Far From the Tree: The Cycle Ends With Me

Sarah Grace Cherian

 Disney’s animated short film ‘Far From The Tree’ is a beautiful depiction of healing and recovery from the perils of transgenerational trauma. The story follows a raccoon parent trying to protect their curious child while on their first trip to the beach. The sheer newness and tactile engagement that the beach provides has the child bubbling with curiosity. The parent however has a scar across their face and absolutely no patience for their child's antics. It becomes clear why, when the child comes face to face with a coyote. The parent helps them escape but not before the child gets a similar scar from the encounter. 

In the second half of the film, the child has grown up and now has a child of their own, one who is just as curious as they used to be. They fall into the same patterns of aggressive protectiveness as their own parent. However, in their actions they see a shadow of their abusive parent which leads them to take a different approach. They show the cub the dangers lurking on the beach in the form of the coyote and explain their own experience of getting wounded. They allow the child to feel their scars. It is this change in approach that breaks the cycle of raccoons needing to be wounded to survive. 

Transgenerational trauma is trauma that is not limited to an individual. Rather, it seeps through generations perpetuating harmful, maladaptive ways of coping including but not limited to- depression, hypervigilance, mistrust, self-esteem issues and anxiety (Dixon, 2021).

How does transgenerational trauma percolate through the generations? Research suggests that this happens both through epigenetics and parenting practices. Epigenetics is “how the environment talks to us and alters us, sometimes forever. The process of epigenetics changes the chemical modifications surrounding and attaching to our genetic material that in turn changes the way genes are switched on or off without altering the genes themselves”(Kushner, 2017). Thus, through gene methylation, we carry genetic markers of the trauma faced by our ancestors.

Another mode of perpetuating transgenerational trauma is through parenting practices which often take up a cyclical pattern. People tend to re-enact their trauma in their subsequent relationships with their families. This can happen almost unconsciously. Thus, “the parent’s touch, gesture, and tone inform daily interactions and communicate to the child the essence if not the particulars of the trauma”(Apter, 2020).

In the short film, an obvious symbol for trauma is seen in the scars adorning the first two generations of raccoons. While we do not know what gave the oldest raccoon the scar, we see their child having a violent encounter with a coyote. The memory of this encounter leads to an aggressively hypervigilant style of parenting. The racoon is in a constant search for threats and does not allow it’s child to step out of it’s sight for even a moment. When it loses sight of it’s child for a second, the situation triggers it into a panic leading to a displaced expression of anger at the child. 

Thus the fear due to childhood experiences manifests itself through extremely protective survival strategies. This mirrors the experiences of people suffering from PTSD who continue to feel threatened despite being out of the threatening situation. Even though this protectiveness comes from a place of love, it leads to a separation between the parent and the child as seen in the first parent-child dyad.

We can also see the maladaptive hypervigilance leading to an abusive relationship between the parent and the child. In the first pair we see an instance of violence, and several instances of intimidation and anger being used to subdue the child's natural curiosity. Despite the motivation being parental anxiety and a desire to protect the child, it actually ends up causing similar anxious behavior to develop in the child leading to them adopting an authoritarian style of parenting themselves (Maisel, 2018).

In the second pair however we see something change. The parent catches itself in the act of verbal violence against it’s child and sees a (literal) shadow of their parent in themself. Even though “the child may not have experienced the traumatic event, it nonetheless re-experiences it through a parent’s unconscious reenactment”(Apter, 2020). Realizing that their child is safe, and that they are actually the only threat to their child allows them to recognise the harm caused by their parents actions and to realize that they had to change their parenting tactics (Engel, 2020).

This realization then leads to an establishment of a healthier parenting pattern. Instead of expressing their fear as anger, the raccoon shows their child the scars that they had received from the coyote, explaining where the fear reaction comes from. This conversation allows the child to learn the lesson without having to be scarred. It also helps the child to develop empathy for the parent and their actions(Dixon, 2021).

Despite being a somewhat accurate portrayal of breaking the cycle of trauma, ‘Far From The Tree’ is after all a Disney animated short film about raccoons. Thus the nuances of generational trauma could not be completely explored. For example, the effect of epigenetic markers on subsequent generations was not alluded to. The suppressed nature of trauma responses often means that they are not as obvious as the scars on the raccoons faces. Unresolved trauma is “often covert, undefined, and subtle” (Dixon, 2021).The sudden positive shift in behavior spoke more for Disney’s penchant for happy endings than for the actual process of healing and therapy which can take much longer. 

Nevertheless, “Far From the Tree” effectively simplifies and encapsulates the pervasive effects of traumatic experiences on multiple generations along with the potential to break the cycles of abuse. It shows the difference between a perpetrator and a cycle-breaker. It also shows the following practical ways to deal with family trauma-

1. Recognize and acknowledge one’s own trauma (Engel, 2020).

2. Talk with one’s children about one’s experiences (Dixon, 2021).

3. Work on changing maladaptive behavioral patterns into constructive one’s (Engel, 2020).

References

Apter, T. (2020). The insidious legacies of trauma | Psychology Today. Psychology Today. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/domestic-intelligence/202005/the-insidious-legacies-trauma

Dixon, E. (2021). Breaking the chains of generational trauma . Psychology Today. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-flourishing-family/202107/breaking-the-chains-generational-trauma

Engel, B. (2020). Breaking the cycle of abuse: Ongoing healing and prevention. Psychology Today. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-compassion-chronicles/202007/breaking-the-cycle-abuse-ongoing-healing-and-prevention

Kushner, D. M. (2017). The things we carry: What our ancestors didn't tell us ... Psychology Today. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/transcending-the-past/201710/the-things-we-carry-what-our-ancestors-didnt-tell-us

Maisel, E. R. (2018). Authoritarians keep you walking on eggshells, permanently ... Psychology Today. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rethinking-mental-health/201801/authoritarians-keep-you-walking-eggshells-permanently