Amazon’s Undone Series — Analysis of an Underrated Masterpiece About the Self and Reality
Have You Heard of This Rotoscoped Animation With Themes of Psychology, Mental Health, Human Experience, and Timey-Wimey Multiverses.
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The Undone series (2019–2022) is not what I would call your typical animated series. On the surface, it melds rotoscoped animation with reality, but beneath that, it delves into the realms of psychology, mental health, and the human experience.
Its creators, Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg grapple with heavily intertwined themes of trauma, time perception, and the boundaries between realities and people, using what I personally consider beautiful animation, music and story-telling.
I want to showcase Undone from two angles, psychological implications and philosophical themes. This way we can let surface the beautiful undertones of this series!
I cannot recommend enough the fandom wiki dedicated to this series.
From a Psychology Standpoint
Perception of Time and Reality
At the heart of the story lies Alma Winograd-Diaz, our protagonist, and her unique ability to perceive time non-linearly. She gains this ability after being involved in a car accident. The line between objective reality and subjective experience becomes blurrier and blurrier as the series progresses, asking us as viewers to question whether Alma is going through a mental breakdown or experiencing a real rupture of spacetime. This angle mirrors the real-world debate on the nature of reality, naturally making us think about how our perception of time and events may be more complex than it seems.
