Popcorn Perspectives

Netflix’s The Healing Powers of Dude provides a kid friendly and comedic approach to understanding social anxiety and emotional support animals.

Taking viewers into the mind and showcasing what anxiety looks and feels like. Using scenes to display the overwhelming effects and symptoms of anxiety and anxiety attacks and highlighting coping mechanisms to help combat anxiety and the importance of emotional support animals.

Following 11-year-old Noah Ferris (Jace Chapman) as he journeys back to in person learning as he navigates middle school. Noah turned to home school because of his intense social anxiety and is pushed to return to in-person learning after he exceeds his home school teacher’s (his father played by Tom Everett Scott) ability. After many failed attempts at a return, his parents enlist the help of Dude, an emotional support chihuahua. 

The Healing Powers of Dude offers an educational approach to teaching children about anxiety through Noah. Through the show, the audience is taken through different symptoms and effects of anxiety through Noah and his anxiety attacks. One scene in particular provides a look into what it feels like to have an anxiety attack. In the first episode of season one titled Second Step Home Room, Noah sees the school children turn into zombies and rush him. The audience watches as the school around him quickly turns into a zombie filled wasteland he must escape to survive. As Noah becomes overwhelmed, the audio becomes distorted and the shots become fuzzy, mimicking the symptoms many people with anxiety suffer during anxiety attacks. Allowing children to understand anxiety by experiencing the symptoms through the scenes. 

While Dude provides a comedic relief element that resonates with children and provides a lighthearted tone to deep and intense scenes. The series follows Dude as he learns his role of being an emotional support and what it truly entails. Starting as a judgey dog who thinks Noah is the strangest child, later learns how to comfort and support Noah so he can thrive in social situations. Audiences watch as Dude learns to understand Noah’s symptoms and quickly learns how to comfort Noah and protect him. Turning his judgement to understanding and support, Dude who once wanted nothing to do with Noah ends up not wanting to know what life would look like without him. 

Dude is the star of the show with his quick to speak mind and his many great on liners. Although the human character cannot understand him, it makes comments even funnier and provides support to the deep elements tackled. Allowing for a good laugh after a good lesson and allowing a sense of comfort after tackling a topic that can make people uncomfortable. 

While the show also shows Noah tackle typical middle school problems and shows him finding his place with his group of friends. With some struggle he befriends Amara (Sophie Kim) quickly bonding with Amara who has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheel chair over how to survive middle school as she  provides him with tips and tricks. The duo later befriend Simon (Mauricio Lara) with a lot of resistance from Noah as Simon loves to be the centre of attention – Noah’s ultimate nightmare.    

The series explores the typical struggles of being in middle school from making friends to expressing your feelings for a girl that everyone can relate to. While the series also touches on discrimination and unfair treatment of disabled students in schools through Arama’s storyline of auditioning for the play. Where she is passed over by the drama teacher for not being able to dance, although she is the obvious choice with her insanely talented singing voice.   

The Healing Powers of Dude is a must watch. It offers an amazing opportunity to educate children on anxiety and disability in a kid friendly manner that kids will understand and resonate  with. The show explores the experiences of tackling middle school with anxiety, perfectly encapsulating the highs and lows of being a kid and highlighting the importance of friends and family. 

Have you seen The Healing Powers of Dude? Did you think the show does a good job at representing anxiety? Comment down below!

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