Earth Goes to Therapy

By: Natalia Cortina

My name is Natalia Cortina — I’m a creative technologist and aspiring animation producer. Born and raised in Mexico City, I’ve always loved animation in all its forms and my dream is to work at one of the “big” studios one day – this will allow me to be the one telling stories that make people laugh and question what it means to be human. I believe that empathy and inner joy are the keys to a meaningful life. Through this thesis, I hope to share the intention behind my film and maybe even make you think twice about how we interact with our beloved Mother Earth.

Impetu + Motivations:

One day I wondered: what if Earth was just done with us? If it could talk, what would it say? And that’s where the idea for Earth Goes to Therapy came from. I wanted to turn this massive, impersonal issue into something relatable, funny and easy to digest. We can’t seem to make people connect with glaciers melting and forest fires, so I thought maybe we can connect with Earth feeling, tired, anxious and with relationship problems: like most of us.

I combined my storytelling knowledge, my love for animation, my real-life therapy experiences, and a lot of dark humor to create something that feels real, ridiculous, and relatable. Because when I tell someone they should shower for less than 20 minutes to save water, they roll their eyes. But when I tell the story about someone who has anxiety problems and got ghosted? Everyone listens.

OBJECTIVE:

My goal is to make people laugh while also making them think about their relationship with the planet. By combining humor with serious ideas, the film will show how absurd human behavior can be. Encouraging audiences to question how their actions align with their values. Instead of offering solutions, the film will provoke reflection and start conversations.

So, what is this film about?

Earth Goes to Therapy is a short animated film where I placed Earth as someone overwhelmed, anxious, and on the verge of a breakdown. I gave Earth a voice, emotions, and painfully human problems: body image issues, emotional exhaustion, and relationship drama. Told through the format of a surreal therapy session with a made up therapist called Dr. Cosmo, the film uses dark humor and satire to explore environmental collapse, our disconnection from nature, and everyday hypocrisy.

By giving Earth traits like anxiety, burnout, and loneliness, I turned a global crisis into something intimate and relatable. Earth never directly mentions humans, but instead describes feeling “bloated,” “anxious,” or “alone”, all metaphors for overconsumption, climate anxiety, and our detachment from the natural world. 

These creative choices are grounded in real research around anthropomorphism, which shows that we’re more likely to care about something when we can emotionally connect with it. Also, comedy becomes the entry point: a way to disarm the viewer, invite them to laugh, and help them to stay long enough to reflect. This film doesn’t offer solutions, but hopes to spark up interesting conversations. It holds up a mirror. It’s about Earth having a crisis- and us recognizing ourselves in it.

Conclusions, ending thoughts:

This was definitely a wild ride. When I started, my main goal was to make an animated film—something to show, something for my portfolio. But along the way, I had to ask myself: what am I really trying to say? What drives me? And the truth is, everything in this world does, I’m just excited about all aspects of living. These past four years at Parsons have been full of internal and external change. Amidst this chaos, comedy and cartoons have been my way of processing life. They’ve saved me. That’s why I chose this direction.

I wore every hat: writer, animator, editor, producer, director. It was overwhelming. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone taking on something this ambitious, it would be: collaborate. Share the weight. Making this film showed me that while I love animation, I don’t want to be animating alone in my room for weeks. I love working with people—talking through ideas, building something together. For a while, I almost leaned into production out of fear: fear of not getting a job, fear of not being enough. But this process helped me realize I belong on the creative side. I love writing narratives, shaping ideas, and finding insights about what makes us human.

I discovered that what I love most is making people laugh. Whether through animation, writing, or advertising, I want to bring a little dark humor into the world—something that makes people pause, think, and smile. I want to keep creating stories that feel real, absurd, and oddly comforting. I hope Earth Goes to Therapy opens doors for me to do just that. Maybe it becomes a series. Maybe Earth gets a fake Instagram account to keep ranting about humans. Who knows? I just want to keep exploring, connecting, laughing, and creating, all while figuring myself out along the way.