Personality of Dave Buznik Portrayed in the Comedy Anger Management by Adam Sandler - Movie Review Example

Personality Personality has been defined as an individual’s pattern of thinking feeling and acting (Meyers, 2009, 115). It is also defined as an individual’s internal dynamic organization of the psychological and physical systems that influence his or her pattern of actions, thought and feelings (Craver & Connor-Smith, 680). This paper seeks to explore personality of Dave Buznik portrayed in the comedy movie Anger management by Adam Sandler. He is a mild- mannered and non-confrontational man who becomes violent after an altercation with a fellow passenger aboard a plane. The movie also reflects Buznik as a man who was the subject of bullying as a young man and this paper will explore the role of bullying in the personality of Dave Buznik. Bullying is defined as an aggressive act comprising an imbalance of power in which the victims are unable to defend themselves and is accompanied by an element of repetition (Sourander, 1005). Anger on the other hand, is a product of both provocation-focused rumination and self-focused rumination. In provocation-focused rumination, the victim thinks about and relives a negative incident or an angering event whenever they experience aggression (Denson et al, 735). Dave Buznik has problems with anger. Anger has three dimensions namely physiological, social and cognitive, behavioral and reaction. The physiological is the physical manifestation of anger while the social and cognitive dimension explains the individual’s internal interpretation of anger. Behavioral and reaction on the other hand explains whether anger is expressed or not (Arslan, 556). Anger may be expressed externally, internally or by way of control (Arslan, 556). It is in this context that this paper analyzes Dave Buznik’s conduct and personality from childhood in response to the bullying incidents that he faced earlier in life and how they have affected his personality. In his childhood to early adulthood to the point when we see him in the movie , he internalizes his responses to anger by adopting defensive mechanisms. In a large part of the movie, we see him as a man who externalizes his response and the court engages a therapist to teach him how to put it under control. The argument that this paper seeks to front is that past bullying experiences may be suppressed in various ways by an individual as they grow even into adulthood. He may have resorted to optimism that these bullying incidents would eventually end as a coping mechanism (Craver & Connor-Smith, 685). Boys unlike girls tend to accept bullying as part of their everyday lives (Sourander, 1009). However this is associated with psychiatric problems that manifests bin the form of anger in their latter lives (1010). Boys develop a number of defence mechanisms in order to survive and Buznik in his tender age was no different. In the following paragraph this paper speculates on the different defence mechanisms which he may have adopted. In order to survive bullying Buznik like many boys his age may have resorted to repression at a tender age where he banished all those anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings and memories related with his constant bullying (course-notes.org). Whenever he faced the bullying incidents he would ensure that all negative feelings associated with the experience were banished so that he would not feel it. Another mechanism is reaction formation where he switches all counter aggression impulses into mild responses of acceptance (course-notes.org). The latter explains the mild mannered and non-confrontational man that Buznik grew to become in that even though there were aggressive instances against him, he responds mildly. He would accept the incident and move on. A third defence mechanism that may have been adopted by Buznik in his childhood is rationalization. This is where the victim justifies the bullying experiences that he faces on a day to day basis (course-notes.org). A way of justification could be the acceptance that one deserves it because they are weak and cannot defend themselves. It can also be justified as a way of winning favors from the detractor such as friendships and the benefits that could come from it especially if they have a superior financial status. It can also be justified by the victim as a way of becoming a member of a clique. The consequence is that the real effects of the bullying and would be reactions are stored in the unconscious. Here, an individual hides the real feeling by looking for ways to make them palatable (course-notes.org). Bullying in childhood is a predictive indicant of anti-social behavior in adulthood. The victims of bullying grow to have an aggressive and violent personality, a characteristic that is displayed by Buznik during the flight incident (Bender and Losel, 99). Neo-Freudian like Alfred Adler have argued that the social tensions that a child experiences during childhood are important in analyzing personality of an individual in adulthood. Therefore the anger and aggression manifesting in Buznik can be analysed with respect to his childhood experiences (course-notes.org). Anger is a negatively valence effect that arises when a person feels slighted or hurt by the intentional acts of another person (Carver & Harmon-Jones, 187). Such a person can be described as neurotic in that they are easily angered and have high levels of anxiety (Craver & Connor-Smith, 683). Emotion is defined as the response of the whole organism. Emotional arousal on the other hand can be described as the product of psychosocial arousal (course-notes.org). Emotions are sometimes aroused by the events that are likely to elicit feelings of fear in an individual. The individual takes cognizance of the prevailing circumstances and reacts to them. If an individual was bullied in child-hood, they associated any aggressive conduct towards them in adulthood with their experiences in childhood (course-notes.org). This is seen when he finally meets his childhood tormentor in the Buddhist temple, Dave feels a sense of relief for finally having confronting him. His satisfaction arises from the fact that he is able to arouse anger in him and the fact that they engage in a physical altercation in the temple compound. From the foregoing, we can say that Buznik had pent-up anger in him as a result of the childhood bullying experience which has not been resolved. The result is an adult aggressive experience is likely to trigger such episodes of anger (Potegal, 385). In this regard his response to aggression by the adversary on the plane is a way of release of the long held tension that he has been suppressing from within. Snatcher in his two way factor theory has argued that to experience emotion one must be physically aroused and physically label that arousal. Anger as an emotion instigates aggression, self assertion and violence. Such people are able to appraise the actions towards them as contrary to their goals and expectations which is referred to as trespass (Silvia, 50). That is why when his court-appointed therapists Buddy chooses to incite him to anger by carrying out activities that elicit emotions of anger in him. For example, when Buddy begins to date Buznik’s girlfriend Linda, the latter is not impressed by his therapists move against his girlfriend. Buznik does not expect his therapist to slice him of his girlfriend and this is contrary to his expectations. He reacts by physically assaulting Buddy his therapist. Also when he realizes that his workmate Andrew has been chosen for promotion at work instead of him he reacts by confronting both his boss and Andrew for mistreating him in the past. Anger has been described as a very complex animalistic emotion. It is triggered by insults, cost imposition, lack of recognition of one’s achievements by another, insufficient reciprocity and lack of attention among other triggers (Sell, 382). Therefore throughout the movie, the patient’s progress is monitored by exposing him to situations that are likely to trigger angry emotions from him. The recalibration theory of anger states that anger is the product of an adaptation designed by natural selection to recalibrate an individual who demonstrates lower than acceptable tradeoff ratio. Therefore the target of anger, whether present or future, weighs more highly on the individuals interest (Sell, 382). The interests of the angry person must be directly affected in order to elicit a response from them. In this regards, Buddy consistently angers Buznik by attacking that which matters to him most. For example, he gets angry with Andrew for interfering with his promotion at work and his relationship with Linda. Linda and his job represent his interest and other individual actions are therefore recalibrated against his interest on the two. Catharsis is the release of emotions. The Catharsis-hypothesis of emotion states that an aggrieved party will express emotion as a way of releasing aggressive energy through either action or fantasy which enables them to release aggressive urges (course-notes.org). In order to understand it, we also need to understand how it manifests (Sell, 389). An individual’s manifestation of anger is expressed through the face, through vocals and postures (Silvia, 48). The In the movie Anger management instances of vocal expression of anger can be seen when Buznik engages with Buddy in verbal altercation on the plane. Bullying victims normally do have a low self esteem that persists even through to adulthood. Low self esteem may manifest from the time an individual is bullied and through out to their adult life (Robins et al, 2009). Buznik is a person who went through bullying in school as a child and this affects his personality as a child and in his adulthood. This is reflected in his so called mild manners and non-confrontational attitude. This is because he cannot stand up for himself or even express himself freely. In conclusion, bullying may lead to internalized anger as is with the case of Dave Buznik. The result is that such persons become recluses and introverted. Such persons have difficulty in interacting with others (Arslan, 557). Incidents of bullying if responded to by internalization, the individual will if triggered, manifest their anger externally (Robins et al, 447). Bender, D, and Lösel, F. 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