Fans crave to see the personal struggles and triumphs of their favorite celebrities through documentaries. It allows us to investigate and create our own opinions from the carefully curated sliver celebs decide to show. However, in the recent Netflix documentary “Stutz”, this isn’t the case.
The documentary “Stutz” is focused on Jonah Hill’s psychiatrist Phil Stutz. Hill takes the documentary in its most candid form. He acknowledges parts of the filmmaking that are not honest with what the actual production has been like, and explains how the beginning of the movie they are filming with a green screen. Or, how the whole documentary they are wearing the same clothes to make it seem like it was filmed in one day. Jonah Hill wears a wig because that’s what his hair looked like when they were first shooting. The ultimate purpose, with these things aside, is that fans get to see an intimate look at the famous comedian through a discussion with his psychiatrist.
Jonah Hills’ purpose for making a documentary about his psychiatrist was to show people how they can actually help themselves. The tips go beyond the normal self help repeated notions we tend to read in books. Tips that are only beneficial and marketed for the upper-class who can afford to take a vacation when feeling burnt out and can buy healthy, organic food at Whole Foods.
The tips Stutz gives are reflective and cut deep, because that’s where the real work to better ourselves lies.
Here are two of Phil Stutz’s tips that are referenced in the documentary:
1. String of pearls
Where do you feel stuck in life? What one action can you take to move forward?
Imagine you add a pearl to a string every time you take an action. Each action becomes a long list of pearls that will help you get out of a stuck place. However, in each pearl is a turd. It’s silly, but stay with the idea. In each pearl, there is a turd because no matter what good action you take to help yourself move forward there will be something that stinks. Remember this idea when taking an action because if you know prior that something will go wrong or not be exactly what you wanted, it’s just part of the process.
2. Life Force
Phil Stutz emphasizes the importance of working on our life force, especially when feeling depressed. Think about a pyramid with three levels, and each level needs to be activated in some way. The first level is our physical health. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to take care of our bodies. This is subjective to the person. It can mean sleeping in, eating better, meditation or going to the gym.
By doing this you can then work on the second level, relationships. Human beings are social creatures and taking initiative to form meaningful connections with people is crucial to our mental health. Think about people you have been wanting to connect with and find time to call or send a text. Make a plan to grab lunch or go to the gym. Once you have worked on your relationships, then you work on the top level. The top level is your relationship with yourself and your subconscious. This work is mainly done through journaling, which will help you rediscover your passions. Even writing a few things down in your Notes app once a day will help.
These two tips are just one of the many referenced in the documentary “Stutz.” Go stream it on Netflix to learn about all the others.
Tweet us @VALLEYMag of your insight on Jonah Hill’s new documentary.
