MovieChat Forums > Cyrus (2010) Discussion > Psychological Interpretations?

Psychological Interpretations?

posted 14 years ago by TheOneBillyX
8 replies | jump to latest

Once this movie comes out on DVD, I can see this movie playing at every lifespan development class in the US.

Anyway, I finished school with a psych degree and during the whole movie, I was just trying to analyze why Cyrus is the way he is.

One thing I noticed is that the movie implies that Molly never really established parental boundaries with her son. For example: Cyrus calls his mom by her first name and Cyrus walks into the bathroom while his mom is showering. I have to wonder how Molly was raising her son.

More so, maybe Molly has abandonment issues that she transferred to her son.

Even more so, Cyrus was probably parentified and took the role of the adult male way to early in life.

There are so many possible ways the characters can be analyzed in this movie.

Any Thoughts?

[–] RobertWalrod 14 years ago

an interesting point of view.

Cyrus has major abandonment issues for sure.

Only at the end of the film is he able to recognize the problems that he really has. I think he's in denial a lot of the time.

[–] rex_ilusivii 13 years ago

He's not the only problematic one. Molly also is. I think, when they were left without the father in the house, she felt that as a provider, she betrayed her son. Fearful of what Cyrus, and herself, will think of her, she in order to prove to Cyrus he will never be hurt again, builds such a family (with his approval and help) in which he would never think he'd be left without a mother as well. A family in which noone can come in between them because, hey, they're self-sufficient. So she, even though beautiful and very desirable, wards off men for 20 years. Their relationship is controlled by fear.

no i am db

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] chas437 12 years ago

Cyrus has an Oedipus complex, which is a result of being an overly sheltered child, a lack of male influence, and by the complicancy of a emotionally disturbed mother.

[–] DanaShelbyChancey 12 years ago

I can add something I think applies. Molly never saw Cyrus as anything but a child. He never got past the age of 5 or so.

I see it all the time with parents I know.

[–] Pantouflica 12 years ago

This is the thing that bothered me after I finished watching movie - it didn't go deep in the relationship between Molly and Cyrus. It gave us some clues, but the rest we have to guess. And it was supposed to be the main idea for the movie. Also, I hated how John never told Molly - hey, you raised him wrong, you're treating him wrong. Instead, he goes and blames Cyrus, telling him it's all his fault. And lets face it, it's mainly Molly's fault. Seeing a photo of her breastfeeding big boy Cyrus - disturbing.

[–] blacknyellowsquid 12 years ago

^ yeah. Cyrus was a total dysfunctional ball of personality disorder. But I agree, the mom created that hot mess. She sort of admits it to Cyrus at one point but...yeah. Not all the blame should be on Cyrus for sure, I thought that too when John was just totally blaming him for it all.