The Suicide Squad (2021)

When I saw The Suicide Squad, I felt seen through the character of Abner Krill aka Polka-Dot Man, played wonderfully by David Dastmalchian. I felt like my anxiety was represented in a way that made me love myself and come to terms with my past issues and the ones I have yet to overcome.

When we see Abner sit in the briefing room, feeling so far from anyone else in the room and barely speaking, I was reminded of myself. I never felt like I fit into any group, even the ones that I considered my friends. I always knew I was a ‘school’ friend, and the rest of the group hung out as real friends. When I sat in my elementary, middle, high school, and even some college classrooms, I never spoke. This changed when I transferred universities and continued into grad school. I felt like I finally belonged somewhere.

In elementary school, I was put in a special reading class because my teacher thought I couldn’t read. I could. I read full chapter books at home. I just didn’t want to read for my teacher. Granted, she was calling me by my sister’s name.