Marissa Clasbey

I saw this movie when I was eleven or twelve, and the character of Branch stuck out to me. The whole time I was like, "this guy gets it. I can't be happy either" and I was surprised when Poppy just said, "Happiness is in you. You just need someone to help find it.". I was told that fact for my entire life. I was told that maybe I wasn't happy yet, but soon I'd find something that filled the hole in my chest. It turns out that I have clinical depression that runs in my family. This movie really stuck out to me as a preteen because of the message. "Just be happy". It was something that I could never do, and it just felt like a punch in the face. The story is fine, but the message is awful, especially to a kid suffering from a mental illness.