Blue Phoenix
Master Don Juan
Hollywood film operates to legitimate certain values and its depictions help to instill ideology.
Motion pictures create an illusion that what occurs on the screen is an objective recording of events, rather than a representation of a certain point of view. Film is a component of a wider system of cultural delineation that creates psychological order that results in a distinctive formation of social reality. Social institutions are sustained by these shared beliefs of what the world is and should be. Films have become part of that extensive cultural system of constructions that represent social reality. Such representations may be appropriated from the culture, embraced as part of the self. When these constructions are internalized, they may mold the self and help to shape our personality.
Object relations psychoanalytic theory underscores the role of such representations in deciding the evolution of psychological life (Ryan and Kellner, 1988). An example of such representations is the relationship between exposure to violence in the media and real world aggressive behavior. Numerous major governmental reports since 1972 have concluded that viewing mass media contributes to aggressive attitudes and behavior (American Psychological Association, 1993; Wilson, Kukel, Linz, Potter, Donnerstein, Smith, Blumenthal & Gray, 1997).
Representations of sex also pervade the media. These depictions have repeatedly been shown to exert a profound influence on the sexual mores of viewers, especially youthful ones (Zillmann & Bryant, 1982; Zillmann & Bryant, 1988; Zillmann, 1994). Americans may suffer from a "Sexy World Syndrome" (Strasburger, 1989) in which heavy media viewing contributes to false beliefs concerning sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, birth control, sexuality, etc. (Strasburger, 1995).
In this way, visual media, including motion pictures, may be conceptualized as a significant psychosocial stressor. Such psychosocial stressors are among the most important risk factors for the development of personality disorders (Paris, 1996). Personality traits derive essentially from the "unshared environment," the totality of life events unique to each person. Numerous factors which help to forge personality come from outside the family, evolving out of interactions with peers and the community (Paris, 1999). Extra-familial mechanisms known as "group socialization" (Harris, 1998), [end page 156] which include influences coming from peers, schools, and the community, can be as powerful as those coming from parents (Rutter, 1989). Personality traits and disorders are viewed as a product of genetic-environment interaction. Personality disorders are formed by both diatheses (variations in temperament) and psychosocial stressors (life events) (Kendler and Eaves, 1986).
Source: http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol8is3/snyder.html
Motion pictures create an illusion that what occurs on the screen is an objective recording of events, rather than a representation of a certain point of view. Film is a component of a wider system of cultural delineation that creates psychological order that results in a distinctive formation of social reality. Social institutions are sustained by these shared beliefs of what the world is and should be. Films have become part of that extensive cultural system of constructions that represent social reality. Such representations may be appropriated from the culture, embraced as part of the self. When these constructions are internalized, they may mold the self and help to shape our personality.
Object relations psychoanalytic theory underscores the role of such representations in deciding the evolution of psychological life (Ryan and Kellner, 1988). An example of such representations is the relationship between exposure to violence in the media and real world aggressive behavior. Numerous major governmental reports since 1972 have concluded that viewing mass media contributes to aggressive attitudes and behavior (American Psychological Association, 1993; Wilson, Kukel, Linz, Potter, Donnerstein, Smith, Blumenthal & Gray, 1997).
Representations of sex also pervade the media. These depictions have repeatedly been shown to exert a profound influence on the sexual mores of viewers, especially youthful ones (Zillmann & Bryant, 1982; Zillmann & Bryant, 1988; Zillmann, 1994). Americans may suffer from a "Sexy World Syndrome" (Strasburger, 1989) in which heavy media viewing contributes to false beliefs concerning sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, birth control, sexuality, etc. (Strasburger, 1995).
In this way, visual media, including motion pictures, may be conceptualized as a significant psychosocial stressor. Such psychosocial stressors are among the most important risk factors for the development of personality disorders (Paris, 1996). Personality traits derive essentially from the "unshared environment," the totality of life events unique to each person. Numerous factors which help to forge personality come from outside the family, evolving out of interactions with peers and the community (Paris, 1999). Extra-familial mechanisms known as "group socialization" (Harris, 1998), [end page 156] which include influences coming from peers, schools, and the community, can be as powerful as those coming from parents (Rutter, 1989). Personality traits and disorders are viewed as a product of genetic-environment interaction. Personality disorders are formed by both diatheses (variations in temperament) and psychosocial stressors (life events) (Kendler and Eaves, 1986).
Source: http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol8is3/snyder.html