Anxiety in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

This is just a quick video I'm making between some of my longer videos on this channel. That being said. [Yelling] Why is one of the best depictions of anxiety I've ever seen in a movie from an anthropomorphic cat in the [____]ing Shrek Universe?! Puss in Boots, we all know him. If you haven’t seen either of his spin-off movies I highly encourage you to watch them they are genuinely very good. In my personal opinion I’d rank Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as an S-Tier movie. I could talk about the

animation, the plot, and literally everything else I absolutely adored about this movie, but I’m not much of a person for reviews and there’s something else that made me sit down and write this entire thing almost immediately after watching it in theaters. And of course, to those who have watched my other content, you will know that that thing is character based because I’m incapable of writing anything but a character analysis even when I try to write a broad film analysis. It’s my achilles he

al, probably, but oh well, I got things to say and I’m gonna say them. Puss in Boots The Last Wish tackles the topic of anxiety very seriously and with a lot of maturity that, for a kids movie, honestly took me back a little. Not in a bad way at all. I wish more kid’s movies handled themes as maturely as this one does. Anxiety is probably one of the most common disorders portrayed in media just because of how broad it is. Sometimes these portrayals of anxiety are incredibly inaccurate and other

times they are right on the nose. Puss in Boots, in my opinion, portrays it extremely well. Like, it’s so well done that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The entire movie is just playing on loop in my mind free of charge. In this specific case, Puss is terrified of mortality, or thanatophobia. The fear of death. He goes his entire life up in his own egotistical, arrogant world basking in ignorant risk taking. He’s an adrenaline junky, always looking for the rush and applause. So wh

en he’s finally hit in the face, or I guess slashed in the face, by the fact that he is not invincible and that death can catch up to him it seeps into his skin unwelcoming. His fear of death didn’t really come out of no where though. This works well with his character as established in the first Puss in Boots movie. He’s always on the run, never really letting himself catch a break as he picks up another heist, another chase, and another party. It’s the prospect of all that rush stopping, of so

mething being permanent and calm, that truly scares him. Hence why he gets cold feet at his wedding and runs away. Because he always runs. A fearless hero does not stick around long enough to feel the fear. Death is just an extreme consequence of that variety that breaks into that anxiety and rips it open tenfold. His anxiety was always there, he just never really noticed it because he avoided it by taking adrenaline rush after adrenaline rush. But eventually, it caught up to him along with Deat

h. Now he is put into a position where he is forced to acknowledge his fears, but even while he’s aware of them he attempts to continue running because it is all he knows. Of course, when you’re painstakingly aware of the fear and all-consuming dread that used to keep you moving forward it tends to do the opposite and hold you back. He winds up going to basically a cat retirement home to theoretically spend the rest of is life, as he is too afraid to face the rest of the world. His anxiety at th

is point is so debilitating to him that he’s willing to sacrifice his sense of self and happiness in order to ease the panic. Almost sending him into a depressive state, in a way. The entire movie he’s on edge. He panics any time something reminds him of the wolf, which we know is Death in hindsight. He is shaken up while he fights as each time something comes at him all he can think about is the possibility of it being the last thing that hits him. It isn’t necessarily thrown in the viewers fac

e either or spoonfed to you. It is conveyed through the subtle change in his attitude due to his newfound fear of the unknown vs his previous thrill-seeking. You can just tell by his body language, and of course the way the scenes are directed is meant to relay that sense of unease to the audience as well. Side note: Kudos to the sound design in this movie because god damn Death’s whistle was so unsettling. And getting to the main reason I made this video in the first place: the panic attack sce

ne. I feel like a lot of films have a tendency to overdramafy panic attacks. And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing depending on the context, it is a little jarring to see when there aren’t many realistic examples of what they look like. They don’t do that in this movie. The scene itself is very stagnant. It is literally just Puss breathing uncontrollably, but it’s the way the sound starts coming together and his heartbeat is ringing in your ears. It’s how the shot from his perspective isn

’t really focusing on anything despite Perrito being right in front of him. He isn’t able to calm down until Perrito grounds him by placing his head onto him. And afterwards the movie gives his character a moment to breathe and process the attack before it picks up the pace again. It’s nothing showstopping it just IS. And I think that the decision to allow his panic attack to just be what it was ultimately served to make the scene come across as much more raw and gut-wrenching than if it were ot

herwise. It was just very real and felt very visceral to me as someone who has dealt with panic attacks before. There’s something to be said about the art of simplicity and the direction took to depict that those feelings of anxiety are certainly real, but aren’t as big as they feel in the moment. The masterful portrayal of anxiety is essentially because it is showcased as this aspect of his character. A force so deeply rooted into him, yet easily masked in his behavior at surface level. It's in

his head. It is his constant fight or flight that is so prevalent in anxiety, and the way it is shown in his character, the way he avoids it and avoids talking about it to the others, that is very much how anxiety is in real life for many people. Prior to his panic attack, what sets him off is Death merely whistling. Puss is the only one who sees and hears him. Death purposely waits for Puss to be alone to show up in every scene except the last. I’d also assume the laws of the universe wouldn’t

apply to the literal embodiment of death either, which is why no one else is able to hear the whistle in this moment. In this specific scene, he doesn’t actually pursue a chase with Puss. He merely reminds him that he is always watching, always waiting, and all it takes is one moment for him to strike. It is that bonechilling reminder of mortality that sends Puss off the edge and has him running. The way the movie has him manage his anxiety is very grounded in reality. After the climax of all o

f the stress catches up to him, he talks it out and begins to tackle his fears slowly, one step at a time. Starting with apologizing to Kitty and opening up about his anxiety, or at least some of it with her, and it helps him regain control of his life again little by little. Of course, the most daunting of his fears is the one that's the hardest for him to grapple, his fear of dying. Running away from his fear of Death is what ruins the trust he had rebuilt in his relationship with Kitty over t

he course of the movie as his judgement is once again clouded by the desperation to escape reality. Ultimately, he attempts to open up to Kitty in a moment of desperation, but his hesitence to be wholeheartedly upfront and honest prior makes it difficult for Kitty to trust his words will align with his actions, especially considering that he is still actively cowaring away. He continues to run from this problem, terrified of the unknown that would come with accepting that he isn’t invincible, th

at he can be hurt, until Perrito gets through to him that life is worth something because of the comforts in it, not because of the dangers Puss has found himself relishing glory in. Thematically this film is about conquering your fears. The only way to conquer anxiety, disordered or not, is to face your fears in the face. It’s not easy, and it is certainly much more simple when the concept of your fear is embodied in a personification that you can physically fight, but the execution of this mes

sage is what really matters here, not the logistics of it. Puss allows himself to accept the fact that death is an inevitable in life despite the fear he feels and that he can’t run from it forever, but he keeps fighting for the life he has and won’t let fear stop him from enjoying what he has in the moment. He isn’t going to run away anymore. By choosing to challenge his anxiety, not run from it, he becomes something even better than a fearless hero. That is, a brave hero. And that’s enough for

Death to leave him be until it is truly his time to go. Special thanks to my Patrons for their support! Their names are on the screen right now. And make sure to comment and subscribe! This was just a quick video I wanted to make in between some of my larger uploads. I hope it gave you something to think about. I love this movie so much. It easily became one of my top 5 favorite movies after the first watch. Really- Seriously watch it, it's so good.