The movie “Happy Gilmore” is about a hard-working hockey player who becomes a professional golfer after realizing his talents in golf and in order to earn money to buy back his grandmother’s house that had been repossessed by the IRS. “Happy Gilmore“ although a comedic movie, can be analyzed and related to specific psychological concepts. “Happy Gilmore” exemplifies the frustration- aggression principle as Happy misses his shots, Shooter McGavin demonstrates a narcissistic personality disorder throughout the movie, and finally, Happy exhibits social facilitation as he performs better in the presence and support of a cheering crowd.
Ever since the beginning of “Happy Gilmore”, Happy has trouble controlling his actions in times of anger. The
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movie begins with Happy trying out for the local hockey team and, being awful at hockey except for a power slap shot, he does not make the team. Happy becomes so angry that he attacks the hockey coach at the end of the tryouts. Still frustrated, he comes home to his girlfriend who had just decided to move out. Happy becomes even angrier and takes out his aggression on her by yelling at her to come back through the apartment speaker. As the movie continues, nothing seems to go Happy’s way. The next day, he finds out that his grandmother’s house had been repossessed by the IRS. This obviously angered Happy and he proceeded to take out his frustration by throwing the IRS agent through the house window. Eventually Happy finds his talent in golf, but that doesn’t stop him from him from becoming angry and from acting on this frustration. After missing any shot, Happy proceeds to profoundly swear at his golf ball, throw his golf club, and even choke his caddy. Even practicing at a mini-golf park, Happy hits the nose off a robotic clown after being frustrated after missing his shot. The best example of Happy’s anger problem though is when Happy golfs at the Pepsi Pro-AM tour with Bob Barker. Happy begins to play poorly and after Bob Barker teases him, Happy full out fights his partner. With all the multiple examples of Happy’s aggression, it can be seen that Happy’s angry actions result from an initial frustration. In psychology terms, this is called the frustration- aggression principle. The frustration- aggression principle explains that as someone experiences frustration, they create anger within themselves which then can result in aggressive actions if there is a lack of self control (Myers 2011, p. 673). In Happy’s case, he came frustrated by various things including his relationship, failure in hockey, and his inability to initially save his grandmother’s house. This frustration turned into anger which then spiraled into aggressive events after he realized that he was incapable of immediately fixing his problems. However, the frustration- aggression principle does not promise aggressive actions after every frustration. Depending on the individual and even the temperature, individuals respond to their frustrations in different ways. During hotter temperatures, people react on their aggression more frequently than during colder temperatures (Myers 2011, p. 673). This directly relates to Happy, because although Happy is a naturally aggressive person, Happy is out golfing in the summer heat for most of the entire movie. Being out in the hot temperatures may not have caused the aggressive actions, but the temperature may have assisted in Happy’s decision to act out on his anger every time he became frustrated. Also, Happy may have developed his aggressive tendencies because of a lack of parenting. Happy’s dad died at a hockey game and his mother left him when he was young. In this way, Happy may never have properly learned how to demonstrate his anger without acting on it through aggressive actions. The next major character in “Happy Gilmore” is Shooter McGavin.
Shooter first appears to the viewer and Happy at Happy’s first golf tournament. Shooter has a very self-centered personality and bases all his actions on making sure that everyone around him sees him as better than everyone else. After Happy qualifies for the Pro Tour, he talks to a Shooter and a group of golfers at a Pro Golfer party. Happy jokingly points out that Shooter doesn’t have one of the Gold Jackets that the winner of the Tour Championship gets. Instead of laughing along, Shooter becomes very upset that he is not being viewed as the best. As the Pro Golfer Tour continues, Happy’s fame begins to grow and eventually Shooter gets asked what he thinks of Happy. After being asked this, Shooter becomes extremely agitated with the interviewer because the attention was no longer on himself. Shooter just gets even angrier the next day when all his supporters begin to leave his golfing hole to go watch Happy Gilmore. Eventually Shooter becomes threatened by Happy Gilmore. Shooter was the favorite to win the tour, and desperate to make sure he does win and is seen as the best, he hires someone to sabotage Happy Gilmore by yelling “Jackass!” every time Happy tees off. Shooter had to cheat to insure to himself that he would win because being seen as the best is the only important thing to him. Shooter even goes to lengths to buy Happy’s grandmother’s house to try to get Happy to stop playing. But in the end, …show more content…
all of Shooter’s actions were no use because he still lost to Happy. In the climax of the movie as he lost, Shooter would not accept losing to Happy and resorted to stealing the Golden Jacket and running away. Because of Shooter’s self-centered beliefs and actions, Shooter displays a narcissistic personality disorder. A narcissistic personality disorder is described by a condition where someone experiences a self inflated sense of importance and belittles others in order to convince themselves that they are best. Those with a narcissistic personality disorder exaggerate their achievements, will not accept criticisms, and value themselves substantially more than others (Mayo Clinic 2016). In the example of Shooter McGavin, Shooter demonstrates this personality disorder perfectly. Throughout the film, Shooter lives for the love and affection of his fans. When he starts having to share the spotlight with Happy, he not only becomes upset and cheats, but he resorts to having Happy nearly killed. Shooter craves attention so much that he hires one of his fans to run over Happy with his car. Throughout the movie, Shooter creates his whole identity upon proving that he is the best and when he finally loses, he is incapable of acting humbly and accepting his loss so he steals the jacket that Happy rightfully won. Also seen in Happy Gilmore is Happy’s progression as a golf player.
As Happy begins, he minimally cares about his performance and is more focused on only participating in order to get paid. He does not think that he can be the best and does not care enough to work towards being the best. He simply wants to put in minimal work to get just enough of a reward to buy his grandmother’s house back. Happy is a naturally talented golf player and performed amazingly well under little pressure, but as he began the Pro Tour, his competition got harder and harder and as the pressure and crowds grew, Happy initially began to struggle. However, as Happy continued to play golf throughout the Pro Tour, he becomes to play better and better until eventually winning to him is even more important than getting his grandmother’s house back. He wants to succeed and begins taking lessons to improve. After taking lessons, Happy not only was able to make it by under pressure, he thrived playing under pressure and in front of a crowd. He even asks for the crowd to cheer as he takes his opening drive at the Tour Championship. And in the climax of the movie, in front of the biggest crowd yet, Happy is able to sink a shot by bouncing it off and through a fallen TV tower to beat Shooter McGavin by one
stroke. This phenomenon of doing better in front of an audience is called social facilitation. Social facilitation is described as doing better at things you are good at and doing worse at things you are unfamiliar with when in front of a crowd of spectators (Myers 2011 p. 657). In the example of Happy Gilmore, Happy performed poorly in front of a crowd before taking lessons, but after lessons and a new perspective, he excelled and was able to win the entire Tour Championship. Along with social facilitation, Happy had an increased self efficacy and self determination after taking official golf lessons. Self-efficacy is the belief in oneself and Happy truly believed in himself after taking golf lessons and actually practicing. Along with self efficacy, Happy had increased self determination and was determined to beat Shooter. Therefore, he had a new goal in mind and wanted to win for that reason. He was so determined that he still continued to play the tournament despite getting hit by a car. Between social facilitation, self determination, and self efficacy, Happy progressed as a golf player and was able to succeed. The psychology within the movie “Happy Gilmore” is clearly evident in the way Happy demonstrates the frustration- aggression principle, Shooter McGavin possesses a narcissistic personality disorder, and how Happy progresses as a golf player due to social facilitation and his increased self-efficacy and self-determination. Although “Happy Gilmore” is a comedic movie made without the intention of presenting these psychological principles, the principles are clearly supported with the context of the movie. Happy Gilmore although not-so-happy at times, is able to find his happy place and have it all by the end.
In this paper I analyze a character’s mental disorder from the film Running With Scissors. This character is named Deirdre Burroughs. Deirdre suffers from narcissistic personality disorder. The paper touches on various symptoms that Deirdre displays because of her disorder. Also, I provide two ethological theories that I believe may have caused Deirdre to develop narcissistic personality disorder. I was able to find evidence from the Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach to support my theories. I was also able to obtain further information from an article that discusses on the disorder. Lastly, this paper provides a negative message that the film has on narcissistic personality disorder.
Americans have become addicted to gaining quick rewards of satisfaction through sports and action because they want to be entertained thoroughly without needing to ponder any hidden meaning so it doesn’t take away from the pure entertainment of the action. In his time, Bradbury was fearful of the way that the television’s empty shows were in invading every home in America. The culture in the novel demands for “everything (to be boiled) down to the rag, the snap ending” (Bradbury 52), leaving nothing for the viewer to ponder; they would rather enjoy themselves “a solid entertainment” (Bradbury 58). The same is true in today’s movies and shows, in which most must contain many action scenes in order to keep the viewer’s attention, and the meaning and symbols must be clearly spelled out for them. This is also why Bradbury includes sports as being the main focus of schools in his story, since th...
Lee, Terry. "Virtual Violence in Fight Club: This is What Transformation of Masculine Ego Feels Like." Journal Of American & Comparative Cultures 25.3/4 (2002): 418-423. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
For my final essay, I have chosen the movie “Fatal Attraction”, and I will focus on Alex Forrest and her mental disorder. Borderline Personality was displayed in the movie and Alex had almost every symptom of this disorder. Throughout this essay, I will be discussing Alex’s characteristics, intelligence, motivation, stress, social influences and/ or personality theories, treatment, and if the depiction of the disorder and treatment is consistent with what was discussed and read in the course.
The drive for an athlete to succeed is affected by the player’s relationship with their coach. For Rosie Ferguson, J. Peter Billings was a handsome coach whom Rosie was deeply attracted to. When referring to Peter, Rosie, “basked in his attention and tried to play so well and so hard that he would stay” (6), hoping she could perform to her best level just to keep Peter engaged in her matches. In Crooked Little Heart, and many times in literature such as in Golden Boy, both the play and movie, athletes perform for the hope to be recognized by their coach. Rosie and her doubles partner Simone Duvall occasionally received attention from Peter if his boys played in the same tournament. But if Peter’s boys were not competing in the same tournament as the girls, Peter would not show up for the match. Because Rosie was looking for more attention, she invested herself into Luther, a man who watched every match of hers from a distance, and eventually became a second “coach.” In the play Golden Boy, Joe Bonaparte proved to his manager, Tom Moody, that he could fight having no prior experience as a professional boxer. Joe had the motivation and the will-power to gain attention from the doubtful Tom Moody. Unconvinced too was Tom Moody in the movie, Golden Boy, as no-name Joe asks for a chance to prove himself as a fighter. Rosie and Joe both wanted a chance to succeed in their athletic careers and show their coaches what they could do.
This paper will discuss the relationship between Will Hunting and the psychologist Sean Mcguire in the movie Good Will Hunting. The struggles that occur between these main characters will be analyzed and their meanings found. A basic outline of the movie will be included to give the larger picture and its influence upon the two men.
The word happiness comes from the word happy, which means to feel or show pleasure or contentment. In the novel, “The Joy Luck Club”, two daughters of the mothers in Joy Luck Club begin to compete with each other. Waverly Jong, is a child chess prodigy. June Woo, struggles to master the piano. The rivalry reflects values of success and worth depicted in the novel, “The Joy Luck Club”. In this novel, happiness does not truly come from the word happy.
Happy Loman has grown up to be a well-adjusted man of society. He has developed from a follower to a potentially successful businessman. Throughout his childhood, Happy always had to settle for second fiddle. Willy, his father, always seems to focus all his attention on Happy's older brother Biff. The household conversation would constantly be about how Biff is going to be a phenomenal football star, how Biff will be attending the University of Virginia and be the big man on campus, how Biff is so adulated among his friends and peers, and so on. Young Happy was always in Biff's shadow, always competing for his father's attention but failing each time. Happy would resort to such antics as laying on his back and pedaling his feet backwards to capture his father's attention but to no avail. Willy would continue to not take notice of his younger son and maintain his attention on other matters that he thought were of greater importance. Growing up under these conditions is what motivated Happy to be the man he is today.
In this paper the reader will be able to find a variety of different areas covered. A detailed summary of the movie 28 days directed by Betty Thomas in 2000 will start the paper. The diagnostic criteria of a psychiatric disease will be included along with rationales why the main character fits the diagnosis of disease. Included is the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of coping mechanisms. Pharmacological with classification and non-pharmacological treatments will be included in addition to discussion of ethical and legal issues. This paper will include whether it would be an acceptable fit for patients or families with the same diagnosis. Lastly, will be an overall conclusion of the information provided in the paper.
"Robin Williams' Therapy Makes 'Will Hunting' Good." Review and Analysis: Good Will Hunting. N.p., Aug. 2008. Web. 16 Apr. 2014
Mental health and its disorders are an intricate part of the individual and society. Mental health incorporates our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Understanding human behavior and the social environment in conjunction with biological, social and cultural factors helps in diagnosing and treating individuals accurately. Film can be used to understand and visualize how mental disorders may affect one’s life. This paper examines the film “Primal Fear” and explores the character Aaron Stampler and his mental illness, reviews literature on the diagnosis given and critically analyzes the film’s portrayal of the disorder.
The purpose of this report is to analyse the personality of the character, Will Hunting from the film Good Will Hunting using the psychodynamic and humanistic theories of personality. The main characters discussed in this text and their relationship to Will can be seen in appendix 1.
The drive to conform to Willy 's ideals are present in Happy because he envies those in higher ranking than him and he feels he must do whatever it takes to surpass them. The need to surpass them, deals with Willy 's obsession about power. The more Happy advances, he will attain more power and eventually fulfill Willy 's goal of making a name for himself. "Happy 's need to be number one has another significance also, for he has never been the sole focus of his father 's attention, always a poor second to Biff" (Jacobson 253). With the amount of pressure Happy faces to meet expectations, he has to work even harder knowing that most of Willy 's attention is directed towards Biff. Since Biff was a promising football star, Willy focused on him primarily because he felt Biff has more to accomplish within life. Willy 's focus on Biff because of his football career symbolizes the monetary value Willy holds most important. Willy believes that Biff is far more important than Happy because his football career will lead Biff to a college scholarship and his college degree will bring high paying
As a result of observing this motion picture, I strongly feel that it expressed all of the factors involved within an abnormal psychological disorder. I myself have gained additional knowledge on just how complex is it and what an impact a mental illness can place onto ones life. It is a truly strenuous perceptual state.
Due to his being over shadowed by his elder brother Happy has grown up to be a stunted version of Willy's vision of the American Dream. Because of this it is difficult to identify with him; throughout the play he is presented as a one-dimensional character.