The Academic Minute

It’s Best-Of Week on The Academic Minute:  In today’s segment, Alexis Redding, faculty co-chair of higher education and lecturer at Harvard University, says you have less time than you think to prepare students for success at the beginning of a new school year. Alexis Redding is a developmental psychologist whose work focuses on the college […]

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It’s Best-Of Week on The Academic Minute:  In today’s segment, C. Michael White, distinguished professor and chair of pharmacy practice at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, discussed a new treatment for those suffering from depression. Michael White, Pharm.D., FCP, FCCP, FASHP has ~500 publications resulting in 18288 citations with an H-index of 70; […]

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It’s Best-Of Week on The Academic Minute: In today’s segment, Scott Malia, associate professor and chair in the department of theatre & dance at the College of the Holy Cross, looked to find what makes bad movies so good.

Faculty Bio:

Associate Professor of Theatre whose specialties include LGBTQ+ Theatre, Comedy, Television, Horror Films and Cult Films. His book, Giorgio Strehler Directs Carlo Goldoni was published by Lexington Books in 2013. Other articles and writings have appeared in Theatre Journal, The Conversation, and New England Theatre Journal. His plays, The Interview, A Few Adustments and Buffering were performed as part of the Boston Theatre Marathon, with two of them published by Smith & Krauss.

Transcript:

Bad movies are serious business, and while they can be wonderful, explaining their appeal can be a bit challenging. Badfilm, sometimes called so-bad-it’s good, is a subset of cheerfully terrible films that enjoy a strong cult, and even academic, following. For superfans, it is important to distinguish them from films that are just dull or mediocre–so what’s the difference?

To help explain, look at the Golden Raspberry Awards, or the Razzies, which is one of the longest-running awards organizations specifically focused on mediocre movies. The Razzies, which have been celebrating cinematic bombs for forty years, overwhelmingly align with critics when selecting the Worst Picture of the Year, which seems to indicate that many of these films are legitimately awful, as opposed to so-bad-it’s good, which could explain why cult favorites like The Room and Troll 2 were overlooked by the Razzies.

Another factor in Badfilms is genre. The most represented genre among Razzie Worst Picture winners is comedy, accounting for almost half of the winners. Why comedy? Well, Badfilm scholars and fans often point out that part of the appeal of a so-bad-it’s-good film is that in trying to do something serious, it becomes unintentionally funny. The problem is, the reverse doesn’t appear to be true. If a film is trying to be funny, it doesn’t accidentally become a drama simply because it is poorly made. So if audiences of so-bad-it’s-good are looking for laughs,

quote-unquote serious films like Mommie Dearest or Plan 9 from Outer Space are the way to go. Meanwhile, Razzie-winning comedies like The Love Guru and Jack & Jill seem to fall under the category of so bad they’re …still bad.

Read More:Article “Bradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy, and the Myths of Method Acting” The Conversation

Interviewed in article “Oscar predictions: film expert thinks these films, actors will win big”

Book, Giorgio Strehler Directs Carlo Goldoni

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It’s Best-Of Week on The Academic Minute: In today’s Commissioner’s Choice segment, Garriy Shteynberg, associate professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, said shared attention can be key to bridging the gaps between us in society.

Faculty Bio:

Garriy Shteynberg is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Garriy received his PhD in psychology from the University of Maryland, and a Master’s in Social and Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University. Beginning with his dissertation work, and taking over a decade to develop, Shteynberg has conceptualized and empirically tested the idea that shared awareness (theory of collective mind) is a hallmark of human psychology. Shteynberg has applied the concept of shared awareness to solve problems and reveal new questions in a variety of disciplines: the emergence of strategic cooperation (economics), novel social norms (sociology, anthropology), effective learning & teaching (education), social identities (psychology), the paradox of common knowledge (philosophy), and problem-solving (organizational behavior).

Transcript:

According to Gallup Research, only 1 in 4 Americans say they trust national institutions. While institutional trust is decreasing, political polarization is increasing.

When public trust and political consensus disappear, what remains? In my laboratory, we study how shared attention impacts the mind, even when shared beliefs are absent.

My colleagues and I find that compared with attending to the world alone, attending together yields stronger memories, deeper emotions and firmer motivations. Studies show that seeing words together renders them more memorable, watching sad movies together makes them sadder, and focusing together on a goal increases efforts toward goal pursuit.

Studies from other laboratories suggest that shared attention on a common subjective experience can build relationships. For instance, when people co-witness that they have the same gut reaction to an unfamiliar piece of music, they like each other more. Critically, relational benefits are more likely when such subjective experiences are shared simultaneously – instances when people are in a state of shared attention.

When we can no longer agree on what “we” believe, sharing attention to the basic sights and sounds of our world connects us. These moments can be relatively small, like watching a movie in the theater, or large, like watching the Super Bowl.

However, remembering that we are sharing such experiences with Americans of all political persuasions may be important.

Why? When we share awareness of the world with others, no matter how distinct our beliefs, we form a community of minds. We are no longer alone. If we are to restore public trust, sharing attention across societal divides may be a way forward.

Read More:[The Conversation] – ‘Collective mind’ bridges societal divides − psychology research explores how watching the same thing can bring people

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Memories are a big part of celebrating the holidays, but is more than your brain involved in this process? Nikolay Kukushkin, clinical associate professor of life science at New York University, looks through the body to find out more. Nikolay Kukushkin is Clinical Associate Professor at NYU. He holds a D. Phil. in Biochemistry from […]

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Quincy Jones left a lot of music and knowledge behind, so what lessons can we learn? Jose Valentino Ruiz, affiliate professor of Arts, Migration, & Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida, has more. José Valentino Ruiz, Ph.D., D.Min., D.B.E., is an internationally renowned musician, producer, and educator blending music performance, industry leadership, and arts entrepreneurship. As […]

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Do we have enough wonder in our lives? Kirk Schneider, adjunct faculty in clinical psychology at Saybrook University, says probably not. Kirk J. Schneider, Ph.D. is a leading spokesperson for existential-humanistic and existential-integrative psychology, an adjunct faculty member at Saybrook University and formerly Teachers College, Columbia University, and a cofounder and current president of the […]

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The flashpoint for a potential World War III may not be where you think. John Harney, associate professor of history at Centre College, explores this location. John Harney is an associate professor of history at Centre College. His scholarly interests include identity formation and colonial and post-colonial relations in East Asia, the history of popular […]

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Information is coming at us faster than ever, but how much can our brains grasp? Liina Pylkkanen, professor of linguistics and psychology at New York University, takes a closer look. Liina Pylkkanen is a Professor of Linguistics and Psychology at New York University. She is the director of the NYU Neurolinguistics Laboratory and co-director of […]

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What’s the benefit of frightening ourselves with horror movies and other scary adventures? Sarah Kollat, teaching professor of psychology at Penn State University, looks into why we enjoy being afraid. Sarah Kollat, teaching professor of Psychology at Penn State University. In my spare time, I volunteer as a firefighter with ALPHA Fire Company. I also […]

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