Scaredycat Summary

Mattilyn Moon-Eaton

Dr. Bonnie Kyburz

English 308, TuTh 2-3:15

4 September 2018

Scaredycat Summary

            In the opening of writer and director Andy Blubaugh’s fifteen-minute 2007 film titled Scaredycat, a reel of black men flash across the screen as he explains in a voiceover that the film is about his fears and worries. A gentleman’s voice interrupts the reel explaining that he never knew what Blubaugh’s fears were, but he knew he was afraid as a child. A text bubble reading, “Are you OK?” follows the gentleman’s voice. Then, Blubaugh appears on the screen leaving his apartment, and within a few seconds, he returns to straighten a crooked picture frame hung on the wall. Blubaugh probes the man for more information, asking further about what the noticed in him when he was a child. The plot is built through Blubaugh’s fears as a child and the actions that resulted from those fears; visual depictions of Blubaugh straightening papers on a bus and walking inside the lines of a sidewalk show that his resulting actions from his fears he experienced as a child carry into his adult life today.

After the conversations with people in Blubaugh’s life, the film changes perspectives and presented is deputy district attorney of Multnomah County, Kirsten Snowden, speaking about a crime that she prosecuted. She explains that the crime was “senseless,” and it was a crime that was not normal compared to others because the suspects were brutally violent to the victims for no reason (Blubaugh). The film then shifts into an animation of the traumatic experience within this crime, which presented Blubaugh getting mugged while he was riding his bike home one evening, with a voiceover of the police scanner and the 911 Blubaugh had made after the incident. The screen cuts from the animation multiple times to show the interaction between the muggers and Blubaugh, such as the muggers saying, “Let’s get this backpack off of him,” and Blubaugh then yelling, “Oh god. Please let me go…I’ll give you money if you stop!” Blubaugh). 

Clinical psychologist, Jan Hawkins is then introduced, and explains her area of study as how people react to different types of trauma. Blubaugh’s reaction to his trauma takes up the majority of the documentary as that trauma had such a significant impact on his life. Hawkins further explains that humans are met with two different scenarios when dealing with trauma. One being that they deal with the trauma because that is just how life is, and the other is a corrective response. Blubaugh reappears on the screen with a voiceover where he explained that he would have to take action if he was going to ever go outside of his apartment again. Blubaugh’s response to his traumatic experience is finally revealed when he states that to keep himself safe, he would avoid black men everywhere he went. With Hawkins’ input, Blubaugh explains his reactions as a way to keep him safe (Blubaugh). He explained that he had to act against his fears to justify his behaviors. Although he was aware it did not make him anymore safe than before, he made this decision to avoid black men because of the traumatic experience of being mugged by men of that race. 

After delving further into his trauma, Hawkins’ explains “one trial learning,” which is common among trauma victims such as Blubaugh. One trial learning is explained as remembering something incorrectly, or “overlearning” from a situation as a coping mechanism because the experience was so detrimental for the person; that person in this case: Blubaugh (Blubaugh). Blubaugh explained that he knew his reaction was inherently racist and inaccurate because most of the men that beat him up were of a different race completely, which is where one-trial learning comes into play for his situation.

A cut occurs and Blubaugh is speaking on the phone with one male that mugged him. He explains that he wanted to know why the men attacked him and what led them to make that decision. The man responds by explaining that Blubaugh was in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and that there was nothing more to it (Blubaugh). Blubaugh further investigates the situation by asking about the man’s childhood and if he ever grew up with violence in his past. The man explained that he had altercations with his step-father intermittently, but that he had never experienced abuse. Blubaugh disagrees with the man and explains that that was not a normal occurrence for someone and that the man’s past did seem violent, further explaining that he had never been beaten at all in his life.

Hawkins then reappears explaining that when one experiences a trauma, it is normal for them to want justice or punishment, but it leaves the victim feeling unfulfilled. Snowden is brought back into the picture to speak further about the crime and how Measure 11, or the Mandatory Minimum Sentencing in Oregon, plays a role in this specific incidence. The muggers that attacked Blubaugh were affected directly by this act, which stated anyone who commits a crime included in Measure 11 cannot negotiate their sentence in any way. A reel of the five men muggers were then shown on the screen with Snowden stating the length of their sentences. Blubaugh then explains to the man who was involved in his mugging again and expresses to him that he feels he should remain behind bars for his entire sentence because of what he went through. The mugger understands why Blubaugh felt that way, but explained that after prison, he would return to nothing. He would be thirty-two without a job, without any money, and without a place to live because of one bad decision he made. To end, Blubaugh explains further that he knows Measure 11 may not make anyone safer, but it was a way to take action and that was what mattered, even if the fear still remained.

Work Cited

Blubaugh, Andy. “ScaredyCat.” Andy Blubaugh Films, Vimeo, 2007, https://vimeo.com/channels/andyblubaughfilms/5195413.