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PATREON MOVIE DISCUSSION:

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A few days after recording for Dear Evan Hansen, Daniel felt compelled to expand upon certain topics we discussed. As such, here's Cinematic Doctrine's third and final installment of their Dear Evan Hansen series. Considering the complex subject matter of the film, there's some additional perspective and background Daniel felt was necessary to explain his reasoning behind his intensely critical thoughts.

Topics: 

• Daniel stands by his harsh perspective of the movie, but feels uncomfortable leaving his feelings without explanation.
• Evan Hansen is a fictional character with "movie mental illness"; an undefined psychiatric issue that largely is only relevant when the plot needs it to be.
• If we try and understand his mental health issues, and then see how they vanish when he's lying, are we to believe that Evan Hansen is "coming into his own" when he embraces a pathological lying trait?
• The whole movie has a literary veneer of "Mental Health" without actually having reasonable perspective on Mental Health.
• Daniel categorizes different kinds of mental health patients based upon his experience working at a Psych Hospital, and how one type of patient is the "Bojack Horseman".
• Unlike Bojack Horseman, where the character can be partially pitied and rooted for despite being the root cause of the show's problems, Evan Hansen is the anti-Bojack Horseman.
• Recovery includes transformation, as well as an admittance of fault, which never becomes fulfilled in Dear Evan Hansen. Evan Hansen does less than the bare minimum in resolution to the horrible things he's committed throughout the film.
• Dear Evan Hansen continues the frustrating reality of online mental health discussions, both by talking about its subject matter relatively poorly, and by clouding an already heavily obscured conversation in online communities.

Recommendations: 

• Harold Lindsell - "Lindsell Study Bible: The Living Bible, Paraphrased - Reference Edition"
• The Ezra Klein Show - "The Case Against Loving Your Job"
• Jenny Nicholson - "A Needlessly Thorough Roast of Dear Evan Hansen"

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