CinemaPsych Podcast

Join Alex and Dr. Jeff Punske as they explore the linguistic and cognitive aspects of Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi masterpiece, Arrival (2016). The film stars Amy Adams as Dr. Louise Banks, a renowned linguist, and Jeremy Renner as a renowned theoretical physicist. Together, they must decipher an extremely complex language from newly-arrived extraterrestrials, referred to as the heptapods. But as Louise begins to learn their language, she begins to experience time differently! Alex and Jeff explore the nature of cognition and language and discuss how the film uses the Sapir-Whorf hypotheses to explain how Louise ultimately experiences her life during this time and afterward... or was it beforeward? Check out Jeff's edited book, Xenolinguistics: Towards a Science of Extraterrestrial Language! Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com), on Facebook (@CinPsyPod), or Threads/Instagram (@cinemapsych_podcast). We'd love to hear from you! If you like this content, you might like my new Audible audiobook/course, A Psychologist Goes to the Movies, available now! It features six films that have been on this show, condensed into 25-30 min essays, researched and analyzed. 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 and other designs! Legal stuff:1. All film clips are used under Section 107 of Title 17 U.S.C. (fair use; no copyright infringement is intended).2. Intro and outro music by half.cool ("Gemini"). Used under license.3. Film reel sound effect by bone666138. Used under license CC-BY 3.0. Episode Transcription 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 friend of the show Dr. Ed Hansen as they discuss the delightfully silly and usefully psychological High Anxiety (1977), Mel Brooks' send-up to the master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars Brooks as Dr. Richard Thorndyke, a world-renowned psychiatrist who begins a new career at the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. Joining him are his normal contributors, including Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, and Madeline Kahn. When Thorndyke is framed for murder, he must use all the Hitchcockian tools at his disposal to clear his name. Of course, no discussion of Hitchcock films can be made without a discussion of Freud, as well as the use of the term "High Anxiety", using humor as a means to cope with anxiety, the role of suspense to build a crescendo of anxiety, and a brief foray into institutionalization and its foibles. After listening to this podcast, you recovery rate might also be "once in a blue moon"! Follow Ed on BlueSky @EdHansen_PhDAD or Threads EdHansen_PhDAD If you like this content, you might like my new Audible audiobook/course, A Psychologist Goes to the Movies, available now! It features six films that have been on this show, condensed into 25-30 min essays, researched and analyzed. Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com), on Facebook (@CinPsyPod), or Threads/Instagram (@cinemapsych_podcast). 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 and other designs! Legal stuff:1. All film clips are used under Section 107 of Title 17 U.S.C. (fair use; no copyright infringement is intended).2. Intro and outro music by half.cool ("Gemini"). Used under license.3. Film reel sound effect by bone666138. Used under license CC-BY 3.0. Episode Transcription 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 in a solo episode as he has some fun with the day this episode goes out to the public: 4/20! The film explored is the oft-ridiculed Reefer Madness (1938), a propaganda film against the drug marijuana. Originally, it was meant to be an education film for parents so that they may notice the warning signs produced by a church group. The film earned cult status when it was shown in the exploitation film circuit in the '30s & '40s, earning immortality when efforts to preserve its historical status were undertaken in the 1970s. The film exaggerates and completely misidentifies the effects and consequences of marijuana use, using this phony information to invoke fear in ignorant viewers. The episode explores the historical inputs into the film, discusses the way the propaganda may have been effective in the time period, and concludes with a description of where the world currently is with cannabis. If you like this content, you might like my new Audible audiobook/course, A Psychologist Goes to the Movies, available now! It features six films that have been on this show, condensed into 25-30 min essays, researched and analyzed. Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com), on Facebook (@CinPsyPod), or Threads/Instagram (@cinemapsych_podcast). 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 and other designs! Legal stuff:1. All film clips are used under Section 107 of Title 17 U.S.C. (fair use; no copyright infringement is intended).2. Intro and outro music by half.cool ("Gemini"). Used under license.3. Film reel sound effect by bone666138. Used under license CC-BY 3.0. Episode Transcription 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 Prof. Kayla Sargent as they explore the wild web of secrets and gender psychology in the independent film City Island (2009). The film follows the Bronx*-island-of-the-same-name patriarch Vince, played by Andy Garcia, as he attempts to change his career from prison correctional officer to actor, a secret he keeps hidden from his wife and family. Perhaps a much larger issue is that he finds his long-lost son, also unknown to the family, in the prison he works at. The other members of the family all of something they're not sharing, and the episode explores how each of these hidden truths are gendered in many ways. Even pre-controversy Ezra Miller has a great little character arc! *In the intro, Alex says Brooklyn and not Bronx — oops! Shows how much he knows the New York boroughs... Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com), on Facebook (@CinPsyPod), or Threads/Instagram (@cinemapsych_podcast). We'd love to hear from you! If you like this content, you might like my new Audible audiobook/course, A Psychologist Goes to the Movies, available now! It features six films that have been on this show, condensed into 25-30 min essays, researched and analyzed. 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 and other designs! Legal stuff:1. All film clips are used under Section 107 of Title 17 U.S.C. (fair use; no copyright infringement is intended).2. Intro and outro music by half.cool ("Gemini"). Used under license.3. Film reel sound effect by bone666138. Used under license CC-BY 3.0. Episode Transcription 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 in a solo episode as he explores the more overt mother obsession themes in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The film released two years after Hitchcock's Vertigo, which had subtler mother obsession themes. In this film, which stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Hitchcock specifically smacks the audience over the head with the overt Oedipal complex and Freudian themes. Hailed as a masterpiece in its own right, Psycho is considered to be Hitchcock's first horror movie, with a insane lasting cultural impact, the least of which the shrieking violins. The discussion is split into two broad parts: the first explores the Freudian themes in a historical context, as a sort of companion follow-up to the previous episode on Vertigo, and the second part latches onto the psychiatrist's monologue at the end the film as a closer interpretation to what a modern clinical psychologist might assess and analyze within the context of the film's plot. Have a listen to this episode, but be sure Mother doesn't catch you! If you like this content, you might like my new Audible audiobook/course, A Psychologist Goes to the Movies, available now! It features six films that have been on this show, condensed into 25-30 min essays, researched and analyzed. Please leave your feedback on this post, the main site (cinemapsychpod.swanpsych.com), on Facebook (@CinPsyPod), or Threads/Instagram (@cinemapsych_podcast). 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 and other designs! Legal stuff:1. All film clips are used under Section 107 of Title 17 U.S.C. (fair use; no copyright infringement is intended).2. Intro and outro music by half.cool ("Gemini"). Used under license.3. Film reel sound effect by bone666138. Used under license CC-BY 3.0. Episode Transcription Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!