Trauma And The Winter Soldier (MARVEL) (Spoilers)
Marvel in association with Disney released a new episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier(TFATWS) yesterday. All the following opinions are my own, I am not a licensed psychiatrist/psychologist, nor a film critic. Spoilers for those who haven't watched the show.
I happened to watch the movie about the Winter Soldier (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) before I watched the movie about Bucky (Captain America: The First Avenger). And now I am watching one episode after the other as it releases on Disney Plus.
I feel for James Buchanan Barnes, aka Bucky, as he is forced to fight battles he doesn't want to, again and again, especially when he confessed in the first episode that he had a little calm in Wakanda. He had decades of relentless fighting before and after Wakanda. I only wish that by the end of the series he gets the calm and rest he so amply deserves.
As we watch Bucky sigh and ask T'Challa where the battle was in Infinity War, we see a worn individual, hating that there is yet another war and he is one of the soldiers yet again. He has been trained to fight, and fight is all he ever does, even though he made a promise to Steve to follow him in every battle.
In the second episode of TFATWS, we see some growth in his character, knowing that he hid the identity of another super soldier from Steve, to spare the guy from more misery than he was used to. Clearly his arc has developed a lot since his enlistment days and sidekick-to-post-serum Steve days. He is healing in his own time, I feel he began the process even before he started attending those government mandated psych sessions.
Individuals with PTSD do not do well in most settings if not given the help the need. A trauma of a few months is capable of damaging the mental health of an individual for their life, so we need to take mental health more seriously than ever. Minor cuts and bruises are given more attention than they deserve, but a mental breakdown is laughed away, ignored at, or made out to be shameful. The brain is probably the least understood organ, at least functionally if not anatomically. Bucky's self worth is ruined after his Hydra experience, he turns from a confident, wise-cracking soldier off to save the world with his best buddy into a doubtful man, afraid of his own super-strength.
Fights and battles led to Bucky's capture and henceforth to the cause of his trauma. I can only imagine what kind of mental strength he musters every time he has to fight in a war all over again. Doing the job that led to his deep-seated anxiety and anguish, day in and day out, paints a picture similar to what another famous fictional character did in the Harry Potter novels. Neville Longbottom comes to mind. He faced his greatest fear, Snape, everyday, just like Bucky's spirit endures everyday.
Telling a person just to snap out of their traumatizing experience, be it enslavement and manipulation of their mind and body, or the fear of a beloved pet getting killed anytime, and asking the person to concentrate on the "task at hand" is a stupid idea. Yet, most people will do that even though they can literally see you broken to pieces. It is difficult to gather oneself up in such a situation, knowing that there is nobody to support you, to hold you in your time of crisis. Do not be ashamed to get help in such a situation, even a sympathizing ear is good enough. Even a rant is better than nothing. Speaking up about trauma and how it affects you is one step towards improvement. Take that step, talk to someone. Even if that someone happens to be an MS-Word document and you are typing instead of shouting, do that.
Blogging is good too. It gives you a cute and customisable outlet for expression.
-Sush
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