MISSISSIPPI BURNING

In 1964, two white New Yorkers, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, journeyed to Neshoba County, Mississippi, to participate in Freedom Summer, a civil rights and voter registration effort, where they met James Chaney, a local African-American activist. On 21 June, they were detained in the Neshoba County Jail on a trumped-up speeding charge. About seven hours later, the three were released, only to be stopped again by the local deputy sheriff, who then turned the young men over to a group of Klan members. Chaney, Goodman, and Schwener were executed and their bodies buried in a dam under construction in a remote part of the county.

The 1988 film Mississippi Burning was based on this incident and the FBI investigation that followed. The film was directed by Alan Parker and starred Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as two FBI agents sent to fictional Jessup County to solve the case of the three missing civil rights workers. A disclaimer shown at the end of the movie announces that it was inspired by actual events which took place in the South during the 1960s. The characters however are sort of fictitious and do not depict the real people, either living or dead.

The bystander effect, a controversial name given to a social psychological phenomenon in cases where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present, is present in the movie Mississippi Burning. The killing of the civil rights workers doesn’t create public outcry of any kind in the South region. Very few black people, especially in Mississippi, had anything to say about the crime, as they didn’t dare to incur the wrath of the white authorities. But the truly astonishing aspect is the absence of the outcry by many white people, if any, as they either agreed with the crime, or just didn’t care about the plight of Blacks (and the Jews) in South.

One of the manners we are affected by groups is to consider crowd behaviour. Studies have shown that those in uniform behave differently. This is called being deindividuated. In this state you might do bad things ‘out of character’. Mississippi Burning is a film about the scapegoating of Black people in the southern USA. Those who were lynching and torturing the Blacks were disguised in uniforms and during the day the torturers had normal jobs, and behaved normally. This film is not very pleasant but well worth watching. One of the causes of prejudice is scapegoating in times of economic hardship, and the failure of cotton crops was just such a time (Hovland & Sears, 1940). So films like this can be of great relevance when studying psychology.  

FORGET PARIS

Billy Crystal's Forget Paris is a wonderful film filled with romantic moments that ring trues and with great big laughs. The story revolves about Mickey and Ellen relationship, which apparently narrated by Mickey's friends in a get together dinner. Mickey, a popular NBA basketball referee, known as the skillful and fearless one. When his father dies, Mickey accompanies the body to France, as the father's last wish was to buried with his Army friends that he met after the Second World War. Eventually, he lost his father's body in the airport and Ellen came about to take in charge of the whole situation. From various meetings both became friends and after an one day outing, both of them felt in love with each other. After a short period of separation, as Mickey lives in States and Ellen in France, both of them met again and decided to get married. Their honeymoon time doesn't last long as they had trouble with personal space as their profession tend to be a barrier in their love life.   After several conflicts, both of them agree to respect on each other personal interest and space and that leads to the success of their relationship in the end.

This movie has thought us about how one should respect their partner's personal interest and at the same time not letting go of ones interest. Having said that, spending time independently of each other is a healthy way to make your relationship grow. Everyone needs a little personal space, and it's a huge sign of respect towards your partner when you encourage and support their time alone. Sometimes we might have tons of work and eventually we might bring it back home and end up spending to much time on it. In that case, agree to set certain amount of time on the workloads each week. In exchange, we should offer our partner the same amount of time to do either something on their own or together.

People are happiest in relationships where the give and take are about equal. If one person is getting too little from the relationship, then not only are they going to be unhappy with this but also the person who is getting the lion's share may also feel rather guilty about this imbalance. In that case, looking into the Equity theory of relationships, it proposes that partners in a relationship who feel that they are putting in more efforts to keep it going will experience emotional distress and anger. This theory also proposes that partners who feel they are getting more than their share of rewards in a relationship will also experience emotional distress in the form of guilt. Having said that, equity is calculated by evaluating the contribution made by each partner to the relationship and the benefits received within the said relation. The theory also states that partners do not have to make equal contribution or receive equal benefits as long as the ratio between the contributions and benefits is similar. this love and relationship theory is one of the best ways to understand how to make a relationship work.

Marriages don't work when one partner is happy and the other is miserable. Marriages is about both people being equally miserable. (Andy)

WHALE RIDER

Based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera, Whale Rider is the critically-accalimed independent film by Niki Caro. It’s a quiet story, slow in its movement and old-fashioned in its rendering. Yet. It’s also a modern film with a strong underlying feminist theme that patriarchal thinking should be a thing of the past. Apart from that, this film showcases people and style of living not normally depicted in most films we have seen, and an unbelievable performance by first-time Keisha Castle-Hughes that keeps the film from falling apart during key emotional scenes.

This film is set in New Zealand, where the legend has it that the native people came there following their leader, a boy who heroically rode on the back of a whale. From that day forward, tradition has been to give leadership to direct descendants of that leader of old, but tragedy occurs when opposite-sexed twins are born, having the boy baby and the mother not making through the delivery but the survival of the baby girl. The chain is broken, as tradition has it that only first-born male descendant may be the leader. The girl, Pai, grows into an adventurous and talented person of her own, but her grandfather Koro has no need for spirited girls to try to be the leader. Koro starts a school to teach the olden traditions, and hope he can find a boy among the village to rise to the occasion and show leadership for the people who now have none. All signs point to Pai, but traditions are meant to be upheld.

Outside of the impressive performances by the fine cast, Whale Rider benefits from the fact that It is about a people and traditions mostly unknown to those not in the area. The depiction of their customs and lifestyles are authentically recreated within the story, showing the power of music (incredible Haka performances), poetry (Maori chanting), and ancient fighting techniques that the people of that region hold very dear.

The feminist leanings are a bit obvious, especially when we have had many such stories of our own comings, but it must be remembered that there are places where such a thing as a girl leader are completely unheard of, perhaps the vast majority of the world still falls under adamant patriarchal values set forth from their very beginnings. It is in those places that the message might actually be groundbreaking, and strides might be made to change attitudes from a system that has been going on for hundreds of years. In that case, this film is a well-made film, a coming-of-age tale sort s, not only for young girl, but also for people struggling to maintain an identity and cohesion. 

"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the whale rider. I'm not a prophet, but I know that our people will keep going forward, all together, with all of their strength. "

STRICTLY BALLROOM

Before writer-director Baz Luhrman made the frenetic Moulin Rouge (2001), he deftly captured the magic and power of old fashioned Hollywood musicals with Strictly Ballroom. He did so by intertwining two classic themes: the rebel who eventually triumphs over adversity and naysayers, and the ugly duckling who blossoms into a beautiful swan (and of course gets the prince in the end).

When promising dancer Scott Hastings (a devastatingly sexy Paul Mercurio) defies the ballroom dancing community and its rules, his shrieking stage mother (Pat Thomson) nearly disowns him and resorts to all manner of trickery to rein him back. Simultaneously, one of the mother's beginner dance student Fran (Tara Morice), develops a crush on Scott, a man seemingly far out of her league in every way. Defying odds and doubters, the two become a couple, both on and off the dance floor. Fast moving, romantic, funny, and full of wit, Strictly Ballroom is sterling escapist fare.

 This movie has highlighted an important aspect and that will be the battle of individuality and conformity. The movie has shown both aspects clearly in the character Scott. Conformity presents when Scott has to obey all the rules and regulation of the dance which eventually acts as a blockage for freedom of expression. Individuality came about when Scott resist the rules and decides to express his own way of various dance moves without exemptions. His dad eventually became a role model for him in term of expressing ones passion via dancing in own ways.

We always has a choice between being conform to social rules or having passion of expressing talent in own way. Choosing the right path is crucial as it can make a difference. So, be conscious on what you are doing as realizing your needs and making the effort to grant one is definitely to road to success.