Psychology & Film Analysis
Purpose:
Hopefully you can understand psychology is a “hub” for a variety of disciplines. For your paper, you are to connect what you have learned from this class and apply it to film. The purpose of the assignments is to answer how films portray psychology, typically through characters suffering through a variety of situations.
Films:
Choose one of the following Netflix films to analyze:
- Milk (2008)
- Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
- Black Mirror: S2: E2 – White Bear (2016)
- Black Mirror: S1:E2 – “Fifteen Million Merits” (2016)
- Dallas Byers Club (2013)
- Always be My Maybe (2019)
- Black Panther (2018)
- Obsessed (2009)
- Bird Box (2018)
- Coco (2017)
- Ex Machina (2015)
- Beats (2019)
Instructions:
After viewing your chosen film, you are to analyze the film through a psychological lens. You may use any perspective, concept, or theory we have examined this semester. For example, you could easily discuss social psychological (stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice) concepts in Beats (2019) You could discuss defense mechanisms in Dallas Byers Club (2013). You can discuss parenting styles with The Bird Box (2018). You have the freedom to construct this analysis as you like. You may simply choose a character in the film and complete a character analysis. You may also do the same analysis for a scene. Again, you decide.
To make your analysis stronger, you are to find scholarly research articles that will reinforce what you are writing. You need to make sure you cite as appropriate. You may utilize your online textbook, online journal articles, or any other type of credible sources as your reference. Visit https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ to learn more about to cite and to reference in APA style.
Format:
- Your paper should be 4-5pages, max, not including the title page or reference page.
- Your paper needs to be completed in APA format. Your will need a page header, a title page, abstract, content, and a reference page. To learn more on how to format your paper, visit https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
- You will use headings in your paper. APA uses a heading system to separate and paper sections. It helps with organizing your paper. You will be required to use level 1 sub headings throughout your paper. Here is some additional information: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/16/
- Your paper must be completed in Word. If you have a MAC, you need to convert the document to word, or you may upload the document as a PDF. Any other program will not work.
- You will have minimum of 4 references. 2 of those references must be scholarly articles (articles from the research database/research articles) and your last reference will be the film. You will need to utilize the college research database to find these articles.
- To access Lone Star College’s research database, visit http://www.lonestar.edu/library/ . On the left hand side click on research database, click social sciences, and click on Psychology and Behavioral Sciences collection. If at any time the systems asks you to log in and use a library card, click on the online user link and log in as if you were logging into D2L.
- You will need to acite if you are pulling material from different sources. If you have a definition in your paper, you must cite where you got the definition from. To learn how to cite, please visit https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ and learn how to cite your sources. Note: You must refence the movie on your references page.
- Grammar matters! Points will be deducted for incorrect grammar
- Want more help with APA? Visit the following link to view APA tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdAfIqRt60c
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKWKswH29kM
- I have included an example of how to properly create in-text citing, and citing our textbook. You must include this in your posts, if you gathered information from somewhere else, for maximum points. This is not an English class but citing applies to any/all information relayed in writing in a classroom environment.
Plagiarism and Due Date:
Your paper will be due on November 17,2019 by 11:59 pm through the D2L drobox titled “Film Analysis”. Once you submit your paper, your paper will automatically be screened through Turnitin. Turnitin is a program where it will detect if you have copied and pasted material from sources, without giving credit. If you do this, the program will catch it and you will receive a 0.
After you submit your paper, the system will give you an originality report. The report informs me of how much of the work is your own and how much is copied from other sources without giving proper credit. Any report that has more than 15 percent originality will receive a 0. With that said, you will be allowed multiple turn ins up until the due date to bring down the originality report. It is still possible to plagiarize, even though your report is under 15 percent. To view your originality report after submitting:
- Click on the file which you submitted
- Look for a colored box with a number inside of it (originality report number). Click on the box, accept the terms and conditions, if it prompts you to, and you can view what is being copied from other sources.
- You can submit as much as you would like; however, the system will only give you an originality report once every 24 hours. So, be wise and submit your paper early to make sure you are below 15%.
“This is an online course and there are many circumstances that can cause problems when submitting assignments online i.e. slow load time, computer failures, power outages, program updates, mother nature, etc. Consequently, due to the unforeseen difficulties, it is strongly recommended that a student not wait until the last day/minute to submit their assignment. Doing so creates a risk for potential problems that cannot be corrected before the “due” date (closing time) and will result in the student receiving a “0” for their grade.”
Paper Outline
- The introduction paragraph should introduce the film, provide a brief summary of the film, and should inform the readers how you plans to integrate psychology into your analyses (thesis statement).
- Each paragraph (use APA subheaders) after the introduction should include a topic sentence (informing the reader what the paragraph (s) will be about, and you should have supporting detail to back up your argument. Make sure you use citations in these paragraphs. If you mention any psychology term, you must have a citation to back up that information.
- Your conclusion should re-state the thesis and effectively end the paper.
- Do not write in first person.
Film Analysis Grading Rubric
PSYC 2301 General Psychology
| GRADING CRITERIA | POSSIBLE SCORE | ACTUAL SCORE |
| Content: All required information has been addressed such as (a) a summary of the film (b)a discussion on how this film and the issues in the film/scene relate to course material, (c) the use of additional information from at least four outside scholarly sources to support your paper. The discussion of the analysis demonstrates evidence of solid understanding on the film regarding course content and provides evidence of critical thinking (d) Paper meets page length requirement. | 70 | |
| Use of scholarly sources and citations: The paper also references a minimum of 4 sources, including the film, to inform their work and support their arguments. The additional sources must be cited in the paper and included on the reference page in proper APA format | 10 | |
| Clarity of expression and mechanics/grammar: The writing is clear and well organized. The reader does not have to struggle to understand what the writer is saying. The paper has been proofread to for grammatical errors. | 10 | |
| Format/Structure/Organization: The paper is in full APA format, including a title page, a running head, page numbers, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, and a reference page. The paper should be in Times New Roman, size 12 font. Paper meets page length. | 10 | |
| Total: | 100 |
