Reflection on "Scaredeycat"

The documentary allowed me to think about human behavior and fear in a different perspective. At the beginning of the film, Andy seemed almost fearful when something was out of place, and that he wouldn’t feel comfortable unless he performed his “ritual” to fix such things. I imagine how hard it must be for people like Andy who can’t always control their surroundings. Everyone has something that makes them feel uneasy, and not being able to do anything alleviate that discomfort must be stressful and distracting.

I found Andy’s conversation with his attacker intriguing as well. Andy telling his attacker that he’s happy he’s in prison is a powerful and unforgettable moment.  This appears to be one way that Andy is moving on from his incident. Discussing the incident with family and friends was probably difficult enough. I can’t imagine speaking with the person who did this to me or asking them about being abused earlier in life. During the scene, Andy seemed tense and a little uncertain. Even though the person on the other end was no where near him, I bet Andy felt some kind of anxiety or fear nonetheless.

One more thing I enjoyed about the film was the topics it correlates to, including: overgeneralizing, misremembering, picking and choosing fears, doing something about our fears, and how people are so used to having a structured lifestyle that they might think something traumatic would never happen to them. I’ve seen other films depicting real cases where a woman who was raped will look at a couple of men and identify the wrong man as her rapist. I know people who aren’t racist or try to be racist, but act differently around certain ethnic groups due to past experiences. Picking and choosing fears is interesting to me due to the seemingly infinite kinds of fears in the world. I know people say facing your fears can conquer them, but it seems like a majority of people don’t want to attempt to eradicate their fears (myself included). Having a structured lifestyle is something that I try to cohere to. However, I know that at any moment, anything can happen that I may not be ready for. For the most part, I’m okay with “going with the flow” and understand when things come up. But I also recognize when my dependence on having structure and knowing what to expect gets the best of me, and I begin to worry more than I should.