Movie Reflection - Forget Paris

Forget Paris is a Romantic Comedy about a basketball referee, Mickey, who falls in love with a airline working woman, Ellen, in the most unusual way. Nonetheless, the romantic development and life after marriage are very realistic.

Mickey met Ellen in the Paris airport where the airline loses Mickey's father coffin. When they finally found it, Ellen went to the empty funeral as she feels extremely bad for Mickey. From then their relationship develops. Despite their major personality differences, we can see that they do have some similarity. One is probably they are both Americans and for Ellen who lives in Paris, she can hardly find someone who can relate to her hometown. Not only so, throughout the movie, we can see that they both are actually quite stubborn in terms when once they make a decision, no one can change it. Also, they both have the determination in keep on trying to improve their relationships. However, throughout their romantic developments, it is their differences that separate them. Research has found that opposite may attract but they don't make marriage and relationship last long. In the movie, we can see clear example in Mickey and Ellen. Ellen was attracted to Mickey at first for his humor, but after they got married, his sarcastic remarks that were supposed to be funny starting to be annoying for her. She also couldn't stand how Mickey is always doing the same thing on weekend nights and order the same meal everywhere he goes. All these were not problem when they started dating. This is probably why Mickey keeps on telling that when in Paris everything was perfect. During that two weeks, they just started dating which explains why they can tolerate and overlook on each other's flaws. When marriage is serious and reality kicks in, everything shattered apart.

We can assume that Mickey and Ellen's relationship in Paris was first just romantic love where it consist passion and intimacy. But the passion weights more than intimacy. This can be seen when Mickey asked Ellen to marry him, and she suddenly confessed that she is dealing with a divorce. This shows that although they have an intense longing for each other, they don't know each other well. However, as the marriage goes, we can identify their love is just empty love, which only consist of commitment. They stay together despite they are not happy in the relationship, and we can see how Mickey complains there is no more passion. They hardly talks to each other as well because of their different working time, which later on results into many conflicts and arguments. Yet, we can see they are trying very hard to reach consummate love where all intimacy, commitment and passion exist. They both tried sacrificing their dream job for the marriage and even went for marriage counselling.

In the film, we can also see how this couple demonstrate the 4 habits for destructive relationship. The most frequently shows is criticism where they would both pick on things they don't like about each other. Mickey would often give sarcastic remarks as well which is very bad for a relationship. This way of destructive interaction is named contempt. Next, defensiveness is portrayed too when they both argues. They would both become very defensive of themselves when they receive criticism. They would blame on each other's absence for their miserably and protect themselves saying how much they love their jobs. Lastly, stonewalling can also be seen when they often take breaks from each other instead of talking it out. They would go on their separate lives for months then come back together after a cool down. Although stonewalling is said to be destructive, sometimes it can act as a cool down session for couples to think clearly on their future, just as Mickey and Ellen.

Personally, I enjoyed this movie as it is super funny. I also like how the movie ends where both Mickey and Ellen are willing to try and fight for their relationships. My favourite about this movie is that it is showed through a story telling way where it started off with Andy trying to introduce his fiancee to all his friends. While waiting for his friends to arrive, he tells her about this unusual story of Ellen and Mickey. As they friends slowly comes, more story of this couple is unfolded. I find it very creative and unique which makes the whole movie more casual instead, unlike other romantic movies that put all emphasis only on the main couples. Forget Paris also makes us think what actually makes marriage and a relationship works. I personally feel that honesty, communication, compromising and trust are very important. Which in this movie, the main thing that separate them are lacking in proper communication. I believe that with effective communication, any problems can be resolved and it helps couple to understand each other more.


And here's a quote from the movie for everyone to think and laugh about

P.S One of the actor is the sound for Marge in my favorite cartoon The Simpson. :D
Trailer for Forget Paris

*All pictures and videos do not belong to me and can be found in Google or Youtbube.

Movie Reflection - Grace Is Gone

Grace Is Gone is a simple drama film that evolves around a father who was facing the loss of his wife due to a war in Iraq. The movie basically shows how he deals with his wife's death and how he couldn't bring himself to convey this news to his daughters. According to Kubler-Ross, there are 5 stages of loss and grief. People usually spend different time and length experiencing each stage with different intensity. The 5 stages does not necessary have to occur in order and not all will be expressed by everyone.

In this movie, we can see Stanley expressed a few stages of bereavement. First and the most obvious one, is denial. This is also the first stage of loss and grief according to Kubler-Ross, but we can see denial is expressed throughout the movie. Stanley would keep on calling his wife number, just to hear her voice and talks to her as if she is still there. He would apologize for things that he had done before and tells her his difficulties in conveying the message to their girls. Not only so, when he saw two officers standing outside, he knew what had happened to his wife but he denies to accept the truth.That is why he does not let them come into the house at first. When other officer was trying to help him on his wife death arrangement, he refuses to sign anything. These are all examples of denial.

In the movie, bargaining is also seen in the movie when he leaves a voice message on his wife phone telling that he should have been the one who serve the country instead. In the film, depression is also noticeable despite how he acted nothing had happened. Although he did not mourn loudly, when he was left alone, we can see him crawling into a ball and crying himself to sleep. His brother also told him that he looks very upset unlike usual. We can also see that Stanley loses all his desires in doing anything before the girls come home from school. He just sat there in his pajamas thinking by himself. In the end, when he finally brings himself to tell the girls, they all gain an acceptance that the mother will never come back.

To me, one of the reason why he suddenly become so out of usual and spontaneously bring his girls for a road trip to Enchanted Garden is that he knew the life of the girls wouldn't be the same anymore after telling them the news. Therefore, he wanted to prolong their pure happiness and perceptions of having both parents alive. This is because once a person know someone so close to them is gone forever, they would never experience life the same anymore, especially both of them who are just young little girls.

As the movie mainly focused on Stanley, we cannot really see how Heidi and Dawn deals with grief. However, we could see that Heidi is a very responsible 12-year-old. She knows what he duties are and understand how they cannot just do whatever they want as they might skip class and lose jobs. Despite how she wanted to have fun as well, she never stop worrying about her dad losing his jobs and her homework that are supposed to hand-in on the following week. We can see that she also notices changes in her father's attitude and she kept trying to find out more. For instance, she knew her dad was lying about the phone call and she sense something wrong. Yet, she did not confront her dad and secretly check on their house voice message. By then, we could see that Heidi suspected something was wrong in the family. She also knew that it was something bad, hence, she sat outside the hotel for the entire night. Nonetheless, she gives her father his own space and waited for him to tell her instead of confronting him. This probably because that she knew her father needed some time to bring the bad news to them.

Although this movie emphasis on the loss of their mother, we can still identify that Heidi is in the stage of identity vs role confusion, where she explores different things at her age. Despite how her father never allow them to watch the news or documentaries about the war, she still secretly watch it.This shows that she is trying to learn more about the mother's job scope and know their family better. Not only so, Heidi was seen trying to learn how to smoke. This could be one of the main curiosity most adolescence have while growing up.


Personally, I do not enjoy movies like that. I find it too draggy and boring. Yet this is a perfect movie to see how people deal with death of their loved ones differently and also a great case study for grief and loss.

*All pictures does not belong to me

Movie Reflection - Sybil (1976)

This mystery movie evolves around a girl named Sybil, who has Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). As this movie is released at 1976 and it is mentioned that the treatment lasts for 11 years, we can assume that the mental disorder is referred to DSM-II and DSM-III, as DSM-III was only published and implemented on 1980. In DSM-II, there were no clear clarification for Multiple Personality Disorder, and was only a minor label under Hysterical Dissociative Disorder. This mental illness slowly gain its recognition and a proper criteria for diagnosis was then given for Multiple Personality Disorder in DSM-III. At the year 1994, DSM-IV newly stated this mental illness to be known as Dissociative Identity Disorder.(DID) Furthermore, more fine tunes changes was made for this disorder in DSM-V. Although Dissociative Identidy Disorder has always been very controversial, the main symptoms, common causes and treatment remain similar over the decades.

Criteria and major symptoms for DID in DSM-V

Causes for DID in DSM-V

Comorbid illness with DID in DSM-V

Retrieved from: http://www.dsm5.org/documents/changes%20from%20dsm-iv-tr%20to%20dsm-5.pdf

This film has well portrayed Dissociative Identity Disorder and has given insight to many about this illness. First, it shows the typical symptoms of having a few personalities that are totally different from the person, impairment of social functioning, and having dissociative amnesias. When Sybil first started seeking treatment from Dr Wilbur, we can see that she often lose track of time and has to refer to her watch. She doesn't even remember the fact the she has been seeing Dr Wilbur every day for an hour for a week. Not only so, in the film, Sybil are often alone and has no friends. Although not all 13 different personalities are clearly demonstrated, a few main personalities are quite obvious. There is Vickie, who knows the existence of all personality, tries to help and protect Sybil. She is always the one who keeps up the appointments with Dr Wilbur, and tells about other personalities. Then is Peggy who are fearful and angry most of the time, often exhausts herself out. All 13 personalities have their own dressing style, speak tone and pattern. Hence, it is obvious when they emerge. According to DSM-V, 70% of the patients with DID possess self-harm behavior or suicide thoughts. In the case of Sybil, she has an alter named Marcia who wants to kill herself. Furthermore, her other alters also clearly demonstrate the comorbid illness such as anxiety and depression.  

One of the main and common causes to DID is traumatic childhood. In the movie, it is also shown that Sybil experienced an overwhelming childhood with her mother who has paranoid schizophrenia. She was often abused, bullied and screamed at. Her mother would lock her in the wheat bin in the barn for no reason. Sometimes her mother would call her to her side just to trip Sybil down the stairs. These negative experiences have caused Sybil to have a very frightening perception towards her mother. Hence, when Dr Wilbur plays the recorder of Sybil's alter imitating her mother voice, Sybil has a great shock and regresses into an infant personality.

The treatment uses in this movie is very psychoanalytic. Dr Wilbur often uses Hypnosis in Sybil's treatment. This type of treatment is often used as patient with DID are highly hypnotized. Over the years, it is found that hypnosis can help patients to deal with other alters, face and acknowledge their past traumas, as well as achieve symptomatic relief. However, this treatment method is very controversial. Hypnosis is said to be when the brain is not fully thinking and can be an experience. When one is in this state, that person is highly suggestible. The therapist has the ability to make suggestion to the patients, resulting them to comply. This happens because the conscious part of the brain is not working at that moment. Therefore, it is often argued that patients might not have had the experience, but is rather prompt by the therapist.

Furthermore, this movie had also gained many more controversial issue. One obvious issue is that the role of therapist. As a therapist, one is expected to be professional and often neutral. In the film, Dr Wilbur mentions that she feels like a mother figure to Sybil. This emotion is not supposed to be felt from a therapist to the patient as it will lead to transference. Not only so, in the movie, we can see that Dr Wilbur goes to the extreme ends in treating Sybil. She would go to her old house, talks to her father without permission, take Sybil to picnic, offers her lunch, make sandwich for her and more. These actions have crossed the ethical boundaries between them.


This movie has given insight to many who are not familiar with Dissociative Identity Disorder. I feel that it really well-portrayed the illness. However, most of the students in our class (including me) find the movie too draggy. There are some parts that are not necessary. It is a very interesting movie but 3-hour is a bit too long. It makes the audience kinda lose the feeling of watching it. Despite that, I feel that the actress are really good. Especially the character Sybil, it is not easy to act out all different personalities. I am really amazed by her skills of acting. To conclude this, compared to all the movie I have watched in the Psychology of Film class, I would rate Sybil 7/10 for interesting level.

*All images do not belong to me and can be found in Google Images.

Movie Reflection - The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a well-known horror film that many of us had watched before. Unlike many contemporary horror movies which main purpose is to induce shock, The Sixth Sense has a strong story line and rich plot. Although this movie does include a lot of shocking elements like sudden loud sound, it still perfectly induced fear to audience.

According to the evolutionary theory, human often have the desire the master the environment. This is because that people are more comfortable in familiar surroundings. When uncertainty or unknown exists, we tend to experience anxiety, fear or any other negative emotions. The Sixth Sense consists a lot of after life or non-human spirits, which is something most of the human could not understand or master in. Hence, when ghost is introduced, we often feel fear. In this film, they uses a lot good psychological devices that enhance our emotions of fear. For example, they would play chilly music or sound like the wind blows in a sad tone to indicate "spirits" are near. Not only so, the movie has also used disgusting images to induce negative affect in audience. For example, blood or damaged limbs revealing inner organs and blood. In the movie, the characters also often complain about being cold. This is also a response of fear. Fear is an emotions we often experienced when we feel our surroundings or survival are being threaten. Therefore, when humans are in fear, it ignites the 'flight-or-fight' system. This means that our sympathetic nervous system is triggered. Consequently, the hormones in our body will facilitate some physical responses to prepare us to either fight or flee. The symptoms include muscle tightening, increase heart rate and breathing and also constrict blood vessel. As cold are associated with fear, when the character in the movie feels cold, the audience will automatically assume the spirits are near, causing the whole settings to be chilly.

Lynn and Cole Sears wearing extra clothing as it is cold

Basically, The Sixth Sense evolves around an isolated little boy who was often called freak as he can communicate and see the dead. As he often mumbled to himself or start staring at the air blankly, his peers think that he is crazy. None of them believe him and he is often left out in the class. At one scene, it is shown that Cole's former best friend would come to his house to pick him up for school, but after his mother stops looking, they would go on their separate ways. This shows that Cole is not particularly welcomed by his same-age peers and with his odd behaviors, no one would play with him. As he is always alone and unwelcome, this causes him to be the target of bullying. Despite of his extreme fear, his peers would lock him into the attic. In the movie, it is clearly portrayed that no one likes him in the school including the teacher. Although Cole has the ability to see the ceased, he is still afraid too. Hence, sometimes he would be too caught up with his thoughts on the deads causing him to have peculiar behavior that no one can understand. At one point, his teacher gets too frustrated and called him a freak in front of the class as Cole could not stop dwelling and saying how he can see the school was formerly used as a place where they hang people.

Next, between the relationship of Cole Sear and his mother, we can identify that Cole has an insecure-ambivalent attachment. Ambivalent attached children often has a very confusing behavior as when they are young they develop an unstable trust with their caregiver. They would demonstrate desperate need of closeness but sometimes distrustful and resistant towards others too. This is usually caused by the caregivers inconsistent of availability to the children when they are still infants. In the movie, it is shown that Cole's dad left the family when he was very young, resulting the mother has to work a few jobs to support the family. This could be a reason why Cole has developed such attachment style. Although Cole is often isolated from his peers, we can see that he actually desire closeness with others. There was one scene when he was in the hospital, he begged the psychologist to stay with him till he falls asleep. Not only so, there are few scene that demonstrate how Cole is resistant towards others and prefer to be alone. He can see him often playing by himself in the church instead with other kids. Another example could be how he does not want to tell his mother about his gifted ability. He explains that his mother is the source of love he has and he is very afraid of losing the love.

Despite of this attachment style, we can see that Cole and Lynn Sear actually have a very good relationship between each other. When Lynn Sear is having a bad nightmare, Cole in such a young age would know to go to his mother's bedside to calm her down. Not only so, Lynn Sear shows that she is often very worried and would do her best to provide for her child. This shows a strong bond between them. In this movie, Lynn Sear demonstrates an authoritative parenting style. She respects Cole Sear as an individual and would often listen to him. When she realized her necklace was in Cole's desk, she gives him a few chances to explain himself. It is just because that she doesn't know about her son's gifted ability and Cole's resistant in telling her the truth, she orders him out. Furthermore, there are many scene where Lynn Sear would keep telling Cole to talk to her as she wants to know more about her son. In the end, when Cole admitted his ability to see the dead to Lynn, she believes and accepts him, even it freaks her out a little.

Another strong social relationship shown is between Cole Sear and Dr Malcohm Crowe. At first, we can see that Cole is quite resistant towards Dr Crowe, but in the end they become a good company for each other. Cole trusts him a lot and tells him his secrets. Although Dr Crowe does not believe, he still tries his best to help him. We can say that they have a very strong therapeutic relationships.

However, the shocking twist of this movie gives a mind blown to all of us. When it is revealed that Dr Crowe is actually one of the spirits, I don't know how to describe the relationship between him and Cole. This is because as a spirit, he cannot be a psychologist for Cole Sear. Also, as he is already dead, his purpose to treat Cole is beneficial to him as he wanted to has a closure in life. This twist has also enhances the importance of unfinished business in life. Unfinished business basically refers to the emotions or memories about the past that one is avoiding or repressing. It is usually not fully-processed as the event is often very traumatic. Unfinished business would affect part of one's life limiting one's connection with others. In order to remove the effect in one's life, individuals has to deal with the issue and resolve the unexpressed emotions. In this case, Dr Crowe is shown to be shot dead by a former patient whom he thinks he failed him. This could be one of the reason why after death, Dr Crowe put so much effort in helping Cole as Cole demonstrates similar symptoms as the former patients. After Cole Sear's case got better, he then finally realized that he is actually dead. He has been repressing his death incident and thinking that he is actually alive. This explains why he keeps saying his wife doesn't want to interact with him. When he accepts the truth of being dead, he takes Cole's advice and talk to his wife when she is sleeping. Soon his unfinished business is resolved.

Personally, I find this movie very interesting. Perhaps because I am a fan of horror films. I find The Sixth Sense very different from other horror films that I've seen as most of them now consist more shocking elements than a rich plot or a moral. Therefore, it was actually very enjoyable to watch this movie as the 'deads' are not that scary and suitable for audience who does not like horror films because of the thrills. My favorite of the movie story is how it caught all of us with the twist and demonstrates the importance of unfinished business.

*All images and videos do not belong to me and can be found in Google Images and Youtube. 

Movie Reflection - The Whale Rider

The Whale Rider is a very touching and unique movie which evolves around the tradition of Maori, which are the indigenous people of New Zealand. The Maori culture is a not known and understood by a lot of people. Before watching the movie, I never even knew this culture existed. This movie has given a huge insight for us all into the Maori culture. Although the Maori people only stood the 14% of New Zealand population, most of them live closely-knitted to each other. However, there are also many who left their tribes to the modern world. Those who stayed often tried their best to preserve and pass down their tradition. In the film, we can see both instance which the father of Apirana does not want to continue the tradition and leave to Germany to pursue a modern career, while the rest of the tribes stay and follow their tradition strictly.

The Maori people believes nature is a living thing, which they bound closely through their traditional ritual. In the movie, it is seen that they believe they are able to connect with the Whales as often calls out to them when they need help. As a very rich culture, the Maori has their own native language, music,  art which are all demonstrated in the movie. To search a new leader for the tribe, Koro leads a traditional school and teaches the boys strictly on their culture. We can see how every chant they sing has to be perfect and how important the facial expression is when performing the Taiaha fight. The way Koro pass down the Maori tradition is very stern and he allows no leniency. This shows that the Moari people are extremely serious when it comes to their culture and traditions. Their rigidity might due to them not wanting any of the culture to be mixed or changed.

                         
Personally, I find their culture quite interesting as they have such rich tradition. I like how they connect with the nature, or whale in the movie. Although it is a bit non-scientific, it makes them value and appreciate the nature more. As this is actually very important because many of us now are taking the world for granted. One thing that I feel extremely weird is the nose rubbing manner. In their culture, nose rubbing represents the formal handshake in our culture, which they use in traditional meetings or major ceremonies. The proper way to perform this action is to press one's nose and forehead against each other at the moment they encounter. The Maori people refer this action as a Hongi. They believe through Hongi, both parties are considered the equal instead of visitor and owner of the land. With this act, one is expected to share the responsibilities of the house/tradition for the time one is staying. In this movie, we can see Koro and Pai's father demonstrate the Hongi. This means that during the time when Pai's father is back home, he is expected to share the duties in the house. Even Hongi represent such great meaning, I still find it a bit too intimate for two individuals.

For more understanding of the Maori Culture please press this link:
http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/maori-culture.html

In the film, Benevolent sexism is clearly portrayed throughout the whole movie. This type of prejudice towards women refers to the chivalrous attitude which men view women as the weaker sex. According to the Maori culture, the chief leader position are supposed to pass down to the eldest grandson of the former Paikea (leader). As Aprirana is a female, she cannot inherit this role. This patrilineal descendant is formed mainly because their culture view women as weak. Although Koro and Aprirana has a strong affectionate bond, he is still mistreating her because of her gender. In the movie, we can see how he keeps blaming Aprirana for the misfortune and damage. He believes all the whales come up shore because that Aprirana tried to be a leader as a female. One clear example of benevolent sexism is when Aprirana successfully function the motor boat with a string, Koro scolded her instead of encouraging as he think females are weak and it is dangerous for a girl to function such a task. Despite how every time Aprirana would prove to Koro that she has the potential and skills, he would dismiss her and disallow her to learn the traditions. Koro has a very rigid thinking of how certain roles are solely reserved for the males. Koro also holds a strong gender bias in favoring the male more than the females. In the beginning of the movie, it was shown that Aprirana is the only survivor in the birth, which the mother and twin brother did not make it. While visiting the twins, Koro asks his wife to take away Aprirana. He feels anger towards Aprirana which he wishes the one who survive is the twin brother.

This occurrence of gender inequality could also be explained through social roles. In this movie, we can see that the Maori community give strength to the males and view women as more submissive. Each gender are expected to fulfill their gender roles of women being a weaker gender and the male as a more dominant person. This can be seen in how Koro's wife, Aprirana's grandmother, would also listen and let Koro make all the major decision. When Koro is scolding Aprirana, even if she felt unfair for Aprirana, she never voiced out. She would only go to Aprirana and comfort her after the incident is over. Not only so, in the movie, we can see how all the women knows what they are supposed to do during all ceremonies. While the males are outside chanting, they would move to aside as they are not allowed to join. Before the event, they would all gather to prepare for the event. This shows that without any notice, all females know what are their roles and what they are expected to do. As no one ever voiced out on the inequality, this is probably why the gender biases and sexism keeps on happening.

Personally, I don't enjoy this film as much. Although it is a very insight movie which helps me learn a lot about the Maori tribes, I do not like how the movie progress. First reason might probably because that I am a very scientific person. I do not believe how humans can call out the Whale and make the Whales come up shore. I mean no offense to the Maori culture, but I do not get the logic behind. I understand they have a strong bond between human and nature, I still cannot believe their ability in Whale riding or calling. Next, it is also because that I am a strong feminist. I cannot stand to see how Aprirana is mistreated and how Koro has a very rigid view for women. It provokes my feminist spirit, wanting to stand up for the female gender. However, as a whole, I would still recommend others to watch The Whale Rider as it is such an unique movie which we all don't see all the time.

*All pictures do not belong to me and can be found in Google Images 

Movie Reflection - Strictly Ballroom

Strictly Ballroom is an old Australian dancing movie where it evolves around how a young man trying to dance his own steps in the ultimate competition. In this movie, there are a few social psychology themes that are included.

Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Dancing Championship is the ultimate competition in the dancing field where everyone would look up to the winners and take them as models. Each year, the Pan-Pacific authorities would make sure how the competition consist only ballroom dance and, in order to win, participants have to master and beautifully perform strictly only ballroom steps. Throughout the film, we can see everyone are trying so hard to master the ballroom style and been practicing the same moves for months. This is a great sign of compliance as everyone is following the rules strictly. Although compliance is similar to obedience, they differ from each other as in obedience includes an order to be made at first. This form of social influence is also demonstrated in the movie when Shirley would ask her students to do the cores in the dance studio every time the classes finish and they would obediently do it without any excuses.

The main issue in this movie is basically how Scott Hasting does not care about the rules of the Grand Prix competition and start dancing on his own moves. This act clearly shows that Scott is an non-conformist. Despite how everyone told him that dancing his own moves is wrong, he still sticks with his idea. He does not feel the social pressure or have any desire to fit into groups. Unlike Fran who has her own unique dancing movies, she does not show it out as she was afraid others would criticize her. This behavior shows that she is a conformist. However, in this movie it does not show clearly on this point.  At the beginning we can see Fran as a timid quiet dancer in the studio. Only when she saw how Scott was insisting in dancing his own steps, she approaches him and volunteered to be his partner as no one are willing to break the rules. When they are alone, she showed a bit of her Pasodoble steps to Scott. Hence, we can assume that she has been having these moves a long time but never really showed out as she was pressured to conform with the groups. One way to explain this conformity is that Fran has little knowledge in ballroom dancing. Adding in how everyone keeps telling her that she is a beginner dancer, she would look to the others for guidance. Deutsch and Gerrard (1955) would refer this as Informative Conformity.

As the movie goes on, we can see Scott and Fran eventually fall in love with each other. There are a few theories we can explain on their attractions. At the initial stage of rehearsing, there was one scene where Scott subtly hinted Fran that he was not into her. He told her how Ballroom dance is just a demonstration of love like how actors acted in the movie which is not real. However, as their dance practice progresses, Scott got to know more about Fran and her family. This shows exposure and familiarity where we tend to fall for people who we are more familiarize with. Not only so, as the days goes by, we can see Fran gains more self-confident and grows more attractive. Physical attractive is one of the most important factor in attraction which people would often desire and approach attractive people. This might be one reason why Scott was skeptical about Fran at first when she was not attractive. Another reason of their attraction could also be similarity. Although Fran and Scott seems like the total opposite which Scott comes from a well-known family and Frans's family lives in a small house beside the railway, both of them still do have similarity. In this film, we can see Fran and Scott are the left outs in the dance studio. No one noticed Fran as she was quiet and unattractive. As for Scott, even with all his charms and skills, everyone boycotts him as he choose to dance his own moves in the Grand Prix. Another similarity is that Fran and Scott both are not afraid to be different. They are willing to embrace the beauty of other style of dancing and would take the risk to show them out. Lastly, it was reciprocity liking that brings them both together. Reciprocity liking basically explains why individuals tend to favor people who like them first. Throughout the movie, we can see how Scott slowly reciprocates Fran's admiration. Although at the beginning Scott has shown no desire to Fran, a few days before the competition, we could see Scott kissing Fran before leaving.

During the Grand Prix, another talented and well-known dancer volunteered to be Scott's partner. After receiving the news, Scott's mother was so happy and excited about it. However, Scott refuses to be her partner and just wish to perform their unique dance with Fran. To get rid of Fran, Scott's mother is shown guilt tripping Fran telling how she would be the obstacle to Scott from winning the first prize. This technique is a form of emotional blackmailing. It is powerful manipulation in changing other's behaviors. As Shirley is a very experienced dancer and also Fran's dancing teacher, she uses her expertise as a defense and tell Fran how she knows they will not win if they dance their moves. She manipulated Fran by telling how if you love a person, you would want the best of him and how Fran would want to see Scott winning the first price. Not only so, she also injected guilt in Fran by saying how if she insisted to dance with Scott, she would be the reason why Scott fail.

Another example of emotional blackmail is when Barry Fife told Scott a fake story to make him drop his unique dance moves. As Barry was very close with his parents when they are young, Scott would believe in any story he told about the past. Hence, Barry uses the old incident that happened to the parents and twisted the truth. Lurking Scott into guilt of not fulfilling his parents dreams and how he is retracing his father's footstep, he managed to make Scott feels extremely selfish of himself and sorry for his parents. Therefore, after the talk, Scott decided to perform only Ballroom dancing.

Of all the movies we have watched in the Psychology of Film class, Strictly Ballroom is my favorite so far. At first I was not so keen of it as I find it a bit dramatic on the way the characters carried out themselves For example, how Liz makes a huge fuss and cries so loudly over Scott, drawing everyone's attention towards her.  However, as the movie goes by, I fell in love in how beautiful the story was told and what the message the movie was trying to convey.
 "A life lived in fear is a life half lived."  : "Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias"

This is such a good message to all of us especially those who are often restrained by rules, expectations of others and society pressure. In our culture, we are often bounded by all these things that make many of us to choose conformity. Given to be our career choices, dressing styles, freedom of speech or anything. How often do we get to do the things we truly desire ourselves? I've personally seen so many young and potential people dimming their future and sacrificing their ambition just to live a life that everyone said to be right. There are so many students gave up their dream to study a course which the parents want. So many people refraining themselves from voicing out their opinions just because they think their uniqueness are wrong in other's eyes.

If we are always living in fear of other's judgement, when are we going to be our true self?

P.S Here's a glimpse of my favorite part of Strictly Ballroom

ReferenceDeutsch, M., & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment.The journal of abnormal and social psychology, 51(3), 629.

*All pictures, gifs and videos do not belong to me. All found in Google and Youtube. 

Movie Reflection - Gandhi

This film has perfectly portrayed the significant events of Gandhi's life. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was also known as Gandhiji, is the Father of Indian Nation at all time. He was the one who strive for India's independence from the United Kingdom and also the founder of Nonviolent protest campaign for Indian's right in South Africa. With all his influential and remarkable acts, he was referred as 'Mahatma', meaning Great Soul.

The characters and qualities of Gandhi are well shown in this 3-hour movie. The most obvious and strong characteristic of Mahatma Gandhi is that he is a very stubborn person or in other words persistence. Despite all the arrest and obstacles he faced in facing the rights for Indians in South Africa, he never once gave up. Especially on the first protest, although he was hit badly for burning the passes, he never thought of stopping. He would rather endure the pain and continue burning the passes as an act of protest than being obedient to what he thinks is injustice. Along the journey of achieving India's independence, he was very persistence in using a non-violent way to protest too. Never once he fought back when facing the cruel British army. However, it is this characteristic of his that have brought him all these success. As he admitted of being stubborn, he knew clearly that persistence is the key to success in dealing with all these harsh and tough parties.

Another reason of his success was because of his high self-efficacy. He has faith within himself and he always believes that he has the competencies to change the world. He trusts that to change the world, he has to take the first step. He believes that by doing what is right, he can bring along the whole Nations with him in achieving independence. From the quote above, it can be seen that Gandhi noted the importance of self-efficacy. He knows that doubt of oneself can make an individual incapable and hence, he always has strong faith in himself in whatever he does. Even he is not good at doing a task, he never backed up and trust that he can overcome the obstacles. For example on the beginning of the film, it is shown that he does not have much skills in orating and throughout the film, he improves slowly with all the speeches he gave. Later on, his public speaking skills have become good and his speeches can inspire millions of people. This refinement mainly comes from the trust of self-competence.

Gandhiji is indeed a very interesting character. As he always emphasized on using non-violence and peace, he has his own unique way of protesting and showing his core beliefs. Instead of having a civil war, he fought against the British government by making his own salt and insisted on weaving his own clothes. This is because the British government has a law that no other people can produce salt without the legal permission to do so. As an act of civil disobedience, Gandhi ignores the law and lead his people to make their own salt. Not only so, as the British often encourages the Indians to use British products, Gandhi weaves his own clothes to show that he is not afraid to disregard  them even in his daily life. He believes that these little aspects in life are the symbols of obedience and slavery to the British. Hence, he insisted to making his own clothes.

One important aspect that is shown in the movie is the prejudice and discrimination happens in real life. At first it was the British against the Indians, and in the end, it is the Hindus and Muslims. Prejudice and Discrimination are different. Prejudice is the negative attitude and beliefs towards one based on their social group. On the other hand, discrimination is the negative act and behaviour towards one. There are a few examples of discrimination in the movie. From the very first scene itself, it is showed that Gandhi was kicked out the train for being in the 'Whites-only' compartment. Although he is rich and has the ticket, the people refuse to let him ride in the first class section. The act of scolding and throwing him out is discrimination. Another example of discrimination is shown in the movie is that when Gandhi and a white report was walking on the street, three white young men came and disturbed Gandhi telling him that black are not supposed to be on the pavement. They blocked their way and kept making fun of Gandhi. For discrimination to occur, prejudice must exist. However, people who are prejudice might not necessary act out their attitude.

From this film, we can explain the occurrence of  prejudice and discrimination in three ways. As the British was ruling India for a long period of time, it is shown that they have a strong authoritarian acting. They wanted the Indians to go according to their way and view them as inferior individuals. They believe the Indians belong to the slavery status and need to have a respect for the higher authoritarian figure. In this movie, we can see many British are over obsessive towards their rank believing that they have certain toughness that all the Indians must respect on. When people start to disobey them, authoritarian individuals would get very agitated and make sure everyone knows that they are the one who have a say. In the film, there is a few scene where the British would hit and kill the Indians without mercy for protesting. One example in the movie, is the mass shooting, killing thousands of Indian for protesting. Although the Indians has no intentions on acting violently, the army general did not care nor gave warning. He got very furious with the Indian's disobedience and ordered his army to shoot them to death. Even when he was questioned by his own authority, he showed no remorse over his action.

Another cause of prejudice and discrimination is stereotyping. This describes the generalization beliefs about a particular group due to the minorities' actions. People who has stereotypes often ignores the differences between individuals and infer one's characteristic to all the members of the groups. The discrimination and prejudice between the Hindus and Muslims are caused by this factor. There is one scene in the movie where a Hindu man explains to Gandhi of his acts and anger towards Muslims is because that he thinks all Muslims are murderers as his own son are killed by a Muslim.
This is a clear example of stereotyping and how it causes discrimination.

Lastly, prejudice and discrimination can also be explained through social identity theory. This theory mainly talks about how ones identify themselves according to their own membership of certain group and label people who are not in the same group as 'others'. This cognitive process categories us and others into two groups, the in-group and the out-group. Social Identity Theory states that discrimination and prejudice happens because of this cognitive categorization where in-group would often look for negative cues or attributions to the out-group. In the movie, we can see that the Muslims and Hindus have their own group and are not willing to unite as a whole nation. Although Gandhi often tells the others that every human are the same, there are still many people who oppose this concept as they view themselves and the rest from other religions are different groups.


Personally, I find this movie very eye-opening. This film has did a very good job in portraying the life of Gandhi.Although it is a bit too long (3 hours), it is worth a watch. Especially for people who are not much of a reader, this movie can give a good insight into Gandhi's character and achievements. To conclude this article, I've included my favorite quote from Mahatma Gandhi on below.

*All pictures do not belong to me and can be found in google images

Running On Empty - Movie Reflection

This 1988 movie revolves around a young man, Danny, who is brought up by a unique family which they are always on a run due to the parents' act of anti-war bombing of a napalm laboratory. The whole movie is showing the interactions of Danny and his family as well as how Danny is striving for his own identity and freedom in life.

Running on Empty perfectly portrays teenagers' struggles in emerging adult life through the characters, Danny and Lorna. Both of them are graduating from high school and are preparing to apply for college. Like many of the real life cases, their parents are not supportive in the teen's choice of undergraduate courses. In the movie, Lorna's parents are not very keen in Lorna decision of pursuing writing and always hope that she could follow their footstep in music. On the other hand, Danny's parents never thought that Danny would leave them and expected him to follow them on the run. Hence, when both of them apply for further studies, there is conflicts between the children and parents. These two cases are very similar to most of the family conflicts in real life. Parents usually want their child to follow their footstep or pursue something that are more stable in getting an employment instead of being supportive towards their children's passion. This causes so many potential young adults to dim their enthusiasts and study a course they don't really like. Especially in our cultural context, when a teen wants to pursue into the artistic field, most parents would object the idea and are rarely supportive of teens' choice. However, as we grew older, we would start to understand the intention of our parents. From our parents' point of view, they never wanted to hurt their children by blowing out their dreams. Parents are usually afraid that their children might not be able to find a job and support themselves in the future. This is why comparing to the Western context, situations like this are more likely to happen in our context. In the Western countries, even the parents are not keen with their children's decision, they usually would still allow their children to pursue that course because they believe once their children turn into an adult, he or she should bear his/her own responsibilities. Unlike our context, young adults who are already working would still seek support from parents. Therefore, parents would avoid getting into situation like that and force their children in studying a course that have higher chance of getting employed.

Another struggle that is faced by most teenagers are also shown in the movie. According Erik Erikson Psychosocial Development Theory, teenagers falls under the Identity vs Role Confusion stage. In this movie, we can see how Danny is struggling to find his own identity. He began to wonder what would his future holds for him and realizing what he wants to do in his life.
This is also a scene where he acts as a pizza delivery man just to see his grandmother who couldn't recognize him. These shows that he is exploring different aspect on his life to search for a concrete identity.

In the movie, it is also very clearly shown that the love between Lorna and Danny can be listed as romantic love which based on Sternberg Triangular Theory of Love, consists of only passion and intimacy. There is no commitment as towards the end of the movie, Danny is willing to sacrifice his love and run away with his family. He did not commit himself in the relationship. This kind of love is widely common among teenagers and young adults are most are not ready to settle down. Especially when it is a first love, many people still couldn't figure out what they want in their partner and are still exploring and learning about love. As for Danny and Lorna, the intimacy and passion level is obviously high because they share almost everything to each other even Danny's family secret, and have a strong emotional connection.

What brings them together at first was the similarity between both of them. Although they are from a totally different type of family, we can see that Lorna and Danny are both teenagers who are searching for their identity and struggling with the same college problems. Not only so, they study at the same school and share a class together. These shows that what draws them together are actually the proximity and similarity. Based on the Social Attraction Theory, we are more likely to fall in love with people who are similar to us and people who are near to us. This is because it is easier for couples to understand each other, and short distance provides familiarity and convenience.

What I personally like about this movie is that Running On Empty addresses a very important issue of society's perceptions of family. To most of the people, status and wealth signifies happiness in a family. Many admires and gives extra respect to those from the upper class and taking them as a role model. However, little did outsider knows what is within the family. I believe the family context and interactions are much more important than the external status. Just like in the movie, Although the Philip family seems like they have it all (upper-middle class family), the interaction between Lorna and Mr Philip is not as good as it seems. They talk rudely to each other and even as a father, he needs permission to get into his daughter's room. On the other hand, despite the bad condition the Pope family is living in, they have a very strong bond which they stick together through thick and thin. They are very open with each other where they tell their problems and discuss freely. Although at the end, it's Arthur who makes the end decision, he does take in all ideas and opinions. Pope family works as a unit and they understand each other well. Even conflicts and crisis appear, in the end it still brings them together. One example is at first Arthur is against Danny leaving the family and going into college, at the end he understand that his son has no responsibility towards his act of bombing and Danny shouldn't risk his whole life running away. He made the decision of letting him go even it is hard for everyone. As a mother, Annie understand faster than Arthur and risks to see his father to arrange a stable life for Danny. This shows that despite all the emotional damage and risk of never seeing each other again, the Pope family still supports one another and think of the best for each other.

conversation between the Pope family in the video 

In the last scene, when the Pope family let Danny be on his own, Arthur and Annie Pope told Danny to go out there and make a difference and not to let anyone to tell him different shows that the powerful love from parents to their child. No matter where they are or what they do, parents will always love their child and see the best in them. This kind of love is also shown between Annie and his father. Although the conversation was hard at first, her father still agrees to take in Danny as to help Annie. Despite they have not met each other for 14 years and Annie's parents were mad at her, we can still see the love he has for her as a parent and the willingness to do anything for his child.


In life, I feel that no matter what condition our family lives in, what brings the whole family together are the supports, understanding, openness and acceptance. There is no use to have high status or good wealth if the family are not interacting well inside. This is because except our family, there is no one in the world would sacrifice so much and love one unconditionally.


*All pictures and videos shown do not belong to me and can be found in google images or Youtube

Movie Reflection - Awakenings

Based on a true story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks, this movie has given society a glimpse of mental health illness and some inspirational insights on human behaviour. Awakenings demonstrates the severe cases of Catatonia, and how Oliver Sacks discovers a beneficial drug that awakes patients who suffer from catatonic for decades. Hence, it gives us a better understanding of this illness as Catatonia is not widely known and seen in our community. Catatonia is a neurological illness that causes motor immobility. Research¹ has found that this illness is often common in hospital but usually under-recognized as the symptoms are similar with Parkinson’s Disease (slow motor movements, tremor, rigid muscles). However, the causes of both Catatonia and Parkinson are different². Under DSM-V, catatonia is not classified as an individual disorder but rather as a state associated with other mental illness as it often found comorbid with Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia. The classification as one of the subtype of schizophrenia previously in DSM-IV has been removed, and added a new category – Unspecified Catatonia. This improved classification of Catatonia has made it easier to diagnose and treat. 

Robert DeNiro as a Catatonic Patient

Added Categories of Catatonic in DSM-V

DSM-V:  http://psy-gradaran.narod.ru/lib/clinical/DSM5.pdf

The characteristics of Dr Sayer can be seen from the movie is that Dr Sayer is a very persistent and courageous person.  Despite of all the criticism and put down from his other colleagues, he never gave up his hypothesis of the catatonic patients and believes that there is a way to treat the patients. Even when his request of asking higher dosage of medicine is rejected, he is willing to take risk and sneak out the medicine to try on a patient. His persistence and courage have never let any obstacles block his way.

Robin Williams as Dr Sayer

According to Henry Murray theory of needs, we can say that Dr Sayer is high in need of achievement and low in need of affiliation. Dr Sayer is internally motivated by the success of treating patients rather than social recognition. He placed more importance on learning about the patients’ condition and how other medicine works. Adding with his low need of affiliation at the beginning, his behaviour of questioning and challenging other doctors can be understood.

Throughout the whole movie, we can see the personality change in Dr Sayer. At the beginning, Dr Sayer is more introverted. He doesn’t not have much friends and he is more comfortable being alone. However, towards the end, we can see Dr Sayer overcomes his social awkwardness and is more willing to interact with others. This is because the awakenings of the catatonic patients had taught him that human touch is so important to a person. He learned that close relationships with friends or family sometimes can help one go through any hardships. He soon realized the need for affiliation exists in every human being even for him who preferred to be left alone.

Another huge behavioural change that can be seen in the movie is the way how the staffs in the hospital treat the patients. At the beginning most of the nurses and doctors were not giving their best in work. They prefer watching television than helping, and the unwillingness is shown when they are forced to read to the catatonic patients. However, after the awakening, we can see that the staff are more united and treated the patients with full heart. They remember the patients’ likings and personality and treat them differently than before when the catatonic strikes back. This is mainly because that the awakenings of the catatonic patients acted as a hope in all the staff. Research^3,4 has found that hope has a direct impact on employees’ work behaviour. When there is hope within the employees towards their work, their job performance, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and work happiness will increase.  

The most inspiring part of the movie is when Leonard (the first awaken catatonic patient) fights to be discharge from the hospital as the institute has kept him from doing anything he wishes to. He told the doctors that the simplest thing in life like taking a walk could have mean so much to him when all of us take it for granted. Explaining through an existential approach, this act of Leonard is not only striving for freedom but also his search of meaning in life. Existentialists believe that human’s self-awareness enable us to realize that we have the freedom of choice and meaning of life must be seek by self as we are all responsible for the choices we make that direct our life. Hence, to Leonard, this freedom signifies that he can also have the choice to make a difference or establish meaningful relationship, as to create an identity, sense of self and life’s worth. 

In the movie there is a conversation between Dr Sayer and Nurse Eleanor, as below

This is a very true statement from Nurse Eleanor. Just as existential approach explained, we eventually have to realize that time is limited but we are infinite. Our potential, will, actions are all decision we make that lead our life. Although we do not have a choice to choose when to be born and when to die, we do have a choice in making our life meaningful. 

Awakenings reminded all of us that we are often caught up with the negatives in life, we forget what it is to be alive. When we take our normal daily routine as granted, people with catatonic or other unfortunates are fighting just to brush their teeth, read the papers and other normal things. We are very blessed to be able to live as healthy individuals and the negatives in life shouldn’t be an excuse as to condemn ourselves. We need to understand that sometimes happiness and the feeling of being alive come from the simplest thing like breathing fresh air, writing, singing and maybe just plain walking. Yet, the best part of life will always be being loved by our friends and family.  

References

1. Bhati, M. T., Datto, C. J., & O’Reardon, J. P. (2007). Clinical Manifestations, Diagnosis, and Empirical Treatments for Catatonia. Psychiatry (Edgmont),4(3), 46–52.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2922358/

2. Northoff, G. (2002). What Catatonia Can Tell Us About “Top Down Modulation” A Neuropsychiatric Hypothesis. Behavioural and Brain Science, 25(5), 555-604. https://www.georgnorthoff.com/s/what-catatonia-can-tell-us-about-top-down-modulation-a-neuropsychiatric-hypothesis.pdf

3. Younsef, C. M, & Luthans, F. (2007). Positive Organizational Behavior in the Workplace: The Impact of Hope, Optimism, and Resilience. Journal of Management, 33(5), 774-800.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=managementfacpub

4. Malik, A. (2013). Efficacy, Hope, Optimism and Resilience at Workplace – Positive Organizational Behavior. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(10), 1-4.

http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-1013/ijsrp-p2274.pdf

 *All pictures and gifs do not belong to me and can be found in google images.