Psychological Analysis of the Film High Fidelity - Movie Review Example

Webs of Forces: Analysis of the Film "High Fidelity" (Application of Social Psychology Concepts) Introduction This psychological analysis deals with the film "High Fidelity," as it tells of Rob Gordon, the main character, as he reflects and tries to resolve his dilemma on his relationships with women. Just having a breakup with his current girlfriend, Laura, he goes on with the movie doing monologues as he recalls his "Five All-time Greatest Breakups." Hence, the plot revolves through his thoughts brought to life, his vintage LP album shop, his colleagues, and love life. When it comes to interpersonal attraction, the two characters who portray an example of social exchange theory are Rob and Laura. Then, in terms of aggression, this was brought to life through Liz, Rob and Laura's friend, when she showed instrumental aggression to Rob. Meanwhile, pro-social behavior came vividly through Rob, asking Barry why he was treating a customer sarcastically, then defending the right of the customer not to be treated that way - hence portraying the negative-state relief hypothesis. Glimpse through Social Exchange Theory Interpersonal attraction, for this matter, deals with friendships as well as close relationships that satisfy people's craving for happiness. Through these relationships, they experience joy - thus leading to fulfillment (Gire). Through Rob and Laura's relationship in the film, the concept of interpersonal attraction (social exchange) comes true. At first glance of each other, and throughout their straight three-year relationship, they saw how they complement each other and how the ' spark' comes in even when they saw each other at the club, both feeling like they have something in common (which is their love for Marvin Gaye's song) and soon, through mutual liking and eventually, a growing relationship. Moreover, this couple, who just had a breakup, later had the chance to clarify their thoughts with each other, and confirmed of how they perceive the rewards and costs of their relationship. When Laura says, "I need to be with someone I know Well, I fancied you. You were a DJ and I thought you were groovy, and I didn't have a boyfriend, and I wanted one," she truly has the eye for what she will be getting out of their relationship. During the time when she said that, specifically after the funeral of her father, she even asked Rob to make out with her (out of her anxiety). Thus, throughout the scene, they had a confrontation, which soon led to getting back together. More so, Rob displays his liking for Laura as he talks to himself, stating top five reasons why he likes Laura, that to include: her habit of rubbing her feet while sleeping, her laugh, her looks, her getup, and just the way she carries herself. In fact, Rob's anxiety throughout the plot was caused by their breakup, leading him to conclude that she may be the one he wants to spend his life with forever and does everything he could to get her back. He also reiterated that he is so miserable without her that it is not worth thinking about alternatives. He constantly thought of whether or not Laura ever had the chance to make out with Ian and even got to the point of frustration because of sexual thoughts of Laura and someone else. In social exchange theory, rewards and costs are of high regard. The female, who most likely receives intimacy and concern from the male, out of love, gives herself sexually to her partner. On the other hand, the male, who has the angst for sexual pleasure, also receives what he desires. Hence, the theory also pays high regard to the equivalent of the reward, which most of the time turns out to be a sacrifice for both parties. However, since they really acquire their hearts' deepest desires through the exchange, they both find their relationship worth those costs (Wang 2). Moreover, because of this theory, people experience feeling like there is no one to replace his or her significant other (Gire). The framework that exists in the social exchange theory is vital to understand the workings of the relationship. This gives insights as to why people choose their romantic partners, who among the couple has more control over the sexual activities, and whether or not any of them will have the tendency to look for another sexual partner (Wang 1). The foundation of this theory lies on the fact that sex, once applied in opposite sex relationships, is very important such that the female exchanges this to receive greater commodities. Just like Laura in the film, she has been exchanging this to gain respect, love, commitment, which in time, Rob has realized too. As emphasized in social exchange theory, it is inevitable to learn that profits are the main goal in a relationship. Through such rewards in various forms, people gear for a relationship and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of their interaction. Once they feel like they just cannot satisfy their liking for a reward as it under-weighted or over-weighted, there may be a clash or separation (Witt). Hence, in this film, it is evident that Rob compares his past relationships with other women to assess himself, soon learning and dwelling on why Laura left him and trying to get him back through his thoughts of why he deserves her (as evidenced by the top five reasons he likes Laura). Aggression for a Cause Aggression, according to Ferguson and Eyre, is a behavior, in whatever form, that is harmful or injurious to another person, object, or oneself. This is shown in the film through Liz when she screamed to Rob, telling him that he is an "asshole." This encounter occurred as they planned to meet up at a pub and there, Liz just could not help but treat him in a fierce manner upon learning that he did four terrible things to Laura. In a way, this proved to be an aggressive behavior since it has caused harm verbally to Rob. The form of aggression partaken here is instrumental because she did this to express her concern for Laura. This is different from hostile aggression, because in the hostile type, the harmful behavior is done just because the person wants to cause harm to another and nothing else. Meanwhile, in what Liz did (instrumental), she was out for a goal, which is most probably to let Rob know how he has become really unfaithful to Laura because of his immature acts. The action is not considered as hostile because Liz did not mean to harm Rob just because she wants to inflict him pain to him. As quoted through Emotional Feelings website, Bandura proposes that aggression, as shown in this situation, is the result of wanting to stop the aggression of others in whatever form. Just like everyone faces untoward experiences, these just cue that through portraying actions that tend to harm others in some way, there will in turn be particular rewards in the end. Upon weighing the positive and negative outcomes of a future action, a person may then consider alternative means to release the tension that is brought by the unpleasant stimulus. Hence, Liz's role in the movie, as a mutual friend of Rob and Laura, might have felt that her friend Laura is feeling hurt. Thus, as someone who feels the pain herself and imagining that she is in the shoes of Laura, considered shouting angry words at Rob to console her empathic feelings. For the Benefit of Another James Gire describes prosocial behavior as an act done for the welfare of another individual. Thus, in the film "High Fidelity," this behavior is expressed by Rob when as he corrected Barry's sarcastic actions towards their customer who was looking for a track of "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Barry answered him, stressing why Rob was acting as such, when in fact, before, Rob even chases that customer out of their shop. And so Rob tells himself, "He's right I just can't muster that sort of anger anymore." Now, prosocial behavior, as noted by Knickerbocker, refers to patterns of activities that are beneficial to one's fellow upon looking at the result, rather than the motive behind the action. No matter what the intentions are, as long as an individual did something for the greater benefit of another, then this is prosocial. Rob does portray prosocial behavior here because at this point, he realizes that what Barry did was wrong and would like to make up for those actions, not aggravating the customer's situation. Specifically, this type of prosocial behavior is in line with the negative-state relief hypothesis. Accounting for Rob's recent situation of being dumped by Laura a while ago when the incident with Barry occurred, it just shows that his feeling of despair led to his change of actuation, which is for a better cause. Nevertheless, because of the sadness Rob feels with his love life, he, in turn, became prone to defending another (in the form of the customer) unknowingly to ease his sadness. The hypothesis points out that when one is guilty, there is a greater tendency that he will help another being. More so, the feeling of sadness also causes such behavior in order for one to feel less pain within (Gire). Moreover, the negative-state relief hypothesis tells that just as a person feels bad, he can have the tendency to escape that feeling through helping other people. Quoting upon Cunningham's study which indicates that 80% of guilty people help, there is an ongoing basis that good actions alleviate the feelings of being lonesome. However, this only applies most often to adults than children, for younger persons still do not have an established notion of the benefits of helping. More so, this also does not go true with severe depression or anxiety (Red River College Site). Conclusion During and after viewing the film, as I applied the concepts of Social Psychology to the instances portraying particular theories and hypotheses, I learned the forces responsible for the actions of the characters, as well as the different motivations possibly to influence the thoughts of each one. It seems that whatever one experiences is brought by particular instances rolled into interweaving situations as they connect to the lives of one another. Furthermore, it became really evident why Rob was acting like he did in the film. I understand now that the reason why Rob keeps on being dumped by women or vice versa because at his 30's, he still hasn't found peace within. His environment, wherein peer pressure was really clearly shown (during his adolescent years), contributed to his thoughts that happiness is just within if only he will get what he wants. Now, at an age when one usually marries and already has children, he keeps on asking himself why he just cannot settle on. Then, through the analysis of the film, I felt that my knowledge widened upon learning that several factors influence people's behaviors. Through careful examination of the underlying events in the characters' lives, I also realized that it is really important that we tune into our thoughts and experiences, linking them, so as to create better opportunities for us throughout our lives. Interpersonal attraction, as I have understood, is very important to us people, since upon the very start of our lives and interactions with others, we can little by little, attribute those interactions to our ways and means. Our concept of liking a person may also greatly influence how we perceive ourselves. That, having been said, is a factor to our own self-esteem. Meanwhile, aggression is also vital, I realized, because as instinct, we have the capacity to release our tensions in various means. In reflecting why we tend to act negatively towards life's circumstances, I also learned that there are better ways to handle anger and hostility - means that can also be learned and enhanced through time. Then, prosocial behavior, for me, turns out to be relevant too. Just as I consider our society today which is full of complex mechanisms and behaviors all put into one, I feel like there this type of behavior really needs to be applied more often by more people, so that in the end, such small contributions will pile up to form a great reform. All in all, interpersonal attraction, aggression, and prosocial behavior, as I have understood them, are interconnections of motives, experiences, thoughts, and driving forces within people - all of which are vital to acknowledging one's fulfillment. Works Cited: Emotional Feelings website. "Aggression," 2009. Web. 21 June 2009. Ferguson, Tamara J. and Heidi L. Eyre. "Aggression," 2009. Web. 20 June 2009. Gire, James T. "Interpersonal Attraction: From First Impressions to Close Relationships." PS 302: Social Psychology Home Page, 2003. Web. 19 June 2009. ---. "Prosocial Behavior: Why Do People Help" PS 302: Social Psychology Home Page, 2003. Web. 19 June 2009. Knickerbocker, Roberta L. "Prosocial Behavior," n.d. Web. 21 June 2009. < http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/paper52.html> Red River College Website. "Prosocial Behavior," n.d. Web. 21 June 2009. Wang, Emily. "Social Exchange Theory Applied to Romantic Relationships," 2004. Web. 20 June 2009. Witt, David D. "Family Crisis Social Exchange Theory and Developmental Theories," School of Family and Consumer Sciences, n.d. Web. 21 June 2009. Read More