During my psychological solace days that happened for these past three days after I did my pre-defense presentation, I watched this film titled Thanks for Sharing, a (supposedly) comedy drama directed by Stuart Blumberg, starring talented, even big stars like Mark Ruffalo, Pink, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins and Josh Gad. At first, my main reason was because of Mark Ruffalo, since I am currently doing a marathon on his films, as many as I could possibly get (I got fascinated by him lately). The film itself only got a rotten 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. I usually agree with many of RotTom's film percentages, but this film really got me.
I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars. I'd say that this film is, although having a lot of problems in its claim for being a comedy, its pace (that frustrated me because the early sequences could just easily be so boring and confusing) and its character development (there are supposedly three main characters in the film with a lot of supporting characters that may drive its audience away from focusing from each of the main character's story), should not then be considered just a total mess. I still somehow adore this film, because of this one thing: its bravery to point out the issue of what may have been counted as a First World Problem: sex addiction. Plus that Mark Ruffalo, Josh Gad and Pink really delivered their performance greatly.
The fact that any kind of addiction, let alone sex addiction, that brings you to a support group system is already seen as a total shame that you'd never want to share with anyone except those who are also pathetic and problematic like you makes me think of how people don't care that there are severe psychological problems that need to be solved--that these are actual problems. I myself used to disbelieve psychologists back in my teenage years for thinking that they were just scams that would take all your money and not your problems away. I have changed this mind lately, starting my third year of college, because I finally realized that is an utterly bullshit and stupid commentary from me. Psychology and psychiatry are integral science. They are proven and they keep on developing. They actually save people's lives.
Anyhow, the lack of support group systems and the fact that you would find it really difficult to admit and fix your psychological problems prove how their existence are not even considered. Why? Because once you do so, there will always be judgments and stereotyping that will then drown you into the deep sea bottom. It may come from a smaller institution, like your family, or a bigger one, that might deal with your finance. For instance, my brother was once hospitalized for having a panic attack, but the doctor did not write it down as a panic attack in his insurance documents, instead calling it a low blood pressure. When I asked deliberately why he did so, he answered, "Well, you won't be able to claim your insurance once I wrote it down as a panic attack." Maybe, on a higher note, those insurance people might think that a person might not function perfectly once they have this issue that they will be a burden to the insurance with all those money and s***.
Thanks for Sharing tells the story of sex addiction through three sex addicts, Adam (Mark Ruffalo), Mike (Tim Robbins) and Neil (Josh Gad) who work their ass off to get into sobriety through the help of the support group that they attend, where they also help each other by being sponsees to other philanders. This is where their same problem takes them to a whole lot of things. There is a fear of judgment and stereotyping, a will to change and also obstacles of not getting into that level of sobriety (of course, it's a film). Being sober is not easy, but it's good to see that support group systems do play a major role in their efforts to change--be it successful or not so much.
I want to wrap this up with my thought that psychological issues, like addictions, are real problems. Just like physical diseases and illnesses. Just like climate change. Just like everything else, basically. Call it a first world problem, but isn't yourself part of this humongous universe we live in? So if there are problems in yourself, aren't those world problems too? Not trying to be self-centered, but my point is that psychological problems do exist. They are real AND what's more important is that they need to be fixed. Because what? If not, they may not only disturb your life and your world, but also other people and their worlds too. And I thank Thanks for Sharing for popping this up into my mind. I hope this film can be screened in more screens and more films about these kind of issues can be brought up (in a more sophisticated way) so that people won't look down at psychological problems.
Especially sex addiction, that clearly ruins people's lives. Oh, how I wish my Government and countrymen-countrywomen would want to take note from this film.
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