"In 1982, The Last Unicorn introduced audiences to a mythical creature who learns what it means to experience human emotions, to long, and to live with the burden of grief. More than 40 years later, in 2025, this story feels like an uncannily relevant mirror to our collective condition. We have endured global upheavals, private losses, and waves of despair that leave many of us searching for meaning and connection."
"As a psychotherapist and geek therapist, I often turn to the stories that shaped me and my clients. They become maps for navigating difficult inner conflict and pain. For me, The Last Unicorn is more than a nostalgic touchstone-it is a parable about grief and the search for belonging, told through the fantasy lens but grounded in our collective human truths."
"The unicorn begins her journey when she learns she may be the last of her kind. Her grief is not only about the possible extinction of her species but also about the shattering of identity. Who are we, when those like us are gone? Who are we, when we feel abandoned by community, tradition, or family, or global connection? In 2025, grief has become layered and complicated."
Stories can serve as maps for navigating inner conflict and pain. The Last Unicorn functions as a parable about grief and the search for belonging. The unicorn's potential extinction triggers grief about identity, community, and belonging. Contemporary grief layers pandemic bereavement, wars and violence, climate anxiety, fractured relationships, and the fading of anchoring communities. Grief transforms people, producing regret and the sense of no longer fitting among others. Grief involves losses beyond death: safety, certainty, and the coherent sense of self. The unicorn's lament and altered identity point toward longing, sorrow, and the fragile possibility of finding one another.
Read at Psychology Today
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