It’s funny the trends we see in any given Mental Filmness year. This year we received two films from women about coping with intrusive thoughts associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Both featured some madcap raunchy humor, and both had some wildly creative ways of visually depicting intrusive thoughts for the audience.
The short film Dialectic was made by the intrepid 22-year-old Emily Sugar, who impressively used 2D animation and collage to convey the anxiety and panic of intrusive thoughts. Among these questions are the ever-persistent 1) Does having this thought mean I’m disturbingly abnormal? and 2) Can I voice this thought aloud, or is it so abnormal that others will judge me?
One of the brilliant things about Dialectic is it tests the limits of these questions within the relatively safe universe of making a possibly off-color minor social gaffe with a friend. The character in this film experiences a spiral of guilt and shame for an intrusive thought she has after she makes a humorous anatomical observation about her friend’s pet. In a brief animated frenzy she cycles through scolding herself for having a crass thought, validating the truth behind the thought, and weighing whether the thought is actually a little funny after all and socially appropriate to share in this context. To a certain extent, all of us can probably relate to struggling with an inner voice over whether expressing a thought would be appropriate at any given time. This helps make the story relatable to viewers who may have experienced a much less extreme version of the intrusive thoughts presented here.
Dialectic is a great Mental Filmness film for a few different reasons. It has the fun, energetic, and DIY artistic style of a gifted youth filmmaker personifying something empathetic and real about mental health. It also adds a little levity to a serious issue, and invites viewers to revisit times when they’ve struggled with their own potentially inappropriate thoughts and what people will think of them. You can see it Friday evening, 10/9, at the Mental Filmness film festival.
Get your free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-filmness-film-festival-tickets-2000057532921
