2025 - screenpsyche.com

Jesse Pinkman drives a bright El Camino through sunlit desert highway, dust trailing, hinting at fragile freedom and possible redemption.

Does Jesse find redemption in El Camino?

Spoiler warning: This analysis discusses major plot points in Breaking Bad and El Camino to examine Jesse Pinkman's psychological arc and the film's final moments. Quick answer: Does Jesse find…

Screen Psyche November 14, 2025

Oil portraits of Sherlock, Spock, Lisbeth, and Don Draper, each tense and inward—icons of characters who can’t name what they feel.

Psychological Concepts via Characters

Alexithymia on Screen: Characters Who Can’t Name What They Feel

From Sherlock's clinical logic to Don Draper's ritualized distraction, alexithymia appears again and again in film and TV. This practical guide explains alexithymia, surveys on-screen portrayals, and gives craft-forward, ethical…

Screen Psyche November 12, 2025

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

TV Character Analysis

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