Therapist Reacts to THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES

How do you deal with family members who just don't understand you? How can you build bridges and healthy relationships when you feel like you have nothing in common?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright talk about the absolutely spectacular weirdness of the Mitchell family in The Mitchells vs the Machines. This movie is insightful, funny, and teaches us a lot about family relationships, growing up, accepting each other's uniqueness, and how to defeat the robot uprising. It is a truly amazing screenplay. A lot of us can relate to the family relationships in this movie... especially Alan (and probably a lot of other people who work in the film industry and relate to Katie Mitchell.)

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Cinema Therapy is:
Written by: Megan Seawright, Jonathan Decker and Alan Seawright
Produced by: Jonathan Decker, Megan Seawright & Alan Seawright
Director of Photography: Bradley Olsen
English Transcription by: Anna Preis

[VaughnHeslop]

To me, the funniest part of 'The Reckoning has begun!" line is hidden behind the words. The robots haven't been alive (or whatever) for more than a week, but they already have a mythology which includes them being reckoned or sorted in an unpleasant manner.

[robynhoode]

This movie hit so close to home as someone who's attending art school! Having a parent not be supportive of your work and bringing up (albeit well meaning) concerns about career sustainability, security, etc. without acknowledging your work was something I strongly identified with, and it was nice to see the movie address this topic of estrangement. Even more so since lots of my art school peers don't have this sort of background! It felt great to be seen.

[HoneyballLP]

One big part in this bad communications is: we grow up with school / media etc. telling us: be perfect. I was always so afraid of making mistakes, that I made all of them, because of my fear. Nah, the world is not perfect and it is not so important to be perfect.

[jaguarenduda]

I find it really intriguing that the Mitchells are supposed to be a “dysfunctional” family because they are very much what I wish I had as a family

[booey]

I also have to give this dad some credit. He never once says " why can't she be more like normal girls" he may not understand her but he never says her way is wrong

[rontheron]

Alan's filmmaking rant on how underappreciated physical comedy is especially in animation makes me feel seen and understood, it's one of the many reasons why I adore animation as a medium, incredible video as always

[Zhon]

As a writer who runs writing contests, it is incredibly validating to hear Alan's rant on comedies, because it is *so easy* to just write a story where you give the audience a relatable character and then kill them to provoke FEELINGS and those always seem to win over comedies, which are *really freaking hard* to do right.

[ursulabach]

I CRIED with this movie. Also, I’m joining the asking-for-a-video-on-Encanto crew!!

[czossosnkowy]

The dad maybe doesn't understand the daughter's passion, but I love the fact that everything he says is out of concern for her future well-being. He may not be the best support, at least not in a way the daughter wants him to be, but he's not mocking her, nor humiliating her, nor getting in the way of her passion to force something else on her. That's a cool dad.

[PamelaRuddyUKart]

You know you love Cinema Therapy when...

They release a video about a film you haven't heard about and you have to go and watch the movie before you watch the video.

Also when you find out the movie is comedy about a young filmmaker whose dream isn't understood by their parents and spend the whole movie thinking Alan will love this bit, and this bit, and... 👌

You know one video about Encanto isn't going to be enough, right? We need a series. 😘 There's just so much to talk about!

[ohno]

I've cut off ties with my grandmother for various reasons, but one thing that especially struck me was when I was talking to her about this, I said something to the effect of, 'I wish we could just both walk a mile in each other's shoes', and she straight-up said 'I don't think I'd want to do that'. It just really made clear what I already knew, which was that she wasn't willing to see things from my perspective at all. That's what lead to me giving up on having a good relationship with her, in the end. I knew she wasn't going to change her behavior, because she was unwilling to hear my needs.

[eileensnow]

As soon as I saw “Deregulate Tapioca” I knew. These people know their internet humor.

I also love that Aaron is coded as neurodivergent and Katie is part of the LGBT community, and neither one of those things is the focus of their arcs. It’s just part of their characters.

[TheNikNik]

“I want you to feel loved and respected and I’m not sure how to meet that need”
Ok stop. Why didn’t this come out last week. After a terrible 3 day argument with my husband, him grieving a death, words getting taken out of context, I finally told him a version of this. And I really think that is what opened his eyes to how I was being affected by his actions and words. It really does work.

I love you guys, there’s so much I benefit from your channel and I know others do too.

[BlackParadeMarcher]

i can NEVER get over the mom becoming a warrior scene SO much

[scmnz]

This whole family feels very neurodivergent coded and I love that. As a child with autism and adhd who felt isolated/broken, seeing kids like these two in a movie would have meant the world to me, and I’m so glad nd kids today get that,

[zmajcelik]

When I was a kid, I had the idea to roll down the hill in a barrel, like in cartoons. I told my mom about this, and she said - Let's do it! We had a barrel where I could fit in and a very small slope in a yard and my wish was fullfiled! The moment I started a roll, I knew it was a bad idea. :) with every turn, I was falling down, again and again. Needles to say, my mom was very amused. It's a great memory for both of us.

[miZ_dream]

totally agree with the statement that comedies are critically underrated. i can write a sad story easily, i can write romance and even drama if i plot it out enough. but comedy? COMEDY? i wouldn’t even _dare._ it is _incredibly_ hard to actually make a joke hit and even harder when the tone and image all rely on words and the reader’s interpretation.

people who write chat fics (fictional stories written as a group chat) easily earn my respect because those things are made to be wacky and funny and they ARE.

[freyaporter]

I chose the "sensible career" university degree and my parents still talk about law school, so truly you will never win out against the parental anxiety of "oh god will my kid ever be safe and happy"

[A_Wild_Dyzzy]

What I love about the Rick Mitchell Special scene is that once everything blows over, the daughter is the first one to speak up. Showing how much closer they’ve connected. It’s really simple but so impactful.

[jasonhair]

When Linda appears with Aaron after going ham on the robots, Rick says "I can get into this." Katie's face makes me laugh every time right there. It's not the focus of the frame so it's easy to miss.