CinemaPsych Podcast

Join Alex as he discusses One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), a tour de force from Milos Forman, Jack Nicholson, and Louise Fletcher! The film follows Randall McMurphy, an inmate at a work camp in Oregon who successfully (?) tricks them into thinking he's insane and so he gets transferred to the Oregon State Hospital, a psychiatric facility. This episode explores the state of treatment in the early 1960s in America and elsewhere in the Western world, as well as the Dark Triad set of personality traits — the hallmark of psychopathy — in the character of McMurphy himself. Did the system fail McMurphy or did McMurphy fail in the system?

Check out the following account Alex references in the beginning of the episode (CW: discussion of suicide): https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/looking-back-journal-mental-hospital-user-1960s

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Join Alex and guest host Dr. Jessica Hartnett as they discuss the wonderful game of baseball and the even more wonderful subject of statistics in the film Moneyball (2011), a movie adapted from a book based on another book about all the stats in baseball! And as baseball fans AND teachers of stats, imagine the gushing and the excitement about two amazing topics all rolled into one! Follow as they discuss the wonderful portrayals by Brad Pitt as real-life baseball general manager Billy Beane and Jonah Hill as the fake stats guru Peter Brand in the real-life transformation of the game of intuition into a game of stats! Don't worry, they sprinkle in some Industrial-Organizational psychology concepts in there as well!

Catch Jess on Twitter: @NotAwful or on BlueSky: Jess Hartnett

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Don't forget to check out our Paypal link to contribute to this podcast and keep the lights on! Don't forget to check out our MERCH STORE for some great merch with our logo!

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Join Alex and guest host Nicholas Baldwin as they discuss the wild antics of two clerks in Kevin Smith's cult class Clerks (1994). Follow Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randall (Kevin Anderson) as they navigate a day of true terribleness at a strip mall with the Quik Stop and the movie store. Oh, and let's not forget Jay and Silent Bob! The psych concepts are numerous in the world of Industrial-Organizational Psych and Nic is here to explain how even a clerk of a store are worthy of a closer IO look. Oh, and there's plenty of "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" throughout the chat!

Catch Nic on Twitter: @NicLuvsMovies

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Don't forget to check out our Paypal link to contribute to this podcast and keep the lights on! Don't forget to check out our MERCH STORE for some great merch with our logo!

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Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!

Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Ed Hansen in a discussion of the various psychological concepts in the hilarious and sardonic dark comedy Thank You For Smoking (2005). The film was written and directed by Jason Reitman, and stars Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Cameron Bright, J.K. Simmons, William H. Macy, and Robert Duvall — a ton of huge names in a tight film that explores major health psychology and persuasion concepts. How does the film parody one of the leading causes of death for decades? How is Nick Naylor SO GOOD at talking and getting people to think he's an amazing person? Wait, why is he so good? I think I need a cigarette to think more... You might need one after listening to this one!

Follow Ed on BlueSky: Ed Hansen

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Head to this Paypal link to contribute directly to this podcast and keep the lights on! Also, you might check out our MERCH STORE for some great merchandise, like tees and sweaters, with the pod logo!

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Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Kiersten Baughman as they discuss the many clear learning principles in Dr. Seuss' beloved classic The Lorax (2012), or more directly, the modern retelling of the classic, featuring songs! They discuss classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning theory, all found within the main story of conservationism and anti-capitalism! I know marshmallows are lovely, but they are worth cutting down all the trees, my little bear friends! As the Lorax says, "I speak for the trees, and they say could you f-in' not?!"

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Head to this Paypal link to contribute directly to this podcast and keep the lights on! Also, you might check out our MERCH STORE for some great merchandise, like tees and sweaters, with the pod logo!

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Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!

Join Alex as he discusses a timeless Christmas classic, The Santa Clause (1994), starring Tim Allen in one of his more-famous roles. Watch as he becomes Santa after being tricked into it by magical law — this sounds like real life — and as he spends the entire runtime throwing psychiatry and psychology under the bus! It's almost like the real Tim Allen put in his own disdain for an entire professional field into the movie! But don't forget about all the great examples of belief perseverance and belief revision amongst the characters! Just press play on this episode — your ears will know what to do!

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Head to this Paypal link to contribute directly to this podcast and keep the lights on! Also, you might check out our MERCH STORE for some great merchandise, like tees and sweaters, with the pod logo!

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Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Sara Bagley as they embark on a discussion of Autism Spectrum Disorder and visual eidetic memory in the lovely and inspiring biopic of the real-life ASD advocate AND cattle-life revolutionary, Temple Grandin in HBO's Temple Grandin (2010)! They discuss the basics of ASD, what the film gets right and what the film ditches for the sake of the narrative, as well as Dr. Grandin's amazing shift in the cattle industry's practices. They include nuggets of visual storytelling so that the viewer can feel and experience Temple's internal struggle and brilliance, expertly portrayed by Claire Danes! Join them down the dip chute that moves around in circles to keep us all calm.

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Head to this Paypal link to contribute directly to this podcast and keep the lights on! Also, you might check out our MERCH STORE for some great merchandise, like tees and sweaters, with the pod logo!

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Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!

Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Jordan Wagge (Twitter: @jorowags) as they take a closer look at the problematic themes and issues in 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary! A successful vehicle for Renee Zellweger, which spawned two sequels, it does have strong "romantic comedy" vibes, which includes things like fatphobia, misogyny, sexual harassment, and a lot more! Would it hold up today? Probably not, and not just because of those things — just look at how many people are smoking cigarettes on film AND inside!

More information on CREP, the Collaborative Replication Education Project.

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Head to this Paypal link to contribute directly to this podcast and keep the lights on! Also, you might check out our MERCH STORE for some great merchandise, like tees and sweaters, with the pod logo!

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Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!

Join Alex as he discusses a timeless sci-fi classic from Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Total Recall (1990)! Of course, this movie is all about how you might implant memories into a person, giving them the experience without the experience! We follow Doug Quaid, having an existential crisis in his life, realizing he got his memories changed into false ones by a criminal syndicate called the Agency. Do these false memories, from Rekall Inc., really mean he's a new person? Join the discussion of the 90s best — yeah, we said it — sci-fi jaunt from Phillip K. Dick and Verhoeven. Don't make CinemaPsych have to implant a memory that you love this movie!

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Head to this Paypal link to contribute directly to this podcast and keep the lights on! Also, you might check out our MERCH STORE for some great merchandise, like tees and sweaters, with the pod logo!

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Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!

Join Alex and guest host Dr. Jim Davies in a discussion of the portrayal of artificial intelligence, consciousness, and love in Steven Spielberg's Pinocchio-esque film, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)! We explore the idea of artificial intelligence, what it means to be conscious or sentient, and how well the film works on these fundamentally hard-to-define fronts. Though Jim is a cognitive scientist, Alex also asks him about the film's idea of love and what it means to be loved, which hits at The Velveteen Rabbit's ideal of what it means to be real and who is worthy of love! Listen, we think David, who was played so well by Haley Joel Osment, could be loved if he just didn't act so oddly. Like, seriously, if you are making a 10-year-old boy, then at least give him the knowledge of a 10-year-old boy!

Find all of Jim's work: jimdavies.org

Here's the article Jim discusses in the episode about how aliens look and how intelligent we perceive them to be: How Our Desire for Social Information Affects Tastes in Paintings and Belief Systems (2014)

Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com) or on Facebook (@CinPsyPod). We'd love to hear from you!

Don't forget to check out our Paypal link to contribute to this podcast and keep the lights on! Don't forget to check out our MERCH STORE for some great merch with our logo!

Legal stuff:

Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!