Contrasting Messages on Mental Health: Lessons from “The Right One” and “Turtles All the Way Down”
Mind blown! So here’s the deal.
I watched two movies on the same day, and they totally messed with my head in the best way. Why, you may ask? That’s because they had contrasting messages, but both felt right.
The first movie, literally titled “The Right One,” directed and released in 2021, tells the story of a man who, due to trauma, had decided to live his life without being fully himself. It basically screamed, “Be yourself, no matter what!”
Then, I watched “Turtles All the Way Down.” It’s a recently released 2024 movie about a young girl with intense OCD about germs and how she tried to sustain a relationship while being fully herself but couldn’t. Here, being yourself clashes with, well, yourself! (Gotta fight those intrusive thoughts sometimes.)
Coincidentally, both movies deal with mental health in a way that messes with the idea of “self.”
- “The Right One” deals with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), where the self fractures into many identities, all valid and part of one whole — like a bunch of different selves all fighting for control.
- “Turtles All the Way Down” deals with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), where the self feels duplicated, with one part obsessing over thoughts the brain acknowledges as illogical but cannot help succumbing to — like two versions of you — the one who knows things are crazy and the one who can’t stop freaking out.
At the same time, there is something to learn from both.
“The Right One” says, “Be yourself and face your problems; don’t run from them.”
“Turtles All the Way Down” says, “Hey, sometimes you gotta resist your own messed-up thoughts.”
One says you have to be yourself, and the other says you have to resist yourself sometimes. However, the commonality is that they both receive help from others to improve themselves. Basically, it’s about helping yourself (by confronting your trauma or yourself) and letting others help too.
There was this quote I saw somewhere that stuck with me. It said everyone has a weakness, just like how Superman becomes just a pervert who wears his underwear on the outside when there’s kryptonite involved. But the cool thing is, the people closest to us can be both our weakness — dragging us down sometimes — and our greatest strength — pulling us back up.
That was clear in both movies. The main characters’ relationships weren’t perfect, and the people seemed to bring them down, but they were also the only ones who could build them back up. And even though neither movie ends with a big happily ever after, they weren’t sad. They were hopeful.
I’m glad to have watched them. I learned a lot, and I’m grateful to the directors, actors, and writers for the insights these movies provided.
So, the biggest takeaway is, “Let people help you.”
The big question now is: How do you know you can trust them?
Honestly, you don’t. Now I know that trusting someone is scary because you can’t know for sure if it’s the right move, but guess what? You still need to trust someone.
Taking that chance, being vulnerable — that’s how you really live, you know?
P.S. I remember now. The quote about Superman is from a 2020 Korean drama I watched titled “Mr. Queen.”
It’s the weekend so go check these three movies out if you haven’t already, and come back again to read this post. Happy weekend!
