Nov 30, 2020
How The Movie Warrior (2011) Helped Me Overcome My Addiction
This last September 9 will be just nine years of this American film directed by Gavin O’Connor. In this film, the story would revolve around three characters in a linear narrative including some flashbacks by one of these characters.
If you are reading this and have not seen the movie yet, I recommend you watch it before reading the post. However, I will try not to give so many details so that the tape is still a surprise if you have not seen it yet.
If you already saw it, it has probably been several years since you did, so I will choose to remember the main plot of the film and remind you of the characters.
Warrior introduces us to an ex-alcoholic father with a haunting past and about to reach a thousand days sober. His alcoholism led him to treat his children in an undesirable way, achieving separation from the family and leaving his children adrift in life.
My readers are smart. You have probably deduced from the title that I have a problem related to alcohol and drinking. The truth is that no, my addiction is a little more personal and even more common than many think, but that is another topic that I will probably discuss later on my channel, so follow me if you want to find out what it is about. I’m not going to talk to you about my addiction, but about the way that this movie gave me a new perspective on the problem and in this way treat it in a different way. And effective.
Right at the beginning of the film, we can notice that there is a duality, in it two very opposite brothers are presented; Tommy and Brendan. Brendan is a high school teacher with a stable family and it seems that the use of reason gets along quite well. Tommy, on the other hand, is a character who is always in the fight or flight state.
Within the plot of the tape, you hear about a mixed martial arts tournament with a prize of five million dollars. It is an excellent opportunity presented to both brothers to train and reach first place. Meanwhile, the father is fascinated by the opportunity to train Tommy as it offers him a way to reconcile with his son.As expected, the film ends with the final fight between the brothers. However, here is my theory and the hidden message I found on the tape.
From ancient Chinese philosophy, a concept of duality is handled in everything that exists in the universe, perhaps you can know it as Yin and Yang.
At first glance, we can think that the story is about the triangulation between the father and his two sons. But I think the story is more about an individuality made up of this duality. The father represents this individuality, while his children are dualism. Tommy, representing the dark part of the human being, that part that appears when we are in a state of fight or flight, that part of us that is prone to sin and self-destruction. Brendan, representing the white part of the human being, the soft part and with good intentions, where the altruism of human beings is truly found.
We will treat this concept for what it is; a theory.
In the scientific community, when you have a theory, what you do is attack its weak points until it falls. If your theory doesn’t collapse, then it is more likely to be correct. And if it collapses you have two options; change the theory or change the system. The correct thing is to change the theory, however, there are people who change the system. Terraplanism, cough cough.
Now let’s try to attack the weak points of the theory.
If it’s really true, why didn’t they tell us directly or indirectly in the movie? In fact, they did. When the characters are first introduced to us, Tommy is introduced to us in the dark, indulged in hedonism with an alcoholic drink and huddled in a corner of the screen, as if hiding.
On the other hand, when the teacher Brendan is introduced to us, the scene is totally full of colors, he even appears with his face painted, as if the balance of these dualities was very unbalanced. Let’s see, if the father’s scale were really balanced, Brendan would appear for the first time with his face totally painted as a clown? Is this not a wink that the character Brendan is very to the extreme of kindness?
And finally, what is the conclusion of all this? What can you take from this writing? What did I learn?
To answer this question, we must go to the conclusion of every movie. This is generally in the last minutes when the final fight is taking place.
Cognitive Defusion
We can see the father, from afar, observing how his two parts are facing each other directly. The father of a few years ago would have intervened in this endless battle that all humans go through, from the beginning to the end. But now start another strategy, just watch. Just watch.
Cognitive defusion is a concept that comes from the origins of classical cognitive theories, where the emphasis of the therapeutic process was only on the mental processes of the subject, taking away other aspects, such as innate responses to certain stimuli.
One of the elements of cognitive defusion is the observation of intrusive thoughts that we may have throughout the day. Thoughts that are a product after seeing a delicious cake, for food addiction problems, for example.
What the last scene represents, according to my theory, is the technique of observation versus duality facing off. The father found the solution to his problem, simply observing, without meddling in battle. After the brothers got out of the ring and headed towards the exit of the place, the father could have followed them and accompanied them. However, it was not like that, from afar he watches and walks away. He did his job, he was able to control both sides.
