2C A1 26W 02

You will receive a selection of questions. Your task is to write a reflection essay on one of these questions. The assignment is a reflection paper not a demonstration of your ability to repeat the thoughts of the course instructor. You are asked to provide your own thoughts.

You must refer to lecture videos or updates. Your paper should be in conversation with the lecture material. I am not particular about citation styles. According to lecture… is an adequate way of citing lecture. You should feel encouraged to write in the first person.

Question Prompt Choices (Choose One Question)

1. Comedy films, of recent years, often rely on the mockery of other human beings (often the unrepresented or disenfranchised). What do you think the social psychological meaning of modern film humor suggests about how we co-exist with other people? If humor provokes a private response that is natural, (that we laugh without it necessarily being willed), what is it within our personal psychology that our modern comedies are stimulating, confronting, or encouraging? Are comedy films changing, or are they still mostly on the same path? What does your response say about the state of our social psychology?

2. In the last decade with the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have been provided with figures who are largely super human (inhuman in relation to people like you and me) and are mostly defenders of our North American system. We have also, in the last few years, been presented with heroes who were older and consistently identified as male. In many cases these heroes challenged corruptions within systems but left the systems in the place. What do these representations of heroes, and its difference from the hero that questioned society and power, tell you about the ways we are encouraged to think of fighting evil or power? Are the battles that are fought on the screen battles that matter to you. Is the understanding of heroic changing, and if so, or not, what does this say about our shifting social psychology, and does this touch how you think on a personal level?

3. Fantasy films were once cinematic representations of a desire for personal and social psychological hope in something more and better than what is generally provided in adult life. This hope, in fantasy films, tends to be supported and/or offered by magical or spiritual forces. What do you think the popularity of fantasy films says to us, as a social psychology, about the absence of spirituality or mystery in our modern understanding of the psychological self? What do you think the cost would be to popular cultures relationship to our social psychology if fantasy films, of the sort described above, faded from our screens? Is this already occurring? Given that many fans of fantasy films do not actually believe in the power of magic, is our escape to this genre a sign of promise in something other than ourselves or is it an escape into a temporary delusion where we imagine we live somewhere else, for a little while?

4. Traditionally, dystopian films have presented future worlds where natural disasters or the growing divide between those who are powerful and those who are not have led to paranoia and the need to protect yourself and your dependents to survive. Recently we have been given films where individuals are dependent on artificial intelligence technologies that are superior not only in terms of intelligence but also in basic ideas of moral goodness. What do dystopian films seek to tell us about our current reality? Why, given their often negative and condemning comments about humanity, are they popular? From feeling paranoid, to the desire for self-protection (which breeds further paranoia), to new appreciations of non-human guidance (Artificial Intelligence, what can we theorize about the social psychology of dystopian films in terms of personal warnings or social criticism?

5. In my lectures on horror films (video) I suggested horror films are largely about disorders that threaten our fragile faith in order. In the past few years, we have films focused on trauma caused by fractured social structures, including the family, mental illness, and media identity (the development and presentations of media influences as representations of oneself). We have been fearfully wondering about who we really are and whether we are the good people we want to think ourselves to be. More recently, we have had a number of horror films about threats to tight knit communities and to our children. What do you identify as a main trend in recent horror films (the past few years) and what do you think it shows about our shared fears or concerns? Are our fears about real threats or are we hiding from those?

6) All these film genres, discussed in this class (with the possible exception of fantasy films), have become more violent and graphic than they have been in the past. Many comedy films have characters badly hurt and bleeding, hero films demand violent solutions to problems, and dystopian and horror films have become more violent than they have ever been. Are we starting to change our views on the value of violence. Is it funny? Is it becoming necessary? Why is body horror such a component of many popular films? What sort of social psychological theory can you initiate based on your observations about our appreciation for more violence in our entertainment?