A lot a attention is given to grief as if it deserves more consideration than other aspects of life. But does it and should it?

In: A Beginner’s Guide to Grief: joy and sadness belong together in this new Australian ‘traumedy’Sian Mitchell, Lecturer, Film, Television and Animation, Deakin University (The Conversation, Published: August 31, 2022), she reviews a new film soon to join a number of others that have addressed this subject in recent times.

Review: A Beginner’s Guide to Grief, directed by Renée Mao

We all experience grief in different ways. It is a powerful force that can affect our daily lives, making the simplest task feel difficult, at best, or entirely insurmountable at worst.

Grief is messy, surprising, revealing and honest at different times and all at once.

This is what lies at the heart of the SBS comedy A Beginner’s Guide to Grief.

 A Beginner’s Guide to Grief joins recent series like Netflix’s Never Have I Ever (2020-) and After Life (2019-2022) that centre on grieving characters who have lost loved ones and are left behind to cope in the aftermath.

These shows have been labelled “traumedies”: narratives that explore feelings of loss and pain presented through a comedic lens.

Traumedies can offer audiences an opportunity for catharsis, processing our feelings of loss and grief – particularly at a time of so much social and cultural upheaval.

The full story here: Beginners guide by Sian Mitchell.