PSY/COM 250: The Psychology/Rhetoric of Film (Spring, 2010)
Dr. Stephen Dine Young
Classroom: 147 Science Center
Class Times: M, T, W, Th, F -- 9-1
Office:
Office Hours: M,W,TH,F – after class & by appointment
Phone: 866-7319
e-mail: youngst@hanover.edu
Course Description & Goals
Movies can be approached by psychologically-minded investigators from a number of different directions. From one direction, film is a representational medium that is capable of symbolizing an enormous range of human actions using such cinematic/narrative devices as character, plot, theme, editing, camera movement, etc. These represented actions are analyzable from a variety of psychological perspectives.
Approached from another direction, motion pictures are technical, rhetorical and artistic objects created by groups of individuals working collaboratively within particular social and historical contexts. These film-makers can be thought of as having identifiable “psychological characteristics” (e.g., conscious beliefs and attitudes, behavioral predispositions, unconscious complexes, etc.) that shape the nature of their work.
Finally, a critical observer can make the assumption that there are psychological mechanisms operating within audience members as they watch films. These mechanisms can be understood at different levels: perceptual (e.g., the perception of motion), behavioral (e.g., the impact of violent films on behavior) and cognitive (e.g., the complex meaning making process that occurs while watching any movie, from Citizen Kane to Mall Cop).
The primary goal of this course will be to engage students in viewing narrative fiction film from each of these three directions. Through the use of representative movies, critical commentaries and empirical studies, students will come to be familiar each orientation. Hopefully, students will learn to see movies as “psychologically alive”--creations of the mind that are capable of representing the full range of human concerns through cognitive and symbolic processes occurring within viewers.
In order to accomplish the goals of this course, an interdisciplinary approach will be used; we will draw relevant work from psychology, film studies, literary criticism and mass communication. There will some opportunities to compare and contrast film with other narrative and visual media such as television, theater, literate, etc.
Reading Materials
There are no text books for this course. However, assigned reading will be of central importance. These readings will be in the form of articles, chapters, and excerpts from a variety of magazines, journals and books. These materials are listed with the class schedule and will be reserved at the library.
Class Attendance & Participation
Classroom participation will be absolutely essential. Since the format will be primarily discussion based, your contribution will have a large impact on how much you and the other students learn. Therefore, for every unexcused absence after the first (either film or discussion/lecture), you will have 5 points subtracted from your final grade.
In addition, your classroom participation will be worth 100 points and will be assigned a grade as follows:
Outstanding 95+ points
Excellent 90 points
Very Good 85 points
Good 80 points
Average 75 points
Below Average 70 or below points
Weekly Journal
Each week you will turn in a journal that captures your reflections about important aspects of the class—movies, readings, class discussions, & projects. The intention of these journals is for you to demonstrate your engagement in the material—your questions, your emotional reactions, your speculations, your insights, your criticisms, etc. This journal is worth a total of 75 points.
Class Projects
You will be required to do 4 projects. These projects are designed to parallel the topic of the course that week. The projects will involve applying the readings, doing library research, watching additional movies, doing interviews, etc. Each project will be discussed in detail the week it is due. The first project will be in class and will be worth 50 points. The second project will be worth 75 points. The last two projects will be worth 100 points each. Late projects will be deducted 10% for every class day they are late.
Exams
There are no exams. Have a nice spring.
Grading
(Total of 600 points)
450-500 A
400-449 B
350-399 C
300-349 D
299 & Below F
Class Schedule & Readings (Psychology of Film)
WEEK 1—INTERPRETION AND RHETORIC IN FILM
May 3
Topic: Introduction to course; Psychology in the movies
Film: Excerpts from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, 1966)
May 4
Topic: None
Reading: Dine Young, “Representation of Mental Health Professionals”
Film: Good Will Hunting (Van Sant, 1997)
May 5
Topic: Interpreting Toy Story & Other Fairy Tales
Reading: Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment (pp. 3-19; 159-183)
Film: Toy Story (Lasseter;
1995)
May 6
Topic: Feminist interpretation; stylistic interpretation
Film: Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)
May 7
Topic: The process of interpretation
Film: Mystery film & In-class Project #1
WEEK 2--FROM THE MINDS OF THE MOVIE MAKERS
May 10
Topic: Psycho & the process of interpretation
Film: Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
May 11
Topic: None
Reading: None
Film: Class choice
May 12
Topic: Auteurs
Film: The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946)
Topic: Analyzing Woody Allen
Film: Husbands and Wives (Allen, 1992)
May 14
Topic: Analyzing Alfred Hitchcock
Film: Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1959)
WEEK 3--THE AUDIENCE RESPONDS
May 17 (Project #2 due)
Topic: The effects of film
Film: Taxi Driver (Scorcese, 1976) & various film clips of violence in film
May 18
Topic: None
Reading: None
Film: The Persuaders
May 19
Topic: The effects of film (continued)
Reading: Bandura, Ross & Ross, “The imitation of film-mediated aggressive models”; Linz Donnerstein & Penrod, “The effects of long-term exposure to violent and sexually degrading depictions of women”
Film: Thelma & Louise (Scott, 1991)
May 20
Topic: Viewer response
Film: Class choice of romantic comedy
May 21
Topic: Viewer response (continued)
Reading: Radway, “Readers and their Romances” (cont.)
Film: Northern Exposure, “Rosebud” episode
WEEK 4--SELF AS VIEWER
May 24 (Project #3 due)
Topic: The functions of film; Cinematherapy
Reading: Tesser, Millar & Wu, “On the perceived functions of movies”; McMillan, “The Wizard of Oz”; Hesley & Hesley, Rent Two Films (pp. 3-25)
Film: The Hustler (Rosen, 1961)
May 25
Topic: None
Reading: None
Film: Class choice
May 26
Topic: Movies as equipment for living (i.e., “Star Wars and Me”)
Reading: Burke, “Literature as equipment for living”; Dine Young, “Movies as equipment for living”; Dine Young, “Movies that Change Our Lives”; McAdams, Stories We Live By (pp. 11-35)
Film: Class choice
May 27
Topic: Movies as equipment for living, continued
Reading: None
Film: None
May 28 (Project #4
due at noon)
No class
Psychology of Film--Reading List
Bandura, A., Ross & Ross, D. Imitation of Film‑Mediated Aggressive Models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66 (1), 3‑11.
Bettleheim, B. (1976). The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairytales. Knopf, Inc.
Bordwell, D. (1989). Making
Meaning; Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema.
Bozzuto, J.C. (1975). Cinematic Neurosis Following "The Exorcist." Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 161 (1), 43‑48.
Burke, K. (1967). Literature as equipment for living. In The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action.
Dine Young, S. (2000). Movies as Equipment for Living. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 17 (4), 447‑46.
Dine Young, S. (in progress). Movies that Change Our Lives: Cinematic Memories, Dreams and Reflections.
Dine Young, S., Boester, A., Whitt, M.T., & Stevens, M. (2008). Character motivation in the representations of mental health professionals in popular film. Mass Communication and Society, 11(1), 82-99.
Donnerstein, E.,
Freud, Sigmund. Creative Writers and Day Dreaming. In Peter
Gay (Ed). The Freud Reader (pp. 436‑443).
Flitterman‑Lewis, S. (1951). To See and Not to Be: Female Subjectivity and the Law in Hitchcock's Notorious. Literature and Psychology (pp. 1‑15).
Hesley, J.W. & Hesley, J.G. (1998). Rent Two Films and Let’s Talk in the Morning: Using Popular Movies in Psychotherapy. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
McAdams, D.P. (1993). The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self (pp. 11-37). New York: Guilford Press.
McMillan, T. (1991). The Wizard of Oz. In David Rosenberg (Ed.) The Movie That Changed My Life (pp.253‑265).
Mulvey, L. (1986). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Philip Rosen (Ed.), Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology (pp.198‑209).
Radway, J. (2001). Readers and their romances. In J.L. Machor
and P. Goldstein (Eds.) Reception study:
From literary theory to cultural studies.
Spoto,D. (1992). Excerpts from The Art of Alfred Hitchcock. & The Darkside of Genius.
Tesser, A., Millar, K., & Wu, C. On the Perceived Functions of Movies. The Journal of Psychology, 122 (5), 441‑449.
Wilson, W., & Hunter, R. (1983). Movie Inspired Violence. Psychological Reports, 55, 435‑441.
Wollen, P. The Auteur Theory. In Bill Nichols (Ed.), Movies and Methods (pp. 529‑542).