Quick post this morning. I found this really cool article from the American Psychological Society that talks about a website that critiques psychological conditions from a scientific and neurological perspective (it includes amnesia and Finding Nemo).
Unless you've been living under a rock - an iceberg, you probably are well aware that this is an exciting month for psychology: a feature film featuring Freud and Jung comes out on November 23rd nationwide. At THSP we're excited to feature this review of A Dangerous Method from our special correspondent, fellow psych teacher Kimberly Patterson:
With the succession of “psychological movies” out there, and an endless list of theatrical ventures of historical figures from psychology, I was surprised at the film that bubbled up at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) 2011. On Friday evening, a colleague and I went to see A Dangerous Method – a film advertising itself as a historical account of Carl G. Jung and Sigmund S. Freud and their shocking friendship. This familiar camaraderie sets out with a bold woman who confesses her hysteria and becomes sexually involved with Jung, a Russian Jew named Sabina Spielrein. Multiple books exist about Spielrein, one of the first woman psychoanalysts.
I was stunned by the poignant dialogue and although I had many “what on earth?” moments, I found the film touching, lovely, and antiquely impulsive. Although this glance at the Jung-Spielrein story is solely alleged, the film captured viewers with the efficacy of talented actors, an eye-catching set, and costumes of the period.
If, by happenstance, the film makes it to your area, I encourage you to check it out. Lord knows we watch all types of movies for a $10 movie ticket – at least this one is entertaining in regards to the character portrayals.
And of advice from a nomadic character – “Never repress anything”. Enjoy!
Kimberly C. Patterson teaches AP Psychology at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Florida.
When I attended a day-long seminar in the early 90s about critical thinking in the social sciences, I was instructed never to show an entire film during class time-that time was too valuable. I abide by that advice to this day. In class, I show film clips, but prefer documentaries. I do have AP Psych Movie Nights outside of class time.
However, the time after the AP exam often presents us with lots of time and low interest by our hard-working advanced students. Given that reality, many of us will be showing films. Following a recent thread on the AP-PSYCH listserv, I did a couple quick searches and rediscovered these gems.
APS guide to using film in teaching psychology
This is an excellent resource including steps to use in using film, solving ethical issues within the film, following copyright, and more. Thank you Dr. Raymond J. Green.
Regardless of your views on the pedagogy of showing films, these are some excellent resources.
Thanks to Jim Matiya for this find. Many of us often are asking for movie recommendations and assignments for a variety of reasons. At http://www.psychmovies.com/, Brooke J. Cannon, Ph.D., of Marywood University has created a list of films that are divided by category and include ratings, genre, year, descriptions, topics dealt with in the film, and a section on films about psychopathology appropriate for high school students. There is also a section of papers analyzing films. I suspect with a little research, our use of films will become better as a result of this site. So a big thanks to Dr. Cannon for the research and sharing the info online.
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