Movie Date Night Can Double as Therapy
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/movie-date-night-can-double-as-therapy/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
An interesting idea, to use Hollywood movies as therapy. This article is focused on marriage therapy, I wonder if it could work on PTSD, depression, etc. Anyway, my wife and I rewatched the US remake of Shall We Dance the other day and she was asking me why I liked the movie so much (it was me making the pick, she joined me after I started watching it). I kind of surprised myself at how passionate I was about explaining my thoughts. Yes, I really like looking at JLo’s butt, but I didn’t watch Halle Berry’s Catwoman because the movie sucked so bad, so a hot woman isn’t enough to get me to watch a movie the first time, let alone many times. To me the reason I like the story so much is because of the emotional interplay between Richard Gere’s character and Susan Sarandon’s character (husband and wife, if you haven’t seen the movie). They are still in love with one another after all those years together (probably 20+), but he is embarrassed because he feels something is missing. He doesn’t want to upset his wife by explaining this, because he is very happy with their life together, but at the same time desperately wants to make a change. I enjoy seeing them work things out in their relationship (and yes, JLo’s butt) and like rewatching it sort of like rereading a good book.
I tried to convince my wife that the movie Mystery Alaska really wasn’t about hockey just like Shall We Dance really isn’t about dancing, but I don’t get the impression she was able to see it that way. To me Mystery Alaska is mostly about the Russell Crowe’s character coming to the realization that the woman he loves really didn’t make any unhappy sacrifices to stay with him, though for much of the movie he feels very threatened by that thought (and does become a bit of a dick). Anyway, I can see movies being good starts for a therapy discussion and can help break the ice on some difficult discussions and thought my reader(s) might find it interesting as well.
