A Thousand and One - Home is Where the Heart Is
A Thousand and One is an NYC drama. It stars Teyana Taylor as Inez, a young woman, and her son. Whom she kidnapped from the foster care system to start a new life after incarceration.
But it isn’t just about that. This film is about the significance of cultivating a home. As well as its vulnerabilities, and the traumatic effects of losing it.
How Foster Care Creates Feelings of Displacement
It was established early on that Inez spent a significant part of her childhood in foster care. It’s clear it’s a big part of their mother/son bond. She’s able to recognize and identify with his feelings of displacement and instability almost to a fault. Foster Care is considered an Adverse Childhood Experience on the community level. Meaning children who enter foster care for the many reasons leading to their displacement (Physical neglect, physical and emotional abuse, substance abuse, etc…) experience a level of trauma that has long-term physical and emotional effects on their overall well-being.
A Thousand and One Shows How Important Security in The Home Environment is
This film reminded me how important the home environment is for one’s security. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, physiological needs, like shelter, are at their base. Meaning that all other goals a person expects to achieve are not feasible until those very basic needs on a basic level are.
So when a child is displaced from the home environment, it disrupts their ability to function at their optimal potential. This is the greatest gift that Inez provides for her son. A stable environment unlike hers where her son can thrive to his potential and allow him all the opportunities she has not been awarded. The next level above physiological needs is safety.
Safety Impacted By Trauma
Safety is one of the major themes in life impacted by traumatic events. Depending on your prior life experience, a traumatic event will either disrupt your understanding of being safe or will help you double down on your beliefs about how dangerous things really are.
For example, if you had mostly positive experiences of safety and have concluded that most people around you want you to be safe and you can protect yourself, a violent traumatic event will swipe that rug right from under you and now you struggle to believe this world view. On the flip side, if you grew up with mostly negative beliefs about safety and often worried about your ability to keep yourself or others safe, a traumatic event will confirm and often further amplify the unsafe nature of everything around you.
You See Inez Demonstrate Feeling Unsafe
Inez demonstrates the effects of this through her heartbreak. She’s reactive, easily agitated, and will go from 0-100 the minute she feels disrespected or taken advantage of. She’s in fight mode and for good reason. She’s progressively hypervigilant in an environment that drives Black families to increasingly fear police in the midst of Mayor Giuliani’s policies like stop and frisk, allowing the over-surveillance of Black neighborhoods and the playing out of racist acts by police.
It gets worse when the film fast-forwards to the Bloomberg administration where gentrification allowed families like this one to get pushed out and exploited by opportunistic landlords. Inez’s view of community safety also explains her social withdrawal. One of the most impactful lines at the end of the film is when she discloses that “ nobody gives a shit about Black women except for other Black women… and even that gets messy”. I really felt that one. There have been times I, and many other Black women, have felt that way. She’s expecting people to fail her and not think much of her. No matter how much she tries to do well for herself or her family.
A Thousand and One is a film about resistance, about winning by all means necessary in a world that expects you to fail no matter what. Teyana Taylor's performance was incredible. She was like so many mothers I grew close to in my time working in the child welfare system. I hope this becomes a launching pad for future films to come.
A Thousand and One is now streaming on PeacockTV
Interested in Starting Trauma Therapy in New York, NY?
Do you relate to Inez and her son’s story? Do you deal with unresolved trauma as a child? Take a brave step towards reclaiming your well-being by seeking trauma therapy that specializes in supporting individuals with similar experiences. At Restority Space I can provide you with a safe and nurturing space for you to process your past, rebuild resilience, and create a brighter future, empowering you to thrive beyond the impact of your trauma. Follow these three easy steps to get started:
Meet with me, Fanny Tristan, a caring trauma therapist in New York, NY
Begin your journey to processing your past trauma and start thriving.
OTHER SERVICES OFFERED AT RESTORITY SPACE
At Restority Space, trauma therapy isn’t the only service I offer to help my clients. I’m committed to providing the care women may need when it comes to their mental health online in both New York and New Jersey. In addition to helping my clients in trauma therapy, I offer Individual Therapy to help women cope with their anxiety, depression, breakups, unhealthy relationships, and major life transitions. I also provide Group Therapy to help individual women find a sense of belonging and for more support. My group services include a Therapy Group For New Mothers and a Therapy Group For Black Women. To learn more check out my blog and other resources!