For millennia, philosophers and scientists alike have sought to explain the mysteries of the world and the creatures that inhabit it. Psychology emerged from this tradition of answer seeking, but taps into a characteristic that is inherent to all individuals: a desire to understand why people are the way they are. In psychology, this topic is examined from every angle, from how action potentials charge down neurons to how culture shapes our relationships. Rooted in empirical research, psychology studies the mind and its influence on human behavior in different contexts. It is a scientific window into the mystifying concept we call “human nature.”
For as long as people have sought to explain the nature of humans and the world, people have sought to depict it. Classic works of literature and art manage to convey some essential truth about human nature. Over the past 100 years, a new media has developed that combines literature with the moving image in order to entertain, and sometimes enlighten, its audience. Herein lies the connection between psychology and film. Although most films do not have the ambition of revealing an unknown truth about human nature, they are created for the purpose of conveying the auteur’s creative vision or entertaining the masses. This may seem oversimplified, but ultimately, films are made by and for humans. Consequently, the human psyche determines which stories are made into film, how characters are designed, how the plot is structured, and how these factors vary by genre and target audience.
Beyond this underlying relationship between film and psychology, there is a far more explicit one. If there is anything that people like to do more than ponder human nature, it is to see what happens when the mechanisms of human nature go haywire. It is no surprise then that almost all films have characters that manifest varying degrees of abnormal psychology. In most cases, a subtle abnormality appears as a character flaw. After all, it is quite normal for all humans to display some “abnormal” psychological traits and behaviors. However, in many films, severe cases of mental illnesses or developmental and personality disorders serve as either the central struggle of a character or as the twist in the plot.
This website will give you a brief glimpse into the relationship between psychology and film—from the history of this relationship, to the way in which it shapes film, to informed explanations of some of the “twists” you never saw coming.
Note: This site contains MANY SPOILERS. A “spoiler” warning will appear at the top of each page containing a spoiler and at the beginning of each section within the page containing spoilers.
Target Audience
This website is aimed at all consumers of film and all lovers of psychology. Having included both of these groups, pretty much anyone should find this site interesting! In terms of writing style, I will try to be clear and concise, and include links to more in depth explanations within the site, as well. Thus, younger readers (middle-high school) can read the simplified information and older readers (college – ) can read the more in depth information. Any technical terms will be explained briefly within the page and linked to a glossary of psychological terms and illnesses with longer definitions.
Main Point of Website
Psychology is the scientific study of humans. It shapes how we develop, how we think, how we relate to one another, how we behave, how we learn, how we remember, and how we perceive the world. The list goes on and on. In short, psychology permeates every aspect of our lives, including our most popular form of entertainment. I want a viewer of this website to leave it with two things:
An understanding of how aspects of human thought and behavior are manifested in films, how viewers’ specific backgrounds and experiences correlate with the movies that appeal to them, and, for aspiring filmmakers, how to write a script that will find an audience and maintain artistic integrity.
A more critical eye towards the way that psychological institutions and mental illnesses are depicted in film. Viewers should be able to identify instances in which advances in psychology have and have not been represented in film and in which mental illnesses have been presented in an accurate or inaccurate manner. Viewers should understand how films have sometimes skewed public sentiments and should walk away with a more nuanced impression of mental institutions and disorders.
Tentative Site Structure
Home Page
History of Psychology in film
General history with no spoilers, focusing on trends in the emergence of sub-genres (psychological thrillers, horror, tragedy, war)
Crazy People: Ambiguous “disorders” (emphasis on films mixing symptoms of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and dissociative identity disorder OR mixing amnesia brought on by physical trauma and dissociative amnesia or fugue)
Mental Institutions and Mental Illness: 1909 – 2012 (each page will discuss how each institution/illness has been portrayed in film over time and how advances in psychology have changed or not changed these portrayals. There will also be a timeline of the major films that impacted public sentiment surrounding these issues. Multiple timelines may be used in cases where multiple categories lie under the same umbrella of illnesses. There will either be a spoiler/no spoiler option or a warning at top of page saying there will be spoilers.) Witty/corny titles will be thought of for all pages .
Mental institutions, Therapy, and Medical Treatment
Clinical Disorders
Substance-related Disorders
Schizophrenia and other Psychotic Disorders
Mood Disorders (depression and bipolar disorder, including post-partum depression)
Anxiety Disorders (specific phobias, general phobias, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, OCD)
Psychology of the Audience/Applying Psychology to Film Development (shortly discuss how humans are social creatures)
Common characteristics of most modern films:
The Flawed Hero (also discuss unique/rebellious trait in American films)
Character Arc
Three Act Structure
How Hollywood Ropes You In: Using Your Mind Against You (short info on main strategies on this page, more info on pages below)
Familiarity = Liking (cast actors similar to target audience, use stories and plot structures that have been used before, adapt books and comic books, sequels, sequels, sequels!)
Casting According to Darwin (how evolution has shaped what women and men are attracted to and how leads and other characters within film reflect this)
Rooting for the Protagonist (we must identify with one person or group of people in order to apply the fundamental attribution error [understanding our own actions as being determined by the situation but other people’s actions as resulting from dispositional traits] in their favor. This way, it doesn’t matter how bad the things the lead does, as long as the situation seems to call for it).
Strategies by Genre (may be one page or multiple pages with more depth depending on how much info I can actually find. Categories may include: action, adventure, comedy, crime, documentary, fantasy, historical, horror, mystery, political, romance, science fiction, slice of life, thriller [particularly psychological thriller; point of view of ill person vs point of view of others], animation vs. live action)
Age and Film – how patterns of psychosocial and moral development affect plots and themes of films targeting different age groups
Culture and Film– how traditions and social norms of society shape film. Focus on individualistic vs. collectivist cultures/American vs. East Asian Films
Race and Film – how “similarity = liking” affects demographic of movie stars (white men make up majority of Hollywood directors, producers, etc. and whites are largest population in America) and how movies with primarily minority casts use psychology differently
Gender and Film – similar to above, but focus on gender
Diagnosing the Characters (Abnormal Psychology in Films) (SPOILERS galore)
Famous characters in movie history or characters famous for being mentally unstable or ill (being on page doesn’t necessarily mean character has full blown mental illness; may include abusive individuals)
For each character: Symptoms, Function of Symptoms in Film, Diagnosis of illness (in my opinion, but based on research on the disorder), if any, and analysis of the accuracy of illness portrayal. Link to glossary of terms and any other pages with info relevant to character's psyche.
Option to categorize by film, character name, film date, or disorder.
Try to get as many characters as time will allow for, but if time is issue, go with 5-10 big characters that were defined by their idiosyncratic behavior or where illness was big part of film or twist in film, or recent popular films (examples - Silence of the Lambs, Girl Interrupted, Fight Club, Psycho, Carrie, Shutter Island, Black Swan, American Psycho, The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger's Joker))
Glossary of Terms and Disorders (technical definitions of psychological terms, disorders, and relevant stuff [like DSM, fMRI, or shock therapy])
Option to categorize alphabetically, or by type/disorder