The Beaver

[Trekker4747]

It was mentioned specifically in the trailer that it's a prescribed therapeutic tool. I can't be arsed to watch it again and tell you the exact moment, but it's there if you look. I distinctly remember that bit.

It's only "mentioned" when we see Jodi Foster (the ex-wife) read the card handed to her by Mel which, for all we know, Mel made-up himself and it wasn't done by a doctor.

The narrative in the trailer suggests the puppet's personality and the resulting therapy comes out on its own and not through a doctor's suggestion.

Reading some reviews it seems as if this case, he goes through this phase not under the direction of a doctor but of his own volition. Again, it's my belief that you are doing this your mental health is not getting better.

I am willing to "forgive and forget" Gibson's tirades if he manages to entertain me again -I can still watch his older movies and enjoy them- but this movie doesn't look like it's going to be one I'll be dying to see.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It was mentioned specifically in the trailer that it's a prescribed therapeutic tool. I can't be arsed to watch it again and tell you the exact moment, but it's there if you look. I distinctly remember that bit.

It's only "mentioned" when we see Jodi Foster (the ex-wife) read the card handed to her by Mel which, for all we know, Mel made-up himself and it wasn't done by a doctor.

The narrative in the trailer suggests the puppet's personality and the resulting therapy comes out on its own and not through a doctor's suggestion.

Reading some reviews it seems as if this case, he goes through this phase not under the direction of a doctor but of his own volition. Again, it's my belief that you are doing this your mental health is not getting better.

I am willing to "forgive and forget" Gibson's tirades if he manages to entertain me again -I can still watch his older movies and enjoy them- but this movie doesn't look like it's going to be one I'll be dying to see.

Yeah, he might have made it up. I haven't seen the movie so obviously I don't know. I'm just saying it was at least implied to be true.

Anyway, using such transference techniques is perfectly legitimate as long as you're using it to cope. Gibson's character appears to latch onto it as a long-term crutch which is probably not healthy.

 

[JarodRussell]

Cool, are we now criticizing the movie before we have actually seen it?

 

[Goliath]

Of course we are.

What are you, new?

 

[chardman]

Pretty sure that a shrink suggest the puppet therapy, and gives Gibson's character the puppet. He balks at the idea, but takes the puppet to get the shrink off his case, only to throw the puppet away soon after he gets home. Then something happens which causes him to change his mind, and that lead to the scene in the trailer where he "rescues" the puppet out of the trash.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Okay, you guys got me all curious so I had to go look it up. It appears from this synopsis (which gives away a lot of the movie, so beware spoilers) that there is no therapist involved and that he found and prescribed the puppet himself.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Okay, you guys got me all curious so I had to go look it up. It appears from this synopsis (which gives away a lot of the movie, so beware spoilers) that there is no therapist involved and that he found and prescribed the puppet himself.

So his character is not just mental, but untreated! Awesome.

 

[Trekker4747]

Because mental illness is funny and whimsical!

 

[DeafPoet]

Because mental illness is funny and whimsical!

Hey, it can be. We don't know how this thing ends. It's entirely possible everybody lives happily ever after. If he's mentally ill and the film ends with him chugging Jack Daniels in an alley then I'll feel safe calling it insensitive and crass.

 

[Holdfast]

I actually really like the concept behind this movie. I won't pay to see it, but I like the concept and if the execution is good, wish it well.

That reminds me of something that happened when I was on strike, about twelve years ago.

We were picketing, and I was picket captain. A motorist rolled down his window and started berating me, about how he used to support us, but didn't any more, because our picket lines were disrupting everything so much.

"Really?" I asked. "So, what were you doing for us, when you supported us?"

He spluttered angrily, and rolled his window back up.

I'm sending out good vibrations. Mel should count himself lucky. My bad vibrations are to be rightly feared...

I actually really like the concept behind this movie. I won't pay to see it, but I like the concept and if the execution is good, wish it well.

As a psychologist don't you think that a person with clinical depression, apparently, beginning to exhibit multiple-personality-disorder or whatever disorder would cause them to behave in this manner is a regression in mental health and not an improvement or is all that "healthy"?

To clarify, I'm a psychiatrist, not a psychologist.

Obviously, I haven't seen the movie, so don't know the ins and outs of the plot or the execution. From what I've seen, I assumed that Gibson's character has latched onto the puppet as a means of self-expression, allowing him to an emotionally release under life stress that would otherwise render him near-catatonic with pain.

To use a Trek parallel, in a way, it's analogous to that episode of TNG where the kid starts pretending he's an android, as a defence mechanism to cope with the loss of his parents. There's a huge amount of exploration that can be done with this theme, and the movie could take it in any number of directions. The puppet be used in a healthy, guided way, or could become an overwhelming unhealthy transference.

It'll be interesting to see what the movie does with the potentially immense scope of the theme. That's why I wish it well, and look forward to seeing it on TV at some point.

 

[Aragorn]

Richard Roeper has an early review of this movie on his website RichardRoeper.com and gives it an A+ if you want to check it out.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I saw the trailer for this about a month ago. I wasn't going to start a thread on it, but after a year or so of seeing pictures of Mel Gibson with the beaver, I have to say I am rather relieved that Mel Gibson was making a movie and not just chasing random people around with a fucking puppet on his hand.

With all of the other crap he's been into, I was seriously wondering if he just went that nuts.

 

[scotpens]

Not to forget about Roman Polanski, who drugged and ass-raped a little girl and runs away from the prosecution. Still like his movies.

Just to get the facts straight, Roman Polanski didn’t flee to avoid prosecution, but to avoid sentencing. He had pled guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (plea-bargained down from the original six separate charges).

Wiki:

On release from prison after 42 days, Polanski expected that at final sentencing he would be put on probation. However, the judge had apparently changed his mind in the interim and now “suggested” to Polanski's attorney, Douglas Dalton, that more jail time and possible deportation were in order. Polanski was also told by his attorney that despite the fact that the prosecuting attorneys recommended probation, “the judge could no longer be trusted . . .” and the judge's representations were “worthless.”

Upon learning of the judge's plans Polanski fled to France on February 1, 1978, just hours before sentencing by the judge.As a French citizen, he has been protected from extradition and has lived mostly in France since then.

Jeez, you drug and sodomize one thirteen-year-old girl and they never let you hear the end of it!

And now we return to our topic, already in progress . . .

Because mental illness is funny and whimsical!

Are you saying it can’t be?

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzHtm1jhL4[/yt]

 

[Trekker4747]

Because mental illness is funny and whimsical!

Are you saying it can’t be?

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzHtm1jhL4[/yt]

Well, of course it can be but not in the manner this movie is supposedly trying to "sell it" where we're supposed to accept this move as Gibson's character changing for the better.

 

[JarodRussell]

Because mental illness is funny and whimsical!

Are you saying it can’t be?

Well, of course it can be but not in the manner this movie is supposedly trying to "sell it" where we're supposed to accept this move as Gibson's character changing for the better.

Du, you haven't even seen the movie yet. In fact, given that you created this thread bashing it from the start just based on a trailer, this is getting really tiresome.