Episode 112: Hiding Acting Classes from Your Family is a Gendered Secret? City Island (2009) with Kayla Sargent

About this episode

The episode explores gendered secrets in the film City Island, focusing on family dynamics and hidden identities.

Join Alex and Prof. Kayla Sargent as they explore the wild web of secrets and gender psychology in the independent film City Island (2009). The film follows the Bronx*-island-of-the-same-name patriarch Vince, played by Andy Garcia, as he attempts to change his career from prison correctional officer to actor, a secret he keeps hidden from his wife and family. Perhaps a much larger issue is that he finds his long-lost son, also unknown to the family, in the prison he works at. The other members of the family all of something they're not sharing, and the episode explores how each of these hidden truths are gendered in many ways. Even pre-controversy Ezra Miller has a great little character arc! *In the intro, Alex says Brooklyn and not Bronx — oops! Shows how much he knows the New York boroughs... Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com), on Facebook (@CinPsyPod), or Threads/Instagram (@cinemapsych_podcast). We'd love to hear from you! If you like this content, you might like my new Audible audiobook/course, A Psychologist Goes to the Movies, available now! It features six films that have been on this show, condensed into 25-30 min…

People in this episode

Host: Alex

Guest: Kayla Sargent

Topics covered

• gender psychology
• family secrets
• independent film
• acting
• identity

Keywords

• City Island
• gender psychology
• family secrets
• acting classes
• independent film

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: City Island

Places: Bronx, Brooklyn

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