivating stories fueled by communication strategies and cinematic wonders and is excited to launch the newsletter, ''Khichdi'', where Yadav will be serving up a flavorful mix of what he has read, seen and traveled.
Where To Find Yadav:
twitter: @YadavVenugopal1
instagram: @yadav_venug