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Application of Social Psychology to Movie Scenes

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Application of Social Psychology to Movie Scenes

I chose to write about Get Out, a movie released in 2017 written and directed by Jordan Peele. I chose ‘Get Out’ because of the various aspects of racial power, prejudice and discrimination that the main character (Chris) experiences and tries to overcome with the help of his Caucasian lover. I found discussions about cognitive dissonance, social identity theory, and social perception theory to be particularly interesting, as they described the personality of the main character in the film. Hence I chose a movie that illustrated the above three principles.

The film, Get Out revolves around the life of Chris as he meets the parents of his girlfriend Rose for the first time at their isolated house far from the city. Having reached the time to visit her parents, Rose invites Chris for a weekend trip upstate with Missy and Dean. Chris at first reads family’s excessively obliging attitude and character as nervous tries to handle their daughter’s interracial affiliation, however as the weekend continues, a set of progressively more disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never would have imagined. Throughout the movie, Jordan Peele; the director, applies the sense of sight to intensify disparities of power and authority—imbalances frequently drawn along racial lines.

 

 

 

Application of Social Psychology to Movie Scenes

Scene 1

At the beginning of the movie, Chris is in an imperfect situation and faces oppressive hostility while attempting to pursue his goal of love for Rose. However, when a disturbance occurs to his routine, he experiences a dilemma concerning his situation and needs to assume a fresh role. Chris is reluctant to meet with the parents of Rose at their house, majorly because Rose told him that she did not tell her parents that he is black. While on their journey Rose hits a dear and it reminds of his mother’s death. After that, an officer takes asks him for his ID though he was not driving (Peele, 2017). Accepting to go on the journey with Rose in the first scene is the actual Dilemma, however, this is repeated when Chris and Rose reached the house and is asked by Rose if he is ready. He accepts a new role where he becomes a distrusting visitor at the Armitage’s house.

Chris’ behavior can be best described by the theory of cognitive dissonance. This happens when individuals take part in an activity that infringes their view of themselves, and this leads to an uncomfortable state of dissonance that encourages a change in either behavior. Moreover, this theory takes place when people are faced with difficult situations or do actions contrary to their behaviours (Harmon-Jones, & Mills, 2019). The theory is thus brought by effort justification (aiming to acquire a goal) induced compliance; when persons are forced to abide contrary to their attitude as well as free choice.

Chris was clearly experiencing cognitive dissonance when he was faced with the decision to visit Rose’s parents regardless of them not being away he is black. My visiting Rose’s parents, Chris would be acting in a way that directly contradicts attitude since he was black and Rose’s parents had not been told about his race (Harmon-Jones, & Mills, 2019). Chris later realized that it was important to visit Rose parents because of the love he had for her, hence he changed his attitude about the visit and went with Rose where he assumed a new role as a distributing visitor at Armitage’s house.

Third Scene

In the third scene of the movie, the character Chris stumbles into the central conflict and experiences an intentional opposition in search of a false objective and is discriminated as a result of being black. However, when a great change of events occur, he has the moment of reality (Peele, 2017). On his meeting with the rich members of the Coagula class, Chris is forced to interrelate with them with no contact to the outer world as he tries to get to the bottom of all the racial strangeness going on (fake goal). However, when Georgina frequently takes his phone off from the charge and one of the black visitors’ party attacked him after Chris took his picture, Chris tries to get Rose to depart with him; on the other hand, the Coagula member bid on Chris’s body which shows the moment of truth.

Chris’s behavior in scene three can best be illustrated by the theory of social identity theory. This theory was formed by Henri Tajfel; the theory evaluates how grouping people (inclusive of oneself) into in-groups or out-groups impacts their perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. In such situations, people can either see themselves and other people positively or negatively depending on the information they will obtain about or from other people during their time of interaction (Cervone, & Quirin, 2018). A research done by Henri Taijfel about this theory concluded that, when people develop a positive view of their identity within a category, they are more likely to connect well with the other persons in that group as well as feel positive emotions about themselves. On the other hand, when people negative views about themselves and others, they will not be able to connect well with such people.

 

Chris was clearly experiencing social identity when faced with discrimination and the central conflict in search of his goal. By grouping Chris due to his ethnic background, it changes Chris’s perspective of the rich or wealthy persons. Earlier before he was discriminated, Chris’ perception of the rich was positive; however, having experienced prejudice as well as internal conflict, he begins to look at them with negative perspective (Bhar, & Kyrios, 2016). It is through the social identity theory that the attitude of Chris is formed by the formation of an inductive formation representation of social identity as well as self-identity (Cervone, & Quirin, 2018). The inductive model contemplates the self-running system of virtual communities. Social identity together with the self-identity establishes through the knowledge contribution. Social relations and self-esteem perform mediate functions in the formation procedure as seen in Chris behavior.

Scene 4

In the fourth scene of the movie, Chris implements a doomed strategy and experiences Self-inflicted Opposition in search of Penultimate aim. However, when an unlikely Low point happens, he discovers a newfound resolve (Peele, 2017). Even after being barred by the Armitages, Chris shows his trust and liking to Rose and trusts that she is in his support and decides to reenter the house willingly.

Chris’ behavior in scene 4 can best be described by the self-perception theory which emphasizes that people observe themselves in a similar manner that they observe others, and make conclusions concerning their likes and dislikes. The development of the self-concept has two facets; existential self and categorical self (Berger, & Webster, 2018). Other aspects of this theory include a) social; ability to interact with other persons, and b) competence; awareness of emotional state. Existential self, therefore, depicts Chris’ behavior more as Chris awareness concerning himself and the other characters is shown. Therefore the External self-perceptions result in the over-justification effect. For example, studies conducted by Bhar, & Kyrios, (2016), concluded that people self-concept is affected by the way they view other people.

Chris was clearly experiencing self-perception theory when he showed his trust in Rose to reenter the house even after being barred, captured and tied to a chair by the Armitages. By choosing to reenter the house, Chris was clearly acting based on his trust of Rose. He thought of Rose as a trustworthy person (Berger, & Webster, 2018). Moreover, his love for Rose also played part in his perception of Rose as well as himself.

 

Conclusion

Conclusively, the movie chosen is the Get Out, a movie released in 2017 written and directed by Jordan Peele. This movie addresses the life of a young African American, by the name Chris who goes with his girlfriend to visit her parents, though he is aware that, the parents do not know that he is of black origin, Chris decides to and experiences numerous instances of racial discrimination beginning with a police officer who asks him for his ID irrespective of not driving the car. Various social-psychological concepts have been applied to illustrate the characters of Chris as well as provide more meaning to the audience. Such concepts include; social identity theory, social perception theory. The concepts were used to explain Chris’s change in attitude as well as behaviours by focusing on his actions through the movie.

 

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