We finished watching Mysterious Skin

ishanow:

We finished the movie last night. I wouldn’t say it was a *good* movie. I thought it was disturbing and extremely sad.

Kyle and I talked about how people become victims of circumstance. Most of the time I call bullshit on that theory, because I think as adults we have to stop blaming our past…

It was definitely hard to watch. I agree that for the most part people should be able to “get over” or “move past” things in their life. In fact it’s very necessary for us to be able to develop coping skills early on in life. But what I think happened in the character’s case is that something inside of him became badly broken due to childhood trauma as well as his environment. Nobody did anything to really understand and help him. His mom and even his friends were merely enabling him - telling him to be “safe” and whatnot. Anyway, I think the film did a good job of exploring that particular topic. For me, it painted a picture of why people might make some of their choices without having the characters try to justify their actions. Rather, I saw it almost as an essential component of their being.

Source: ishanow