Graduation Year

2015

Date of Submission

4-2015

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Ketan Mhatre

Reader 2

Dean Nicholas Warner

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2015 Adrian Sai Hay Lam

Abstract

Since the time humans have developed speech, storytelling has been a crucial part of society. Its values lie in the ability to communicate potential dangers about the world to generating laughter and tears as a form of entertainment. A central theme in stories that continues to reoccur over the course of history is the story of the hero. Carl Jung theorizes that the hero is an archetype in the collective unconscious, which explains humans’ innate inclinations towards heroes. Throughout history, the forms of storytelling have evolved due to technological and intellectual advancements. In modern times, film has risen as the leading modality for storytelling. The central theme of heroes continues to reoccur in this modality and is testified by the dominance of action hero movies in the box office. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that details how to craft a compelling action hero movie based on empirical psychological research. The paper defines a compelling action hero movie as a movie with an action hero protagonist that maximizes narrative transportation, persuasion and enjoyment. By dissecting the construction of the film into its plot, character/diction, theme, melody and spectacle, the paper develops the PCTMS-NTPE Model that maximizes narrative transportation, persuasion and enjoyment in each aforementioned components. The beneficiaries of this paper are filmmakers and individuals who want to understand the inner psychological mechanics of a compelling action hero movie.

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