Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (2022) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)

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In “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me,” we’re reminded how easily a celebrity becomes a product, as they are stripped of their humanity and spend their whole career trying to regain what it means to be a normal person.

Director(s)	Alek Keshishian
Screenplay By	Alek Keshishian, Paul Marchand
Based On	N/A
Date Released (Apple TV Plus)	11/4/2022
Genre(s)	Documentary
Duration	1 Hour 35 Minutes
Content Rating	Rated R
Noted Cast
Herself	Selena Gomez

This content contains pertinent spoilers. Also, images and text in this post may contain affiliate links which, if a purchase is made from those sites, we may earn money or products from the company.

Film Summary

Covering the period from Selena Gomez’s “Revival” tour to after the release of “Rare,” we see one of the most vulnerable portraits of a celebrity. One that seeks to go beyond the concept of “It gets better” or “I survived, so can you” and wants you to understand it doesn’t get better; it gets manageable, and sometimes, it’s not. But, through faith and finding a sense of purpose, you can, hopefully, find a way to power through.

Things To Note

Why Is “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” Rated R

• Dialog: Cursing
• Violence: Conversations about suicide ideation
• Sexual Content: Some talk about Selena’s vagina showing in her costume
• Miscellaneous: N/A

Collected Quote(s)

“What has been is not what will be.”
— Selena Gomez

Character Descriptions

Please Note: This character guide is not an exhaustive list of every cast member, and character descriptions may contain what can be considered spoilers.

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez is one of America’s sweethearts from humble beginnings and eventually being a figure from the Disney machine. But, now exiting her 20s, like many who grew up on the Disney Channel, she wishes to leave that image behind. Be it past roles or some of the music she produced. Also, she wants to move beyond being seen as a product to market, for she is dealing with a slew of things.

Yes, much of it is positive, such as her philanthropic work, especially in Kenya. However, between a Lupus diagnosis, bipolar disorder, and the various struggles that come with being young and in the public eye, she struggles. Yet, through various means, she has found ways to make life worth living, even when it sometimes doesn’t feel that way.

• You May Also Know The Actor From Being: Chan in “A Rainy Day In New York,” Mabel in “Only Murders in the Building,” and Kate in “Rudderless.”

Review

Our Rating: Positive (Worth Seeing) – Recommended

Highlights

It Doesn’t Aim To Be Uplifting To The Point Of Making You Think It’s All Good

For a lot of documentaries, especially about celebrities who are entertainers, while you get a understanding of rock bottom, for many, you see a movie’s arc. You get the hero’s journey of being young, starting on a high, rock bottom after a major loss, and a grand comeback which ends the film. Selena Gomez, and her team, aren’t giving you that.

Yes, we get part of the hero’s journey through seeing her childhood up to Barney, seeing her neighbors as well, and meeting her favorite cousin. But, as the film gets into how she deals with Lupus, the lead-up to her being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the grind required to promote material, and feeling like a product? One that people wish to strip bare for parts and then leave once used up; you don’t really get that happy ending. You aren’t left thinking Selena is better and life is perfect. More so, after the trauma, experience, and lessons, she has better tools now.

Also, Selena is better at recognizing what can trigger her mentally or emotionally, if not make her feel insecure, and she is learning when to walk away or push back. Now, because of her job, certain situations don’t allow her to walk away, and she isn’t at that point yet where she is more than willing to piss people off on camera, unscripted. It’s not who she is, so she bears it for a bigger cause then vents once she is with her people.

In many ways, that is where the relatability comes in. Gomez lives a life where she flies to Kenya, London, Paris, and back home, but you see the trade-off. More money, more fame, means more shallow connections and lacking the feeling of community at times. Yes, she is close with her mother and step dad, also she appears to have a best friend whose only job is to be some form of support. However, in moments where she is reeling from a good interview that ends abruptly once someone got what they want, it hurts. When she is tired but enjoying her day, and her friend questions that, it reminds her that most people around her don’t get it.

Then when you add in her mental and physical health, you further see beyond the layers of international superstar Selena Gomez, whose music girls in Kenya sing for talent shows. She is a young woman who, with the guilt of success, can easily question what she does or doesn’t deserve and find someone implying she is being ungrateful to add to the negative thoughts she has to contend with.

It’s all quite a lot, and while many may not have sympathy for celebrities, due to the lack of excess in their lives, it is never lost on you that Selena Gomez likely has been on autopilot for a long time and is just figuring out how to stop the train. Maybe even grasp her life, the narrative surrounding her, and finding meaning for her celebrity beyond making other people money.

A Reminder That All Philanthropy Isn’t Strictly For Press

Often times, doing something good, or pouring money into something good, seems to be part of an apology. Be it for something you said or did, or because you became rich, and others didn’t. With Selena though, while you understand there is a level of guilt, insecurity, and more, you can see the desire to not live in the high tower and throw money to those she has left behind.

Unlike many documentaries which feature a person’s school or previous homes, it isn’t a walk down memory lane to make the star seem humble. If anything, you can see it is about re-engaging, relearning, and rediscovering the life that became foreign to you because you have been working since you were in the single digits. And through working in Kenya, even wanting to make a mental health curriculum as part of the American education system, you see a longing for connection and community.

For that is what some get out of philanthropy. It’s more than self-congratulating parties and a potential tax write-off. It is about having an effect on a person, either in that moment or long term, where they feel seen, heard, and despite what they may feel as part of their daily life, someone cares about them. And as shown by Aubrey Hepburn and others, oftentimes, it is the work of finding someone who actually could use your presence vs. a brand that wants to profit off your presence which gives life meaning. I’d even say, at this point, it seems Gomez may increasingly find the profitable work to be a means to finance what she truly wants to do.

So, enjoy her while she is willing to sell the image and person people want now. Because, as it increasingly seems taxing on her person, it appears she may increasingly only use her image to platform others, as she did various girls and women in Kenya, rather than be front and center.

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