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Cultural Psychology and the Cinema

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Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories

Dreams hang in fragments at the end of the (screening) room, suffered analysis, passed – to be dreamed in crowds, or discarded.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Last Tycoon

If the cinema is not made to translate dreams or all that which, in conscious life, resembles dreams, then the cinema does not exist.

Antonin Artaud, Cinema and Reality

Introduction

Cinema may be considered aform of mass communication. Nevertheless, there is much more to this medium that makes it even more complex and interesting. If there is one word that has been associated with the motion picture since its inception, it would have to be entertainment. There are serious movies and edifying movies and movies that teach and promote ideologies or beliefs. But generally speaking, we go to the movies to be entertained. And it is that very capacity to effectively deliver entertainment – bypassing our critical faculties – that make movies so powerfully influential for better and for worse in ways that we may not even be aware...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Social Services, Fordham University, 113. W60th Street 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10023, USA

    Prof. Robert W. Rieber

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  1. Prof. Robert W. Rieber
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Correspondence to Robert W. Rieber .

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  1. Department of Psychology, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA

    Robert W. Rieber

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Rieber, R.W. (2012). Cultural Psychology and the Cinema. In: Rieber, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_237

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_237

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0425-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0463-8

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