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Episode 079: No, There Isn’t a Gay Blood Test — Boy Erased (2018) with Lee Golembiewski
Join Alex and guest host Dr. Lee Golembiewski as they discuss the harrowing true story of a young gay man enduring conversion therapy in the US South in Boy Erased (2018). The film stars Lucas Hedges as Jared, playing a version of Garrard Conley, who wrote a memoir of the same name in 2016, detailing his journey through conversion therapy in the early 2000s. The film also stars Russell Crowe as his pastor father, who ultimately made the decision to send Jared to the harmful Christian ministry, Nicole Kidman, as his mother, who makes a startling transformation during the film, and Joel Edgerton, who plays the ministry’s lead “counselor” — Edgerton also directed and assisted in adapting the book into a screenplay.…
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Episode 078: Drugs are Bad, MMKay? Requiem for a Dream (2000) with Melissa Maffeo
Join Alex and guest host Dr. Melissa Maffeo as they delve into the seedy world of drug addiction in one of Darren Aronofsky’s earlier films Requiem for a Dream (2000). The film stars up-and-coming Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans, as well as Hollywood great Ellen Burstyn, as four folks who get caught up in their addictions, fueled by their dreams of better lives and fame. In true Aronofsky form, the visuals and filmmaking get you caught up in these addictions, how they manifest and how they actually destroy the dreams of our four main characters. This film isn’t for the faint of heart, but represents the dark qualities that wait around the corner of drug use and abuse — perfect for dissecting the models of addiction!…
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Episode 076: The Technosocial Commentary isn’t So Subtle — The Circle (2017)
Join Alex as he takes a solo look at the prophetic alternate reality in The Circle (2017), a film about a tech company and social media conglomerate that is parts Apple and other parts Facebook. The film, directed by James Ponsoldt and starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Karen Gillan, John Boyega, and Patton Oswalt, explores the chaotic world of a tech company that creates technology to link everyone together and put cameras all over the world. You know, your typical data-farming and unregulated surveillance we’ve all come to integrate into our lives 24/7. There are a ton of psych concepts easily accessed through the blunt, low-hanging fruit conundrums our characters find themselves.…
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Episode 073: Self-Expansion Theory Across the Multiverse! Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) with Mona Xu
Join Alex and guest host Xiaomeng (Mona) Xu as they discuss the multiverse romp Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), a film by writer-director team Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (the Daniels), starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong, and Stephanie Hsu. They explore self-expansion theory in identity formation, across the multiverse, as well as the central theme of the film: relationships within the immigrant experience. There’s a lot of silliness to be had here, so wear that googly eye while you listen to this engaging episode, doing your laundry and taxes!
Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com…
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Episode 072: Gender Expression and The Patriarchy and Toys! Barbie (2023) with Molly Metz
Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Molly Metz as they jump into the pink land that is Barbie (2023)! There’s so much in this episode that they crammed in, and they didn’t even get to everything. Alex and Molly explore gender expression, gender identity, masculinity, femininity, queerness, relationships, and of course, the role Barbie has had in Western/American culture since her debut in the 1950s. There are lot of great nuggets of info and a lot of laughs, and that’s just in the podcast — imagine what’s in the movie!
Check out these links if you want to know more about Barbie, the film, and gender studies: BinaryThis, Fortune, The Mercury News, and AutoStraddle
This is the podcast episode Molly mentions in the episode: American Hysteria’s “Blame it On Barbie”
Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com…
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Episode 070: Physics Avengers… Assemble! Oppenheimer (2023) with Sy Islam
Join Alex and guest host Dr. Sy Islam as they discuss the smash-hit from 2023, Oppenheimer! Christopher Nolan’s three-hour peek behind the creation of the team that formed the Manhattan Project and the literal fallout from the creation and dropping of the first atomic bombs, featuring the amazing performances by Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Josh Hartnett, among many many more others. The pair discuss the formation of the “Physics Avengers” from an Industrial-Organizational Psych perspective, while exploring how they prevented the bias groupthink from pervading the critical decisions. It’s a wild ride!…
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Episode 065: Milgram’s Conclusions on Obedience are Shocking! Experimenter (2015) with Sophie Halliday
Join Alex and guest host Sophie Halliday as they chat about the historical and psychological impact of Stanley Milgram’s famous experiments on obedience and social influence in Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter (2015), the other historical psychology movie that came out that year. This biopic stars Peter Sarsgaard as the titular character, with Winona Ryder, Jim Gaffigan, and several other star appearances as participants in the obedience studies. This witty drama-comedy takes the audience into the creation and data collection of the shock studies, but also other social influence experiments Milgram conducted over his 30ish year career. There are so many fourth wall breaks, you feel like Milgram is talking directly to the audience, to get his side of the story that followed him throughout his career.…
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Episode 063: Intersectionality is a Real Concept, Y’all — The Color Purple (1985) with Wind Goodfriend
Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Wind Goodfriend in a discussion of the psychological concepts in Steven Spielberg’s critical hit drama The Color Purple (1985), which stars a breakout performer Whoopi Goldberg, amazing Oprah Winfrey, and the immaculate Danny Glover (albeit a terrible character)! The main topic on the agenda: intersectionality, and what it meant for Black folks in Jim Crow rural south, but also Black women and the bonds they make and break. It’s a window into a challenging life, where women were treated as pawns and subhuman. It’s based on the book by Alice Walker, and there’s a lot of psych found within.…
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Episode 062: Listen! It’d Be a Lot Cooler If You Did — Dazed and Confused (1993) with Chris Miller
Join Alex and guest host Dr. Chris Miller as they discuss the wild and crazy Richard Linklater film Dazed and Confused (1993), a movie that came out in the 90s, but set in the mid-1970s. The film follows teens, such as Jason London, Anthony Rapp, Adam Goldberg, Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams, and Ben Affleck, as they end the school year with epic hazing for those matriculating students and a wild party in the forest. There’s a lot of adolescent and young adult drama, as well as some solid social psychological concepts found in this film. So, have a listen, and as breakout performance star Matthew McConaughey said, “it’d be a lot cooler if you did!”…
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Episode 060: Baseball is a Game of Statistics! Moneyball (2011) with Jessica Hartnett
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!…