I've seen Sally Field in two online interviews for "Doris", and in both,
she describes Doris as "a borderline hoarder." BORDERLINE? Uh, no,
Doris is a hoarder, plain and simple. How can Field be so naïve about
what is now recognized as a major mental disorder - one that her
character clearly has???
I think she was considered 'borderline' because while her home had plenty of stuff laying around, there was also still plenty of room to walk around and through it. No one had to climb over mountains of garbage to get from room to room. She could actually use her bathroom, there were no desicated animal corpses, etc. So yes, in this case, she was a hoarder but not to the point of having her home condemned because of it.
*My life is like a blunt pencil. It doesn't have a point.*
Just because you could walk through the house and use the bathroom
doesn't mean she wasn't a hoarder. She WAS. She collected junk on
her way to work, became obsessed with a pencil and went to pieces at
the mere idea of parting with anything in her home, even ONE ski.
True, there are people who maybe worse, but she was still a hoarder.
There was nothing "borderline" about it.
Oh, I totally agree with you -- while there are varying degrees of hoarding, the bottom line is you either are or you aren't, and Doris was most definitely a hoarder.
*My life is like a blunt pencil. It doesn't have a point.*
There's a BIG difference between someone like Doris who held on to too much stuff and a true hoarder. Hoarders keep trash and typically have no room to walk, sometimes having stuff piled against doors to where there's no way to get in or out. Speaking as someone who has dealt with it personally (through family), and knowing how the city and fire department views it, it's safe to say she was not hoarding, just had a hard time parting with things. It was an emotional disorder.
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have you ever watched the series hoarders...showing real life hoarders...there are degrees of hoarding. When you are a hoarder you don't see yourself as a hoarder. (the term also has a negative connotation) Sally Field was portraying a 'hoarder", she as an actress does not want to label her such because she is looking at it from Doris' pov of herself.
Hoarders in the tv documentary will show vast stages...to the point of rodents, cockroaches dying and board of health needing to intervene. The character Doris was not depicted that severely.
Also what one person calls hoarding is another person simply collecting stuff. Its up to the individual to see what they want to part with or not. Minus attracting rodents, if a person wants to keep every magazine they ordered why is it anyone's business?
what Jordie?
I actually agree with the term borderline hoarder. I think her mother was the true hoarder, and she was living in her mother's home and began sharing some of the traits. After her mother died, it was hard to separate herself from the possessions that connected her to her mother.
I myself, am in the process of clearing out my parents home after their death, and sometimes it is difficult to seperate emotions from possession (And while they were not hoarders, they have a lot of stuff) I think Doris was still too early in the
grief process when her brother and his wife pushed their way in.
But, in the end, she made the decision (herself) to clean out the house. And that means that she was not a hoarder, because a hoarder would never have parted from her possessions.
Sorry, Doris is a true-blue hoarder. She had a total inability to part
with anything in that house - shampoo bottles, a ski, old magazines, books.
It was causing her mental anguish to even bag things for donation, to
keep in a pile, or to throw out. Dr. Edwards ushered everyone out, as Doris
was having a total meltdown.
This is hoarding.
The fact that Field is suddenly able to start cleaning the house out of
the blue, is, sadly, the one, gigantic piece of dishonesty in the movie
(several critics have pointed this out). It would take years more therapy
for Doris to not only recognize her illness, but to begin facing it.
Sorry, Field is very mistaken when she refers to Doris as "a borderline
hoarder."
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Sorry, Field is very mistaken when she refers to Doris as "a borderline
hoarder."
First of all, we do not know exactly what her brother means by that
comment. He could be referring to a host of issues. Secondly,
anyone who collects useless junk and is in mental ANGUISH at the
thought of clearing it out, is NOT "borderline." What, exactly, do
you not get? Doris is well into her disease, and has been for decades.
Do some research. You need to educate yourself on this illness.
Do we actually see Doris herself collecting anything to bring home? I don't recall that.
I do believe that the junk in the house belonged to her mother and Doris was still grieving.
I don't think most people understand the stages of addiction ...
Telling someone they are a borderline hoarder or even saying to someone they are a boarderline alcoholic is one of those areas where loved ones and good friends are hoping the person will seek help and professional guidance.
Because of the negative stigma that society places upon people that are "Special", many people with serious problems never seek help until it's too late ... like shooting up a school or driving planes into buildings or shooting up movie theaters ...
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.
be kind, rewind...
How can Field be so naïve about what is now recognized as a major mental disorder - one that her character clearly has???
She could still move around in her house. Most hoarders whose places I've seen have had to climb over things. :-O
"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!" C. M. Burns