Thoughts on The Hunt For The Wilderpeople

I can see why it is New Zealand's top grossing movie. The Hunt For The Wilderpeople is a cheeky, off-beat humor film, while at the same time, portrayed some strong characters and concepts. Julian Dennison played the role of a young rebellious adolescents well, and Sam Neil is a veteran actor by itself, so the chemistry between the two of them was enjoyable to see.

Ricky Baker is an orphan. The first concern that came to mind was the absence of his parents. In his case, he never knew his parents at all, since birth. All he had was a picture of his young mother. As such, he had no role model to look up to. Social learning theory builds around the concept of how we learn things by observing others. A key 'others' is our parents and family, since we normally spend the majority of our time with them in the early years of our life. However, this was not applicable to Ricky. He had to learn from somewhere else. That being said, it was highly likely that he mirrored the gangster lifestyle as a role model, or tried to. To illustrate, in the film, we can see how he involves himself in minor acts of gangsterism, such as vandalism, minor arson, and general misconduct. Also, Ricky likes to reference to gangster lingo and even chose Tupac Shakur as his idol.

A quiet and subtle theme of the movie is character of Hec. Although not explicitly described, Hec represent a minority group that is subtly frowned down upon and largely ignored. An ex-convict. Many people would easily distrust past offenders, with the mentality of 'he did it once, he can do it again'. In fact, there is rarely anything good associated with ex-convicts, as these perceptions are further strengthen by criminal movies and news of offenders with a convicted past. That may explain why Hec lived in isolation with his wife, Bella, and involves himself with lone tasks such as hunting or jungle trekking. As far as I know, this particular group of people are largely neglected and even stigmatized in many ways. We often hear of advocation for the right's of women, LGBT, immigrants and so forth. But in the case of ex-cons, no one seems interested. No one is keen to bring them out of the pit of stigma that they are thrown in. Of course, I understand the rationale behind it. Ex-cons are technically criminals after all, so they could be dangerous and avoiding would sound like a wise decision. But more often that not, there is more to the story of an ex-con, not just the official legal prosecutions. As an example, we could see how Hec's background was dug out and published in the newspapers when the two of them disappeared into the woods. The media unsubtly suggested that this fellow ex-con had most likely kipnapped this young boy, given his past. As such, Hec was targeted for capture very quickly, without actually digging further into the details of the story.

This movie, although light-hearted and cheeky in nature, showed a darker underlying theme. On one hand, you have orphans. On the other, you have ex-criminals. Both groups are people who undergo great difficulties in life, in terms of social, emotional or psychological issues. As such, it was good to be sharply reminded of the hardship that these folks suffer, unbeknownst to most. On the surface, they may be rebellious as a child or unfeeling as a old man, but they have gone through much that shaped them so. We have to learned to look beyond what is obvious, and see people for what they truly are, and not what we think they are.

Thoughts on Experimenter

It was quite an enlightening experience to finally watch the story of the scientist of one of the most controversial studies, whom I often heard but never knew before, in the movie, Experimenter. Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment is frequently presented along side Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiement, in terms of social psychology and ethical issues. Interestingly, both of them were also classmates in James Monroe High School in 1950. I also never knew about the other various experiments that Milgram developed, such as his lost letters experiments, his looking up experiment and his six-degrees of separation theory. But of course, it was the obedience test that garnered much attention, and is still largely debated decades later to this day.

The experiment was infamous for its ethical issues and concerns. Chief among them, were the deception and distress that the participants felt. In order to obtain true and authentic responses, Milgram had to deceive them from true nature of the experiment, by informing them that the experiment was to reinforce memory and learning. Furthermore, most, if not all, of the participants were emotionally and mentally distressed throughout the experiment, as they struggled to obeyed. Many people would claim that such methods are unethical and unjustifiable, and had no grounds to be carried out in the first place. Others would suggest that it opened the eyes of many to the true nature of humanity, as most researchers wrongly predicted that most would NOT obey all the way during that time.

Milgram uncover something dark and essential about human nature. When we are being told to obey a command, under certain conditions, more than half of us are likely to obey, even if the command is evil. As we can see in the movie, although the participants struggled and complained, they eventually went all the way until the maximum voltage. Despite the screams and later silence of the "learner", they obeyed the instruction from the authority figure of the assistant. Although most of us would like to think that we are good people without the capacity to harm others, the truth lies somewhere a little further from that. And this very fact troubles many, on a deep and dark level within ourselves. To illustrate, in the movie, we can see how uncomfortable the participants were in the follow-up debriefing. They were not traumatized, but rather, were disturbed by their very own actions. As such, we can see how they try to attribute the blame away, claiming that they had tried their best to resist but the circumstances did not allow so. One lady even mentioned how Milgram could have conducted the experiment on anyone else besides her, suggesting that she didn't want others, nor herself to know or see her nature.

Milgram's interest in the nature of obedience stem largely from the fact of his Jewish origins. The events of the Holocaust left an lasting impression on him, as well as tickled his curiosity. The mind of a scientist is driven by curiosity and the need to satisfy that curiousity. This drive can also applied others, in many other areas as well. If there is no motivation, there is no will to move forward. At the same time, we are not necessarily who we think we are. More often than not, we probably overestimated ourselves, or in my case and personal nature, underestimated myself. There is more inside of us than we realized, and it would be presumptuous to hold fast to what we think we know. We need to look further and deeper, and understand ourselves as a whole, including the darkest part. Only then, we can truly accept ourselves and be a little more rooted from within, and not run away from the truth, like how the lady in the debriefing session tried to did so in the movie, Experimenter.

Thoughts On Amadeus

Watching the movie Amadeus, which is also Mozart's middle name, was an enlightening experience from me, in terms of the story and the music of Mozart. A classical music paradise, along with one quirky protagonist, in a darker plot than it seems. I have always heard of the names of Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and famous artists, but I never heard or knew their background, or their famous works for that matter. Classical music was something that I had little exposure to. As a matter of fact, I rarely even know many of the contemporary artist of today. Hence, this movie gave me much insight to the eras of classical music and the world at its time, and of course, the life and story of
the influential composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

It is likely that Mozart was an exceptionally gifted child. In the film, Amadeus, we could see that he was proficient on the piano and violin at an extremely early age. He was already performing in front dignitaries and royals. Apparently, he also started composing music scores and plays at the age of 5. In a different scenario, we could also observe the acuteness of his giftedness. When he was being introduced to the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, Antonio Salieri wrote a score to welcome him, and was played by the Emperor himself. After merely one hearing, Mozart could remember the entire score, and further improved and added variations to it. Nonetheless, such intense gift may also come at a price. It is apparent that Mozart has certain behavioral issues, which can be most irritating and difficult to deal with. For instance, he likes to laugh out loud whenever he feels like it, regardless of the situation. He also tends to show disrespectfulness and make inappropriate remarks, including scatological humour, or toilet humour. Moreover, he exhibited socio-emotional disturbances. A prominent example is the way that Mozart coped with the death of his father, Leopold Mozart. As Salieri mentioned in the movie, Mozart figuratively raised his father from beyond the grave to torment him in his opera after his father's death. His effects of father's death seep into his operas, and probably worsen his drinking and thrifty lifestyle as he attempts to cope in such methods.

'Amadeus' delve deep into life of Wolfgang Mozart.  It showed plenty of his character, of whom many agreed is an accurate reflection of the real Mozart, as well as showcased many of his works. Although the dark plot of Antonio Salieri the poisoner remains inclusive and highly debatable. It also explores the concepts of giftedness versus mediocrity. Two different levels, two different characters, and two different challenges. It is difficult to say that one is more greater, or worser, than the other. It's two differing paths. And it applies to all of us too. Comparing our life to another, and saying one is better, or worser, than the other, is a faulty and biased standpoint. We all have our own paths to walk, and with all our characters, flaws, strengths and attitude, the experiences and the challenges of each of us will be vastly different and incomparable.

Thoughts on Schindler's List

Steven Spielberg didn't soften the impact when he filmed the movie. Either that, or I am too young and innocent to such brutality and cruelty. It is movies like these that made rethink my concepts of war. As it is, my perception of wars is largely based off computer games and fictional movies. Conquest always seems grand and full of wonderful victories. But after seeing a legitimate war being portrayed, war is not the glorious phenomena that I envisioned it. On the contrary, it is war that we can see the deepest level of mankind's heart, both the darkness and the light.

It is be hard to swallow the violence and discrimination that the German soldiers did towards the Jews. Of course, other groups of people were also victims, such as the Poles, Romani and homosexuals. I asked my self, how could one man treat another without remorse, respect or humanity, but instead, with superiority, dehumanisation and evil intentions? Philip Zimbardo would suggest the Lucifer effect is being carried out, which refers to how good people do bad deeds. It is hard to imagine so many people, such as the entirety of the German army under the Nazi party, being evil. However, the line between good and evil is not fixed. Good people can be seduced to cross the line. A key aspect of Zimbardo's Lucifer effect is his focus on institutional or systemic factors. He described how good people commit bad crimes under the political and legal influence of institutions. In the case of Schindler's List, the institution and system would be the Nazi party and its ideologies. It is hard to imagine hundred of thousands of Germans being evil, or the context of war changing everyone's viewpoints regarding humanity so drastically. However, the mentality of the Nazi party being casted onto its people, who viewed many other races as inferior to their Germanic race, it creates a top-down influence that ripple through the people. Zimbardo also emphasized on how evil is the exercise of power, with the intention to harm others. In all of these case, the Nazi soldiers can be seen exerting their power over others with ill intentions. Furthermore, this is escalated by the sense of deindividuation of the German soldiers. Wearing cohesive uniforms under the Nazi flag, they are now anonymous, and are not longer individuals with names, but a single German army. Loss of self-identity would lead to greater conformity to group influences.

Despite all these chaos and madness, we see one man, Oskar Schindler, who stayed good and heroic. Zimbardo talks about heroism as the antidote to evil. The same situation that brings out the evil in some, can also evoke the heroism in others. To illustrate, during the liquidation of the ghettos, the soldiers were being aggressive, randomly shooting and enjoying themselves in the process. On the contrary, Schindler was horrified, and soon decided to save the Jews, albeit through recruiting Jewish workers for his factories. There are two key components to heroism, which is to act when others are passive, and to act for others, not for yourself. In this case, Schindler stuck his head out repeatedly for the Jews, risking his life while briding and persuading the German officials, like Amon Goeth. Zimbardo also speaks about how heroes are not necessarily the traditional, societal heroes, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, because they are the exceptions, who spend their life fighting for a cause and left behind a legacy. The heroes are also not the fantasy heroes, such as Superman and Thor, because they have supernatural abilities. Instead, heroes are just ordinary, everyday people. In the case of Schindler, you may even call him a crook, a womanizer and a businessman who initially took advantage of the Jewish's plight for his own financial profit. Even so, this ordinary, everyday man, was the one who became heroic in the same situation that others became evil.

While this movie showcase the depths of human cruelty as its darkest levels, it also showed rays of hope within ordinary people. I was stunned at the absolute savagery of mankind. It was brutal to see the way they treated a fellow person. The random executions, the forced labor, the living conditions they were in. Even so, it showed light, the light of humanity. It can be seen in the hope of Jews during their hard times, where they maintain that it could not be any worse, and still move forward with hope. And of course, most notably, in a businessman and a playboy who listened to the humanity within his own heart and save lives of people at his own risk.

Thoughts on Grace Is Gone

This movie was slow-paced, and focuses on family bonds. It revolves around a father and her two daughters, spending time together, before the inevitable truth sets in. As someone who had just received news of the death of his wife in military service, John Cusack fit the role neatly as a stern father with a distant and longing look in his eyes.

Since the beginning until the end of the movie, we can see how Stanley attempts to cope with the loss of his wife, Grace. In his own way, he was grieving, and yet, trying to break the news to his two girls. According to Kubler-Ross, there are five stages of grief, which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. As a whole, Stanley did not go through the five stages in order or proportionally, but he tends to sway between denial and depression. As an example, his denial can be seen when he called his house phone while they were travelling, so that he could hear her voice on the answering machine and "talk" to her. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened, and that Stanley was leaving a simple voice message for Grace like normally. Conversely, when he first received the news from the military officers, he was so shocked that he couldn't form his words properly, and merely slump on the couch and not going to work. This could be his depression stage, where he couldn't do anything, and didn't want to have anything to do with others. Nonetheless, there were brief scenes of the other stages as well. For instance, when his brother, Uncle Joe, heard the news, he was surprised and confront his brother, inquiring of his current behaviour. Anger was seen when Joe began to push Stanley to a corner, forcing him to face the reality, to the point where Stanley lashed out with rage and grab Joe by the shirt. In contrast, he could be seem to be in the bargaining stages too when he "talked" with Grace and asked her for advice on the answering phone. He woefully mentioned how he should have been the one that went to the war and not her.

Heidi was a character that pique my interest. She was only twelve years old, yet she displayed a sharpness and emotional acuteness that was above her age. At twelve years old, she is on the borderline of concrete and formal operational stages of Piaget's cognitive development. Supposedly, the formal operation stage signifies beginning of abstract thought processes. However, it is possible that Heidi matured earlier than according to Piaget's stages, as she seems to have a solid grasp of underlying meanings of actions and words. She knew that there was something going on with his father when he suddenly wanting to travel to their fun places. As the movie progress, we could see how Heidi kept an eye on his father's behaviour and occasionally tried to pry the truth out of him, one way or another. For example, at the Enchanted Garden, she asked him directly, by suggesting certain possibilities. She was also correct when she guessed that her father didn't go to work on the day that they left. Moreover, she inquired Uncle Joe of her father as well, of certain things that she knew that her father wouldn't have answered.

Personally, the way that Stanley dealt with the loss, and how he tried to gently break the news to his daughters, broke me on the inside. It hurts to see someone cope with loss. Because I know what it is like to feel that way. None of my friends or family have died, so I have not lost anyone in that manner. Nevertheless, I have lost many, many of my friends, due to lost contact or long distance. I didn't know how to cope with it. I have learned to acknowledge it and deal with it, especially on an emotional level. Even so, to this day, it still hurts and aches at the loss. Just like how the Philipps family would feel the hurt and ache at their loss.

Thoughts on Sybil

One word. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. I knew the background of the story, but nevertheless, I was still looking forward to how Sybil would be portrayed by Sally Fields. Admittedly, this was also what kept my attention alerted, otherwise the three hour movie may have been a little too long and too draining. The introduction flashback scenes itself were enough to creep me out, reminding me of something out of a horror and torture movie. The most prevalent aspect of the film was the multiple personalities within Sybil, denoted recently as Dissociative Identity Disorders, or DID. It resembles fragmentations of identities and selves, with differing memories, thoughts, and emotions, all within a single person.

The sudden switches of the many 'hers' in various settings and stimulus were intriguing and eye-catching. For example, when Sybil, the present her, was cautious, or even fearful, of accepting Richard's invitation for a ride, 'Vicky' emerged to gracefully accept the offer. Vicky seems to be Victorian era lady, who is sociable and likeable, prefers things to be prim and proper, and enjoys speaking French. The transition from the subdued Sybil to Vicky was vastly different, as it was two different person with personalities that vary extremely on its spectrum. That being said, the portrayal of Sybil's personalities were likely to be dramatized, being a Hollywood movie. In reality, the various 'selves' of a DID person are largely not obvious. It is typically subtle, to the point where most people around the particular individual are unaware of its existence, much less able analyze it, be it their family, friends, or professionals. It is also one of the reasons why it is diffcult for mental health practitioners to accurately identity someone with DID.

That being said, DID is arguably one of the most controversial diagnosis in the mental health profession. Childhood trauma is said to be one of the primary causes of DID. The distress and suffering was too much for a child to bear, so those memories are repressed and kept away from the self, resulting in other selves emerging to deal with the pain. These selves have specifics roles and mentality, in order to cope with the varying types of anguish. In the case of Sybil, when her musical abilities was denied by her mother, 'Vanessa' was born within her, who was filled with all of her piano skills and proficiency. But within Sybil itself, those abilities were 'lost'. These repressed memories are kept hidden and deep with the recesses of her mind. However, therein lies the issue. Professionals argued that, how can we know that these "repressed memories" are authentic? There has been large concerns about false memories and its credibility. These 'memories' may been planted by the psychologist evaluating the client, either intentionally or unknowingly. It is also one of the main reasons why hypnosis is discouraged. Suggestibility is strong when a client is a hypnotic-induced state of consciousness. As such, instead of probing for memories with the consciousness, a psychologist may end up impressing thoughts into the client, perhaps due to the leading questions of the psychologist. 

To this day, DID remains controversial. Not merely because it is difficult to identity, but also because of its comorbidity with other disorders, such as depression, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders and so forth. In my case, my perception of DID is largely influenced by the various movies that I have seen, or hearsays and rumors from others. Since I had no idea of how it is originally, perhaps these views created the basis of my DID schema. Although Sybil presents an enlightening view of how DID may be, and there is definitely some degree of truth in it, it would be wise to watch the movie with a pinch of salt, and not jump to conclusions and judge others too quickly. 

Thoughts on Whale Rider

Well, this movie caught my attention the WHALE time I was watching it. Sorry, bad joke. Also, part of the reason of why I was so focused, was that the movie had no subtitles, and with their Australian accent, it was tricky at times to discern the conversations. The movie itself had various deep layers to it. The concept of the movie itself was fairly straightforward, but there were many subtle layers that were not explicitly mentioned. Instead, its significance was shown through the visual.

Firstly, the movie portrayed strong cultural roots and beliefs systems. Among them, there was the concept of a chieftain. I presume that these customs had practical reasons behind, as the chief needed to protect his people. A chief had to be strong, angry, skilled in the tongues of the tribe and so forth. However, it is interesting to see how traditions tend to turn into 'laws'. Not just the way it should be done, but also the way it MUST be done. Soon, these traditions become rigid and stiff, allowing no room for discussion or protest. This tendency is prevalent in many other customs, cultures, religions and so forth. When examining the roots and origins of it, I noticed how these ideology develops over time, and how it tends to somewhat stray from its original purpose. The elders of a particular culture are typically unyielding in their ways, claiming any manner of questioning as dissents and deem as unforgivable. To a certain degree, although the current practices are technically correct, but its true intention behind it may have been muddled.

In my mind, Koro's character is a true manifestation of a traditionally and culturally rooted man, which is admirable in the lost and wandering ways of today's world. To me, he comes across as one of a choleric temperament. As such, it is not surprising that he is of the line of chieftains, although whether he was born that way or brought up that way is uncertain. I like to describe him as a quiet Alpha male. He is domineering in nature and in many aspects of his life, except over his wife, Nanny Flowers. I had a laugh when Nanny said that Koro think he does, but actually does not. He is also proud and sure in himself, which, arguably is both his Herculean strength and Achilles heel. He can be resolute, or in other words, stubborn. This can be seen in his unyielding efforts to not teach Pai the ways of the chief and only limiting the candidates to the boys. No other opinion was allowed or given thought. Right until the very end.

Moving on to the next generation, or rather two generations, Pai was brought up as an only child, although she is technically born as a twin. As according to Adler's birth order, she tends to portray adult characteristics, even at such an early age. Her emotional regulation can be seen as steadfast and strong. For example, during a stage play where Pai was leading the presentation, a fellow student farted and caused a uproar of laughter, disrupting the performance. Although feeling slight discomforts, she did not react negatively at the embarrassment, but merely composed herself and carried on with the stage play. Furthermore, when Pai's father, Porourangi, showed up for the performance, I was surprised to see her not shaken nor feeling bitter, but rather joyful that he came to see her perform. As far as I can tell, her father has been absent in most of her life, yet at that moment, she was not holding a grudge but set aside any misgiving about him and just enjoyed his presence. Huge respect for such maturity.

The movie showed how strong beliefs and values can be, which in this case, is likely to be perceived as gender stereotypes in today's world. They keep us rooted and firm, knowing that the ideology we possess will bring us stronger into the future. Nonetheless, this movie also shows strength, in the form of a steadfast, mild-mannered girl who was determined in her ways. A twelve-year-old girl who was sure of her identity as a chief of a tribe and was loyal to her people, despite all the chances and reasons to leave, she still followed her heart and kept moving forward.

Thoughts on Forget Paris

This movie portrayed one heck of a turbulent romantic relationship. Intense Paris love, swift marriage proposal, and ever-occurring conflicts. Serving as a reminder for me to NOT rush into a relationship, but instead take my time in choosing and discovering my partner.

As this movie revolves mostly around love, I shall speak from the various theories about love. Firstly, it was interesting to note that both Mickey and Ellen were deprived of their same-sex parent when they were young. Mickey's father left him when he was still a boy, and Ellen's mother passed away early in her life. As such, it would not be surprising that these circumstances affected their development of their attachment styles. On one hand, Ellen's behavior seems to resemble those of a pre-occupied attachment style. She was willing to throw away everything for Mickey and make him her whole world. However, this means that her own identity is somewhat lost. For instance, when he was away for long periods of time, at times she would say that she doesn't know who she is without Mickey. On the other hand, Mickey tends to portray more fearful-avoidant attachment. He wants Ellen to be a central part of his life, physically and emotionally. Yet, he is unable to give up the job of his life, ironically. Even when he took a leave of absence for Ellen's sake, he was not able to comprise willingly and went back to his old job soon after. Hence, his expression of feelings can be unpredictable and wild sometimes.

Moving on, their love definitely started out with being high and intense in the passion component of Sternberg's triarchic theory. As they mentioned in passing, they had sex for many times in all the rooms of the house. Moreover, Mickey shared many stories of himself whilst in his attempts to court Ellen. Although the intimacy and self-disclosure from Mickey's side was strong, Ellen was not sharing nearly as much. This can be seen when Ellen revealed that she was actually married along and never drop a hint about it to Mickey, rendering him speechless at the news. The intimacy between them was fuzzy during the early stages. As Mickey proposed and she accepted, the intimacy and commitment grew greater. Ellen even left her life in France to come and live with Mickey. From I can tell, I assume that the intimacy component did increase between the two, mainly because they started discovering aspects of each other that they did not find appealing. In a way, the more they knew each other, their more they came to abhor each other, at least in the areas that they did not agree in.

A recoccuring aspects is the crisis that pops up, one after another. The way that Mickey and Ellen handled the crisis, and each other, was quite an eye-opener of how others would in real life. Gottman's Four Horsemen of Apocalypse contains the various ways of negative conflict management. First off, Mickey tends to be contemptuous when he is arguing. Normally, his humor and jokes are fun and enjoyable. But when it is said with ugly mockery and sarcasm, things can escalated quickly and wrongly. On the other hand, Ellen acts defensively many times. She defends and justifies her actions and sacrifices, and turns it around to blame it back on Mickey. It does not improve the situation when both of them are being indirect and "subtle" with their anger and frustration. As time passes, they reverted to stonewalling each other. They both withdrew from each other emotionally and ignored the situation, as well as each other. As one of their friends said, it was like they were pretending to be married.

Some said that the movie was overly dramatic, with its repetitive crisis. Personally, perhaps the reason why I did not perceive it as dramatic, was because these crisis were relevant and very real. As time goes by, different issues would arises in different stages of the relationships. Staying together, spending family time with each other, conceiving children and so on and so forth. These are matters that cross my mind before, matters that I did not have a good solution for. But as I realized, after the movie, that these matters cannot be handled by me alone. It has to be approached by both me and my partner, as we decide how to move forward in life as a couple.

Thoughts on Strictly Ballroom

My first thought after I finished the movie was, "That's not bad for a dance movie". As a whole, the plot, characters and screenplay were better than a number of other dance movies that I have watched previously. Granted, it ended with a more cliche and over-exaggeration than was needed. But how dance movies usually ends anyhow, fancy and extravagant. I also liked the fact that the story revolved mostly around the dance. Too often have I watched dance movies that steered towards the romantic relationship between the main characters, and that the dance becomes something to show off their love instead.

Looking at the entirety of the movie, I presumed that the pressure to conform is high and intense. Consider this, the Federation dance has been established for years and everyone, literally all the ballroom dancers, adhered to its principles. Scott's mother, Shirley, and teacher, Les, were strong believers of it and pushed Scott to follow it and win the Pan-Pacific Championship. Thus, the group size and cohesive is immensely large, and thus, exerting great social pressure. Even so, Scott explicitly expressed his distaste for it, and resorts to his own dance styles in the competition. This may be due to his strong desires for personal independence and control. This can be seen in the opening scenes itself, where Scott showed off his unique style. As it stands, Scott would be considered as a nonconformist. So, what does society do to nonconformist? They rejected them, ostracized them, and demanded that they changed their ways. In this case, Shirley, Les and Barry would repeatedly attempt to convince Scott to change his ways. The media would be all over these sensational news, like vultures to a carcass, and spread all sorts of rumors and stories. Some to discredit him, others to raise questions. Scott would also never win the various Federation competitions that he joined, although we later discovered that there was a personal agenda at hand.

Building on that point, a number of people tried to get Scott to comply to their request. Shirley, Les and Barry kept giving various reasons regarding their request. As reasons are one of the factors that influences compliance, Scott seems to assume that these reasons are legititmate, and somewhat complies to them. Barry, in particular, used a technique that may be compared to the door-in-the-face strategy. He initially asked Scott to adhere to the conventional styles, with the reason of winning the championship. After which Scott responded of his disinterest, Barry follows up with the reasoning of winning it for his father. Doing it for his father was a smaller but more personal reason. Although the details of the strategy do not match directly to the door-in-the-face, such as the time interval between the request, the strategy did managed to elicit Scott's guilt and he gave in to Barry's request.

On a different topic, it was nice to see the relationship between Scott and Fran blossomed and grew. As the laws of attraction goes, we like those who reward us. On one hand, Fran was rewarded with being able to pair up with a champion-level dancer. As she later revealed, it was hard for Fran to muster the courage to ask Scott to be her dance partner, and even more so when trying to persuade him to give her a chance, being a beginner and all. From Scott's side, his reward came in the form of a partner who accepted both his unique dance steps and mentality. As it were, nobody else, neither his mother, his teacher, nor the Federation, approved of his nonconforming dance steps, although later we found out that there was one who did, of whom I shall not spoil the identity of. That being said, the similarities of their perspectives on unconventional dancing was perhaps a key attraction between the two. Fran also incorporated pasodoble steps into her dance. Here, we have the flamboyant and elegance of ballroom dancing, mixed with the rhythmic and energetic movements of pasodoble. A slight case of opposite attracts, of complementary contributions, but both still heading towards the same goal. With a few weeks of intense personal contact with each other, it was undoubtedly that the familiarity between increased and intensified as well .

As a dancer and musician, I consider myself as an artist. As such, I understood Scott's nonconformity  very well. I myself strive to be original and creative in my artistic expression, incorporating that mentality into all areas of my life. Indeed, it is most difficult, especially when many, even those close to you, do not support you. But we have no wish to be among the masses of white sheep heading the popular direction. Instead, we are prepared to be the black sheep that walks the path that no one else dared.

Thoughts on Eat Drink Man Woman

Good thing that I didn't know that it was directed by Ang Lee. Otherwise, I would have anticipated the unique style of his movies. I like the fact that it starts off by showing the food, with the ingredients being used and the culinary skills displayed. That way, I was given the impression of a cooking/food movie, due to the primacy effect. While technically it wasn't wrong, but in hindsight, I felt that it was meant to mislead and distract us from the punchline that came at the end of the movie.

This movie portrays a family of one father and three daughters, with a family dynamic that is diverse and varying. These interactions can be seen similarly across real families too.

The father, Mr. Chu, has a strong traditional form of love and caring towards his three daughters. He is a man of few words, and even if he does speaks, he talks in a gruff manner. His words can seem harsh and unforgiving at times. Nevertheless, his love language is more clearly seen in the form of actions, especially in preparing food. This can be seen throughout the movie, whereby the father would prepare extravagant meals. His attitude can be explained as instrumentality behaviour, with him being assertive and independent. On the other hand, his oldest daughter, Jia Jen, perhaps showed the most expressive behaviour. To the point where I might say that she portrays the mother in Jung's archetypes. The second sister, Jia Chien, did mentioned that she adopt the mother role after their real mother passed away.

The coping mechanisms of the family are most enlightening. Here, I could use several of Freud's defence mechanisms to explain the conflicts between their id and ego. The most glaring one is the father. It is highly likely that the father is suppressing, as well as sublimating, the desires of his id. I won't spoil the twist, but at the end, we could see that he has been consciously holding back his deepest desire from everyone, excluding the party involved. The sublimation part could be said to come after this, whereby he pour his energy into a socially accepted behaviour. In his case, cooking. Being a famous Chinese chef, he has extensive skills and knowledge of cutlery. Nevertheless, he has lost his taste buds, so he can no longer test his food before serving. In such a condition, it is not ideal to continue cooking, as his food could be poisonous without him knowing. His close friend, Uncle Wen, fell ill once after tasting his food after all. Even so, he kept cooking elaborate meals still, perhaps suggesting that his strong id had to be expressed in one way or another.

The twist showed an intriguing attraction between the parties involved.  The law of attraction states that we like those who rewards us. In this scenario, we could say that opposites attract, but in terms of assets. One party could offer fertility, passion and a companionship, while the other had stability and reputation to boast about. As the research goes, we like people who are similar to us. For the two parties involved, it is difficult to ascertain whether they are similar, in terms of personality and values. But seeing as they were attract to each other, despite their obvious GENERATION differences (if you know what I mean), it may suggest that they saw something alike in each other.

Although this movie has elements that seems generic and traditional, the way the story and screenplay goes is just quirky and subtly unconventional. It is an Ang Lee movie after all. For me, the aspect of things-are-not-all-that-they-seems-to-be resonated in me. The sudden turn of events for many of the characters showed how unexpected life can be. Things may not necessarily go our way, or sometimes it goes all the way before we even realised it. We can always prepared for the worst and unexpected. But sometimes, life still manages to catch us off guard and hender us speechless.

Thoughts on Awakenings

The first thing that came to my mind after watching the movie; Robert De Niro is so freaking good! I do not know how a post-encephalitis survivor behaves, but the way that he portrays it looks authentic enough. From the dead-eyed, catatonic states, to the jerky, convulsion periods of Leonard Lowe.

I find it most intriguing that the man who was most uncomfortable around human beings, was also the one who first saw the human inside all these dead-like patients.

From the beginning of the movie, if we were to view Dr. Sayer's way of coping through Horney's neurotic trends, we could suggest that he is detached from others, or moving away. He honestly wanted a job that doesn't involved interaction with live people, as could be seen in his application for only a research position, and his study with earthworms. But, perhaps due to financial issues, he decided to accept the job offer. Nonetheless, it could be seen that he was not comfortable at all when approaching people, patient and colleagues alike. In one instance, when a patient suddenly turned around and started yelling at him, he began to back up as quickly as a snail retreating into its shell for protection. He went all the way to his office, opened up the window, and sat by the windowsill for a time, away from others. Dr. Sayer's moving away can also be seen when Eleanor ask him out for a cup of coffee, and he awkwardly turns her down. However, as the movie progresses, I could see some gradual changes in him. It begins with him interacting with the catatonic patients, to slowly conversing with his colleagues and superiors, and becoming comfortable and relaxed. By the end of the movie, he consciously makes an effort of moving towards others, or being compliant, as described by Horney. This can be seen near the end of the film where Dr. Sayer voluntarily asked Eleanor out for a cup of coffee, albeit in a shy and messy way.

The relationship between Dr. Sayer and Nurse Eleanor might be described as affection, or liking, based on Sternberg's triarchic theory of love. This liking would fall under the intimacy component only, without passion or commitment. Throughout the movie, they seem to be more akin to being friends than just a doctor-nurse relationship. The both of them certainly do seem to share certain values, such as a quiet, gentle caring for others. Although Dr. Sayer technically outranks her, Eleanor's respect for him was not merely confined to his superior position, but also to him as a simple person. In turn, Dr. Sayer also seems to trust Eleanor, listening to her supportive advices.

The message of hope in Awakenings speaks most strongly to me. Hope inside the "dead" people. Hope in attempting something new. Hope in pushing on. Hope to continue hoping, where all else seems to be lost. At times in life, at the lowest points of our lives, hope seems like a distant memory, lost somewhere deep in the abyss. But if we can hold onto it, despite how hard it may be, it will see us through the hurdle, as well as to the beyond.

Thought's on Cinema Paradiso

I watched Cinema Paradiso a few years back, but I was too young to understood the symbolism and significance of many things.

Being an old-fashioned movie, it took its time in unfolding the story. Compared to movies in the 21st century, it may be considered as slow and boring at times. On the other hand, during certain parts, the story takes a turn and things get more interesting. It starts with Salvatore, AKA Toto, as a small kid, to being a young man, and all the way to a career man. I felt that the movie was portraying about the journey of life itself, with all of its beginnings and ends, its ups and downs.

In particular, I noticed the love story between Toto and Elena and their romantic beginnings. Toto was immediately smitten by Elena, as though a heavy lighting bolt of love struck his heart. She was a beautiful slender girl, with curly hair, fair skin, piercing blue eyes and a symmetrical face, suggesting youth and fertility. The physical attractiveness stereotype would explain why Toto was attracted to her, perhaps even perceiving her as a goddess that had descend onto earth. Shy and awkward initially, he eventually became bold and confessed his love to her. However, she turned him down firmly. Even so, he was not fazed and continued to pursue her. Here, it was interesting to see how Elena, who started from only seeing Toto as a friend, began to fall for him too. Perhaps this is due to reciprocal liking, whereby we like people who like us.

Soon, the pair fell deeply in love. Nonetheless, due to their family circumstances, they were separated, with Elena being forced to move away with her family. Just before she left, both of them tried to reach out to each other, to establish a means of contact. Alas, that was not the case. They missed each other due to a series of unfortunate events. They fell out of touch and never saw each other again for many, many years. Even so, they never moved past this part of their lives, especially on an emotional level.

Personally, the separation between Toto and Elena, due to circumstances outside their control, resonated within me. It wasn't that they did not put in the effort to find each other. They simply couldn't. Because life pulled them apart cruelly. That is how I feel in my life too. There are too many things out of my control. No matter how hard I try to stay in contact with my friends, sometimes we just drift apart anyways. It could be because of distance, disagreements, or just mutual silence. It hurts. But as Cinema Paradiso portrays, it's part of life. We just gotta accept that and continue moving forward in life.