Eat Drink Man Woman 1994

Picture obtained from http://doramax264.com/2173/eat-drink-man-woman-movie/

From this film, we could clearly see the different roles that each daughters have. The three daughters have a very different personality from one another despite living under the same roof and having the same father. This could be explained from The Birth Order Effect in the field of psychology.

The youngest daughter, Jia Ning has to work part time job while studying in college. Blake (1981) recommended that younger children have lesser resources (the “resource dilution” model) than their older siblings (Pavan, 2016). This might explain the reason for Jia Ning to work part time. However, even though the youngest child might not receive as much from their parents, there is high possibility for the youngest to receive resources support from the elder siblings. Jia Ning's character is more carefree and bubbly. She is easy going and make her decision based on what she is interested. Even after finding out that she is pregnant, she is not afraid of the judgement of her family members. Instead she made he decision right away to live and to get married with her boyfriend.

The second daughter, Jia Chien got to spend the most time with the father because her father used to bring her to his work kitchen. At certain scene, the eldest daughter, Jia Jen mentioned that Jia Chien does not understand their parents' relationship as she does because she has spent more time with their parents. Price (2008) has found that parents spend more quality time with older siblings overall because they tend to split equally their time across existing siblings (Pavan, 2016). Other than that, according to Adler (1928), second children are more advantageous, easy going, and rebellious (Adler, 1928, as cited in Damian & Roberts, 2015). In the movie, we could clearly see that Jia Chien has a mind of her own and wants to leave the house to have her own freedom.

The eldest sister, Jia Jen is also said to be a parentified sister by Jia Chien since their mother passed away. It is also mentioned that since then Jia Chien could not talk much to Jia Jen as Jia Jen would be lecturing her. Through this, we could see the shift of the responsibility as an eldest sister to a parentified sister. The responsiblity of elder siblings is usually more. On the other hand, youngest child will have more lax personality. The first children often have more of the “traditional” aspects, by being a creditworthy, prevailing role-model, who worries about parent-pleasing (Damian & Roberts, 2015). In the movie, Jia Jen mentioned that she is the one who will have to stay back to take care of their father at the end of the day. She is worried of her father being alone once everyone else leaves and she holds the responsibility of taking care of her father when that day comes.

Since the personality of each children matches The Birth Order theory, it is understood that the directing team of this movie has indeed done a great job in researching on the personality of children of different orders. This part of the movie is worth crediting.

References:
Pavan, R. (2016). On the production of skills and the birth-order effect. The Journal of Human Resources, 51(3), 699-726. doi:10.3368/jhr.51.3.0913-5920R

Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. W. (2015). The associations of birth order with personality and intelligence in a representative sample of U.S. high school students. Journal of Research In Personality, 5896-105. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2015.05.005

Awakening

This film has certain impacts on people. The movie talks about suffering, therefore it has a sense of realism and despair, but the impact is not about thinking negatively. Incredibly, after perceiving the feeling of coldness and lost from this movie, audience will have the urge to be present-minded, to appreciate what is around, and to not take things for granted. For instance, some would complain that climbing the stairs is tiring, but more often than not, people neglect the joy of the having the ownership of freedom and movement. Unlike some unfortunate individuals, most of us could move and have freedom to decide to which direction to go to.

Perspectives: 
From the filmmaker's perspective, as much as this movie want to portray the cruel side in life, the production crew did not sugar coat the story plot. However, it does not mean that showing audience the cruelty of life will have impacts on audience negatively.

From the audience's perspective, the only thing that changed is worldview and perspective. The audience has not change, we have been sitting on the same seat and wearing the same shirt all this while. Yet, audience's perspective of life has changed. The impact on audience is the experience of suffering of patients, and this has done well and very powerfully in Lenoard's case, especially when the deterioration comes back again. This life affirming film has causes psychological reaction that makes the audience feel life. When someone who is known to us passed away, often we will feel lost and many other emotional responses will come to surface. Surprisingly, other than all the other negative emotions, having gratitude is one of the greatest impact grief has on a person. The feeling of "I am alive" reminds us that we have been all this while alive but did not pay attention on this fact until something happened to remind us about this. Only till then, we will realize that we have been all this while alive but are unappreciative until the realization on mortality. To realize that life is fragile and life should not be taken for granted, and to realize that we have been alive but have not been grasping.

From the main character's perspective, Robin William's character as a doctor conveys a very passionate and helpful personality which thought us to learn to appreciate the simple things in life. His character is a portray of the audience, which means that the character's experience is congruent with the audience's character. He represent the eye of the audience; the audience get to watch the drama unfold through Dr. Sayer's eye.

This movie has spread awareness that people with mental issue are still people and they deserve dignity and respect. They are not like 'The Garden' as mentioned in the movie, only needing to be fed and watered, which is a saying that people in the garden has no quality of life. Unlike the other characters in the movie, Dr. Sayer is different as he is able to empathize and respect the patients, and wants to change the life of these patients.

Realizations:
1. The scene where Leonard mentioned that those of them who are sleeping are the one who has been awake all this while (healthy and not catatonic individuals) because they only focused on negative circumstances in life. On the flip side, those who have been asleep are the ones who are awake because they appreciate the simple things in life. The newspaper is an example on the people's focus on bad things in life. He mentioned that the whole world has got it wrong and they are being distracted from the bad things in life. This message struck me because indeed we are not appreciating the simple joy of being able to feel, to move, to talk and so on. We were so blinded by the downsides of life that we no longer know how to be appreciative. I believe this is also the main message from the script-writer and director. The message tell us the need to explore the simple things in life, to be more present-minded, and to be active participants in our life instead of being in a auto-pilot mode most of the time. Undeniably, I have changed my viewpoint from surviving the day to cherishing the day, because as life has a problem, it has a gift too. I am more aware on the need of being present, purposeful, and living in the moment. I am here in this moment, not overly thinking about the future. This is because if we were to anticipate the future, we will be forever living in the future. In the movie, Lucy mentioned, "I know it is not 1936, I just needed it to be".

2. Time and moments are previous, regardless its length. The little awakening moment for Leonard means a lot to him. Small moment has potential to have huge impact as it might have ripple effects on others. Not only the awakening has allow hospital caretakers to understand the catatonic patients, their awakening also enlightened us that we have to be mindful in life.

Cinema Paradiso 1988

The filmmaker of this movie has decided the main character - Toto to recall his past. The movie allows its audience to see the movie from Toto's perspective, where the movie led the audience to be in the present and then flashback to the past. At the beginning, the audience does not know what is going on that led Toto to look bothered while lying on his bed, after receiving a news from his mother. This has created a sense of suspense and curiosity to the audience. Curiosity is a great motivator for us to explore the unknown (Ruan, 2016), and being able to find out the uncertainty in the beginning often will result in a pleasurable sensation. From a cognitive psychology perspective, this movie has started off in an interesting way to capture and secure audience's attention to watch the movie.

The movie has allowed audience to get to know main character Toto from his young age until present, which is a thorough understanding of a person. Being able immerse and attach deeply with a character will cause audience to have an emotional bond with the character. Therefore, audience tend to empathize deeply with Toto when his mentor - Alfredo passed away as if the audience's relative has passed away. This scene made me shed tears as if I have lost someone dearly to me.

The message that me as an audience received from the director is the preciousness of a relationship. Through this, it struck me that close friendship does not form among peers with same age. As portrayed in this movie, even though Toto is a young boy and Alfredo is an old man, Toto and Alfredo are best buddies who support one another whenever anyone of them encounters problem. For example, Alfredo saved Toto from his mother's scoldings and helped him towards his passion and interest as a projectionist; whereas Toto saved Alfredo's life from the fire that happened in the cinema. Even after the incident which caused Alfredo to lost his eyesight, Toto did not abandon him, instead he described pictures and films to Alfredo as if he is the new 'eye' to Alfred. Indeed, Alfredo did regain his new 'eye' through this precious friendship with Toto. At the end, as much as Alfredo treasure and needed Toto, he did not tie him down by his side. Alfredo thinks the best for his best friend and is generous enough to let go of his 'eye', and to allow his 'eye' - Toto to pursue his goal in a brighter path.

References:
Ruan, B. (2016). Curiosity Leads Us to Seek Out Unpleasant, Even Painful, Outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/curiosity-leads-us-to-seek-out-unpleasant-even-painful-outcomes.html#.WH7VNPl942w