Puss in Boots 2 knows its audience. Sure, it’s rated PG, and the screening I went to was full of excited kids, but when it comes to Shrek, who knows that the main demographics are Generation Z and millennials with anxiety disorders? I know too.
At one point, our love of the Shrek movies may have been ironic and part of a generational inside joke, but when the push came, we realized that the world of Shrek had some very good movies. I am not afraid to admit it.
If you’ve read my Puss in Boots 2 review (warning: spoilers ahead!), you know I appreciate that silly little cat. , has a good script, a compelling plot, and I’m not ashamed to say that this animated film resonated deeply in ways I wasn’t expecting. It helped me communicate and verbalize my anxiety in a way I had never seen before. on the screen before.
In the family-friendly movie, the cat in boots faces his death after recklessly wasting 8 of his 9 cats’ lives. The ghosts of the dead weigh heavily on you.
The hooded wolf makes sure his presence is felt whenever he seems to be enjoying himself or forgetting his underlying fear of death for a moment. But death feels like the perfect symbol for anxiety, much like how it helped encapsulate having depression.
For many people, anxiety involves some sort of worst-case scenario, and when faced with it our bodies go into fight-or-flight mode.And what scenario is worse than death?
Despite being a seasoned adventurer, Puss eventually decided to ‘run away’ like many of us do when faced with anxiety. That is, consistently running away from problems and taking extreme measures to avoid them. The thought of facing it sends him into a panic – and in a scene already widely praised on social media, he is seen suffering from a panic attack.
The history of panic attacks in movies and TV series is less than ideal (if you’ve seen the animated series Velma, kissing someone without consent is not the way to stop a panic attack). ), but this comedy about Tiny Boots Cats did the most accurate thing I’ve ever seen.
It wasn’t romanticized, over-dramatized, or downplayed its seriousness. Instead, we watched Puss move and breathe until it calmed down. Not only was it refreshing to see panic attacks accurately portrayed on screen, but I believe it was a great way to get kids to normalize their panic attacks.
But kids aren’t the only ones who can learn something from cartoon characters depicting anxiety on screen. all To avoid death, including fleeing, fighting, and even wishing upon a star, Pasu believes that the only way death can truly be “defeated” is that he Can not knock it down.
The only way to get over death was to stop fearing it and endure the uncertainty of life and death. Similarly, unpleasant consequences to the situation cannot be completely avoided, but can All we have to do is accept that there are some things in life that we cannot control.
We can overthink, we can be impulsive, we can seek reassurance until our faces turn blue, but only by allowing uncertainty can we learn to fear uncertainty. increase. I live with health anxiety, so my fear can literally lead to death.
Lately, I’ve been procrastinating and avoiding blood tests I knew I should have because it was easier to run away from my anxiety than to face the uncertainty of my health. I ended up making an appointment for a blood test. And it all depends on Cat in Boots.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will hit theaters on February 3rd.
