tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7460227698354160786.post7768089130282078109..comments2023-07-30T05:04:09.022-07:00Comments on Psychocinematics: With Movies in Mind: Miyazaki Magic: From Up on Poppy Hill (Kokuriko-zaka Kara)Art Shimamurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14416469671583583536noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7460227698354160786.post-56271249944269540482013-04-18T13:00:09.218-07:002013-04-18T13:00:09.218-07:00Thanks for sharing information about the two endin...Thanks for sharing information about the two endings in Fatal Attraction. There are cross-cultural studies of the Fundamental Attribution Error, which shows that in the West, we tend to attribute someone's action as a personality feature (e.g., the grumpy waiter is an a__hole), whereas we attribute our own actions as a result of the situation (e.g., we're having a bad day). This "person bias' is less strong in India and China (see Krull et al., 1999, http://psp.sagepub.com/content/25/10/1208.short)Art Shimamurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14416469671583583536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7460227698354160786.post-57357865145758390882013-04-16T19:13:45.896-07:002013-04-16T19:13:45.896-07:00The ending of 'Fatal Attraction' comes to ...The ending of 'Fatal Attraction' comes to mind. Some may recall that after test screenings, the ending was famously changed. Originally the pregnant single woman played by Glenn Close suicided and left evidence framing married lover, Michael Douglas. But US viewers seem to have seen that as a major anti-climax and retained a strong desire for the 'home wrecker' to be punished. So a new ending was shot where Alex was suddenly a knife wielding psycho inside the family home. This allowed for a more traditional (Western) battle and for the wife to blow the single career girl away to the sound of many audience cheers. The film was a huge hit and the climax, however formulaic, proved memorable. But the original ending was retained for the Japanese market! The explanation offered was something like "suicide is not seen as a passive act in that culture" or something-a-rather. ie That it was climax enough without the battle. But I think this research hints at a fuller explanation as to why the ending was acceptable there: that viewers from a Zen culture do not necessarily come with expectations that 'good' need defeat 'bad', nor that they believe there can ever be any definitive resolution between these poles.<br /><br />Kyle, 'No Country For Old Men' is an interesting example. The Cohen bros appear to have been interested in that message/theme that the world in simply good AND bad, and bad cannot be stopped or even always explained...but in setting up such strong expectations that we were watching a genre thriller, I feel that they broke the contract they made with the audience in the last 30 minutes. This just goes to show how important expectations are to our response. Viewers with no knowledge of thrillers may not of experienced such a swell of desire to see (what was implied was) the central conflict solved in a 'satisfying' Western way as per expectation.<br /><br />Art, does this research mean that viewers in Asian cultures may be less prone to Fundamental Attribution Error & Actor-Observor Bias because they do not feel the need to jump to fixed labels about people's personality/nature? Is there any support for such a claim? ...Those two cognitive biases seem, to me, central to movie reception in the West.<br /><br />p.s Love the blog! ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7460227698354160786.post-32895897401247963112013-04-05T14:28:30.698-07:002013-04-05T14:28:30.698-07:00I am a Coen Brothers fan...and actually tend to en...I am a Coen Brothers fan...and actually tend to enjoy a good revenge flick, which I think satisfies our lust for good overcoming evil. I don't know of any fMRI studies on this issue specifically. Two brain scientists may be of interest: Joshua Greene studies brain activity during moral decisions (see http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/morality10/morality.greene.html), and Rebecca Saxe studies how we consider other people's thoughts, which is the basis for empathy and moral behavior (http://www.ted.com/speakers/rebecca_saxe.html).Art Shimamurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14416469671583583536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7460227698354160786.post-6263861499727140462013-04-05T05:39:29.676-07:002013-04-05T05:39:29.676-07:00I found the idea that cultural biases can largely ...I found the idea that cultural biases can largely effect how enjoyable our movie experience is to be quit interesting. For example I recently watched The Secret World of Arietty (which by the way is worth watching if you are a fan of Miyazaki) and found it to be very anticlimactic (although the movie overall was quit well done). After looking at it from the perspective of cultural differences I can see how it may differ from the "western" ideal of a fight between good vs evil and lean toward a search by the characters for inner resolution, which may be why I was slightly let down at the end. Plenty of movies follow this molding, such as both Cohen brothers movies No Country For Old Men and True Grit. I was wondering if any psychological (fMRI) work has been done to look into differences between how people like me, who prefer the classic good vs evil story, view these kinds of movies vs people who prefer these stories. For example is it due to cultural differences or perhaps personality traits? Just curious and really interesting ideas. Great blog by the way.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17921542571657270761noreply@blogger.com