November, 2025 - screenpsyche.com

Catherine de’ Medici sits on a throne in black gown holding an infant, palace window behind—royal motherhood as political power.

Psychology of Political Motherhood: Catherine de’ Medici in The Serpent Queen

Introduction Catherine de' Medici remains one of history's most debated figures. In this piece we examine the psychology of political motherhood as depicted in the Starz series The Serpent Queen, and…

Screen Psyche November 11, 2025

Ennis Del Mar stands by his small trailer holding Jack’s shirt, distant mountain under soft sky—quiet grief and suppressed identity.

Film Character Analysis

Ennis Del Mar: Suppressed Identity and the Tragedy of Restraint

Spoiler warning: This article discusses Annie Proulx’s short story "Brokeback Mountain" and Ang Lee’s 2005 film adaptation, including Jack Twist’s death and Ennis’s final choices. Ennis Del Mar suppressed identity…

Screen Psyche November 10, 2025

Oil collage of romantic couple framed by watchers, masks, screens, and captive writer—obsessive limerence vs love in film and TV.

Psychological Concepts via Characters

Limerence on Screen: When Obsession Looks Like Love

Trigger warning: this article discusses stalking, boundary violations, captivity, and violence. If these topics are distressing, please pause. Examples of Limerence in Film and TV — Introduction It’s a familiar cinematic…

Screen Psyche November 9, 2025

Rick Grimes stands in sunlit prison yard, revolver lowered, machete on hip; fences and distant walkers hint at hard-won leadership.

TV Character Analysis

Rick Grimes leadership themes in The Walking Dead: A Deep Character Study

Spoiler warning: this analysis covers major plot points across The Walking Dead (Season 2 barn reveal, Season 3 prison/Governor arc, Season 5 Terminus/Grady, Seasons 6–9 leadership battles). Skip to the…

Screen Psyche November 8, 2025

Tom Ripley in 1950s suit on a Venetian pier, stealing a glance at Dickie and Marge on a gondola—envy, mimicry, and assumed identity

Film Character Analysis

Tom Ripley and the seduction of envy

Watching Tom Ripley is like watching someone practice breathing — until he takes your breath away. In Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), the phrase "Tom Ripley and the…

Screen Psyche November 7, 2025

Man with cracked mask over half his face on warped checkerboard; office vs. living-room split, vintage camera—sanity unraveling.

Psychological Concepts via Characters

Fragility of Sanity: How Rational Minds Unravel

We often assume sanity is stable, but the fragility of sanity on screen shows something else: small cracks in routine, role, or reputation can widen into radical interior change. This…

Screen Psyche November 6, 2025

Barry with a half-theatre mask between an acting class and a shadowed gun silhouette—double life of vulnerability and violence.

TV Character Analysis

Barry Berkman: The Double Life of Violence and Vulnerability

"Barry Berkman is both monster and mourner — and the show makes you hold both truths at once." Spoiler warning: This piece contains scene-level analysis from HBO's Barry. If you haven't…

Screen Psyche November 5, 2025

Two schoolgirls with paper crowns walk a garden path toward giant monarch statues; journal pages become birds—Borovnia fantasy vs. reality.

Film Character Analysis

Fantasy and Control in Heavenly Creatures: Pauline Parker Psychological Profile

Trigger warning: This article discusses adolescent violence, murder, and mental health. It examines the 1954 Christchurch case involving Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme and Peter Jackson's film Heavenly Creatures (1994). If you are…

Screen Psyche November 4, 2025

Surreal oil collage: man before mirrors, split paths and doors, film reel, chess pieces and mask—haunted by the self he could have been.

Psychological Concepts via Characters

Haunted by Potential: The Characters Who Fear Who They Could’ve Been

Spoiler note: this analysis discusses major beats from Breaking Bad, BoJack Horseman, The Godfather, and others. If you're spoiler-averse, skim the psychological framework and filmmaking sections first. Film Characters Haunted…

Screen Psyche November 3, 2025

Eleanor Shellstrop holds a ‘Try Again’ clipboard beside a trolley-problem chalkboard in a sunny Good Place village—ethics and growth.

TV Character Analysis

Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place): Morality, Growth, and the Comedy of Redemption

The Scene That Defines Eleanor Shellstrop Imagine a woman, played by Kristen Bell, arriving in a sunlit afterlife and arguing with the receptionist about where she parked her SUV —…

Screen Psyche November 2, 2025