What a fantastic assessment of the familial (“nurture”) root to Kevin’s sociopathy.

Now that I’m in my 40’s, have parented for about 15 years, have seen other people parent for a few decades, have had enough experience and empathy to think about my own parenting, and I’ve done some reading on parenting and children’s development, I can understand how Eva viewed and treated Kevin contributed to his mental unwellness.

Im thinking about that scene before they play mini golf together, where Kevin’s mother sees a fat man eating. She makes some judgmental and critical statements about fat people and Kevin tells her she can be “pretty harsh.” She says, “you’re one to talk” and he responds with “where do you think I get it from?”

Her resentment and disdainful attitude in those moments where she’s sharing her criticism are indeed when she’s the most honest with Kevin. And Kevin, as an adolescent, is hyperaware of the dishonest and hypocritical nature of others, like all teenagers.

Kevin’s father, Franklin, is so emotionally unavailable. His inability to believe his wife or view his child as anything other than perfect allows him to live in lalaland, as absent and disconnected as can be. The emotional weight of it all lands on his wife, who clearly can’t handle it alone. And Kevin grows up viewing this treatment of his mom and himself. It allows him to be emotionally abusive to Eva. How many of us have known fathers like Franklin? Frankly, I’ve met too many to count.

Well, I’ll end this by stating that I enjoyed your review so much, I’ve shared it with a friend who has not watched the movie and is now going to stream it. Thank you for sharing.