Senior Capstone ℅ 2018

5-24-2018

From Beginning To End It’s Always A Production: An Autoethnography

Cesar Guerrero
Los Angeles Leadership Academy​ HS, ​cguerrero100398@laleadership.org
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How Does Film Affect A Student?: An Autoethnography

Abstract
Today most people believe that violent media is not right for an individual. The effect of media
can affect a person in many different ways, it can affect a person emotionally and physically. The
mental state of a person can be visualized through how a person would react to the media;
furthermore, the question is whether films affect a person or not? Brad J. Bushman, PhD
explains in his research how people are affected by films. From examining physical reactions
created while watching films, trends influenced/created by films, and psychological responses
molded by the film industry, ​it is clear that films influence individual's behavior and thoughts.
Should we pay more attention to media?

Keywords
Media, Individual, Behavior, Film Industry, Reactions, and Responses.

Acknowledgements
I want to give a shout out to my goldfish he drowned last night, but before he passed he was my
support. He was always there for me from the good and bad times. Today was his funeral I
flushed him down the toilet.
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From Beginning To End It’s Always A Production : An

Autoethnography

Cesar Guerrero
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, Los Angeles, California, USA

Abstract
Today most people believe that violent media is not right for an individual. The effect of media
can affect a person in many different ways, it can affect a person emotionally and physically. The
mental state of a person can be visualized through how a person would react to the media;
furthermore, the question is whether films affect a person or not? Brad J. Bushman, PhD
explains in his research how people are affected by films. From examining physical reactions
created while watching films, trends influenced/created by films, and psychological responses
molded by the film industry, ​it is clear that films influence individual's behavior and thoughts.
Should we pay more attention to media?

The Incident
It was a nice March day. I’ve just gotten picked up by my mom, Flor. She asked me how

was school, and as usual, my dumb six year old self always replied with, “It was ok.’’ That same

morning, my parents were fighting about a problem that I could not recall. My parents took

advantage of my age by constantly making me choose sides, as if they were immature children.

My mother would often try to distract me by buying me the latest and greatest toy or spending

time out of the house because she felt horrible. My sister Sandra would never be home due to my

parents fighting over the smallest issues. When I got home, I got on the floor to do my

homework and watch a movie at the same time. When I turned on the TV, the first movie that
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came on was ​Blade​ starring Wesley Snipes. The movie just started, therefore, I watched the

whole film and realized it was very sentimental and meaningful to me. As I watched, I found

myself so engaged that whatever was around me became blank. I shut out my life for those

minutes, but when the film ended, I had to deal with reality again. The transition from watching a

masterpiece to coming back to my real life took a drastic toll towards my emotions. I wasn’t

aware of how to control these feelings and I didn’t know who I can trust. That same day, my dad

left the house, as he did so, I got on my knees and cried for him to return. My mom picked me up

and said, “It’s okay baby, he will come back, he just need time-”, but before she could finish, she

bursted into tears. That same day, I had another epiphany because watching her cry hurt me even

more so I promised myself I wouldn’t cry anymore; I needed to be a man entirely now. Eleven

years later, my parents reunited and now have a really great marriage. I am someone who wants

to protect my loved ones, I am someone who puts on a facade. Film creates a facade due to my

past and I fully accept that.

Analysis

Introduction

Film is a powerful source of motivation in today’s society. Film is an inspiring art piece

to watch. It could bring the community happiness, sadness, and rage. When watching a film your

body goes through a process, blood pressure goes up, emotions are out of control, and lastly most

bodies won’t be able to think straight due to the focus on the film. A quote from Bushman shows

how your body reacts to all of this, “Observed violence often consists of high-action sequences

that are very arousing for youth as measured by increased heart rate, blood pressure, skin

conductance of electricity, and other physiological indices of arousal. To the extent that media
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violence highly arouses the observer, aggressive behaviors may become more likely in the short

run for 2 possible reasons.”(​Brad J. Bushman, PhD​; ​L. Rowell Huesmann, PhD​, 2006, Para. 5).

First, high arousal generated by exposure to violence makes any dominant response tendency

more likely to be carried out in the short term” (​ Bushman, PhD​; ​ Huesmann, PhD​, 2006, Para.

5). From examining physical reactions created while watching films, trends influenced/created

by films, and psychological responses molded by the film industry, it is clear that films influence

individual's behavior and thoughts.

Study Of Focus

Film can cause an effect that most people could not believe. One of the effects is that,

someone can believe that God isn’t real, but then when they go watch a movie about God, the

chances of your mind completely changing about God are pretty high. Sometimes, it doesn’t

change your mind, but the film can occasionally leave an impact on the viewers. This is the great

concept about film, it can change your life in the matter of one or two hours. ​“Movies can create

awareness about the importance of education, art, sports and politics and can also warn about the

dangers of drugs, alcohol and other criminal activities. “It also brings understanding more about

other cultures, the atrocity of living homeless, and the countries who are in constant battle with

war and terrorism”( Fairman, 2016, Para. 6). ​From examining physical reactions created while

watching films, trends influenced/created by films, and psychological responses molded by the

film industry, it is clear that films influence individual's behavior and thoughts.

The effects of film on a human being

The effects caused by films are interesting. The effects that could happen are physical,

emotional, and mental. Prior to this research, a man named Bushman did research on the same
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topic, so according to Brad J. Bushman, PhD; L.and Rowell Huesmann, PhD “Observed violence

often consists of high-action sequences that are very arousing for youth as measured by increased

heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance of electricity, and other physiological indices of

arousal? To the extent that media violence highly arouses the observer, aggressive behaviors may

become more likely in the short run for two possible reasons”(​ Bushman, PhD​; ​L. Huesmann,

PhD​, 2006, Para. 5). His quote explains how physical effects could affect people’s bodies. Not

only that, but this quote also explains how the youth are being more engaged into mature films.

Films affecting our society

In today’s society films are being spit like crazy. Every week there are films coming out

which makes some of the films controversial. According to Laura Fairman ​“Movies can create

awareness about the importance of education, art, sports and politics and can also warn about the

dangers of drugs, alcohol and other criminal activities. “It also brings an understanding more

about other cultures, the atrocity of living homeless, and the countries who are in constant battle

with war and terrorism” ( Fairman, 2016, Para. 6). Films could create awareness to any issue that

are going on in the society. One of the examples of this would be the movie ​“2012​”. When the

film came out, millions of people believe that what happened in the film were going to transpire

in real life. What made people feel this way was because of the Mayan calendar. The calendar

said that the world was going to end in 2012, but in reality all that happened was that it made

people wasted money on survival equipment. This goes to show how film can affect the society.

How are films helpful

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Films could help in many ways. For example they are looking for people for the film

industry. The jobs for it are so high many people leave school to pursue their dreams as an actor/

actress. ​“A lot of people find jobs in the film industry, especially in the US. About 0.1 percent of

all people in the USA work in the film industry. Although that may seem like a low percentage,

it’s actually higher than that of a lot of other fields”(Angelov, 2017,Para.5). This quote shows

how it is to get a job in the film industry. In today’s society many people will do anything to

become famous. In the movie industry today most actors do anything to be in the film then rather

working hard like it should be in the first place.

Opinion

Understanding how people can be affected by film. So many people have personally

been affected by films. Most people truly believe that films can change someone's life. It doesn’t

matter if it was a small change or a big change, a change is a change.

Conclusion

In conclusion films could affect anyone in a good way or affect anyone in a bad way.

Films could give the best time ever or it will disappoint. Lastly, films are great overall because it

will create memories from films. “Currently, movies are the most powerful form of art. Even

though it’s called ‘the seventh art’, cinema is surely the most influential art form. Most people

don’t follow sculpture or architecture and don’t get affected by new sculptures or buildings.

Movies, however, are everywhere, So many people see movies every day and the film industry is

so big and influential” (Angelov, 2017, Para. 8).

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References

Angelov, M.​ ​(2017). ​How Do Movies Affect Society? – Our Movie Life​.

https://www.ourmovielife.com/2017/01/15/how-do-movies-affect-society/

Englehardt, N. (2017).​ Film and Society: How Films Impact Society and Popular Culture​.

https://platt.edu/blog/film-society-films-impact-society-popular-culture/

Fairman, L. (2016). ​Influence And Appreciation Of Film In Today's Society​.

https://www.rifemagazine.co.uk/2016/05/influence-and-appreciation-of-film-in-todays-soc

iety/

Guida, J. (2015). ​How Movies Can Change Our Minds​.

https://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/how-movies-can-change-our-minds /

Irimia, R. & Gottschling, M. ​Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw.

https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720