End Of The Movie Frank example essay topic

1. Upon entering the bar for the first time, Frank displays many of the motivational theories listed in the book. Frank enters the bar in order to find a place for his homosexual preferences to be shown. Instinctual ly he prefers men to women and is driven into the dark alley and the bar by this biologically determined need.

We learn from his wife's reaction when the girls are having daiquiris that she and Frank are not having sex very often which according to the book is a basic need, so Frank according to the drive-reduction approach is driven to the bar to fulfil himself. This lack of sex that he is having at home also can lead to the application of the Arousal approach to motivation where Frank is trying to seek out sources of stimulation and activity because his home life doesn't provide any. Finally, cognitive approach to motivation implies that Frank was motivated to go to the bar in search of fulfilling a goal. In this case the motivation was intrinsic he only was interested in enjoying himself, he knew that nothing tangible could come from this, for it must be kept a secret. All of Frank's actions and motivations fit into the pyramid developed by Maslow. In order to attain a state of self-actualization Frank needed to develop all of the steps below.

He tried through work, his wife, and a large house to make himself believe he was fulfilled but with out the basic physiological need at the bottom of the pyramid he never would be truly happy. 3. Throughout the movie Cathy, wears her emotions on her face. Her facial expressions are at times a window into her mind, clearly showing how she is feeling and thinking; while at other instances they are clearly a facade to those of us who know the true situations. One of the first instances we see Cathy show emotion is when she notice a strange man in her backyard. As she goes onto the deck to confront the man, her face shows a mixture of fear and assertiveness.

She is afraid of the stranger and wants him gone. Once she find's out it is Mr. Deegan Sr.'s son her facial expressions change to embarrassment and guilt, she knows she judged the stranger more harshly based on the color of his skin. Later as the girls discuss their sex lives over drinks, Cathy's face shows that she is clearly uncomfortable in the situation and hopes not to have to reveal what goes on with her and Frank. Cathy however doesn't always show her true emotion, as depicted in the scenes in which she in confronted by a so-called social miscue. At the party in which Frank gets drunk and begins to make comments she laughs it off as if it is all just a joke. She pretends that because he is drunk she doesn't care, but she knows that there is truth in his drunken speech.

Perhaps because she pretends to not care, it makes her feel less badly about it, as the book suggests in the experiment done by Ekman. This also occurs it seems whenever anyone brings up Cathy's kind nature toward black people in general. Whether it be the magazine article in the beginning of the movie or when Eleanor confronts her at the end, Cathy always say's verbally and facially that the allegations are ludicrous. By the end of the movie, it is obvious that the allegations are far from ludicrous and Cathy has realized this as well. Through her staunch denials, she probably convinced herself even for some time that she had no feelings for Mr. Deegan. 4.

The scene that greatly portrays an act of conformity is the art show. When Cathy goes over to talk to Mr. Deegan, everyone in the gallery begins to notice and stare at her. It seems to begin with that lady and her uncle from New York. This illustrates the status variable in two ways.

First the people in the group seem to conform to the thinking of Mona, as she is a higher up member. Cathy who appears to be of the highest standing in the group second only to Eleanor maybe, doesn't care and continues on her conversation. Later during the dinner party, a conversation begins in which it is suggested that schools should not integrate, but if they do Connecticut will not have any problems because there are no black people living there. Cathy brushes these comments off and goes to refill her guests' drinks. We know however that she feels oppositely of what this man has just said, but due to the situation, she conforms for the time to his thoughts. Had she expressed her beliefs in a public setting like this she surely would have caused some controversy.

The art scene also illustrated another instance on conformity, based upon the interpretation of abstract art. Cathy, when asked how she likes the idea of modern art, responds that she doesn't know what elements in a painting cause her to like it; but that she knows what she likes when she sees it. This answer is a complete cop out; she really didn't give any insight into her character at all. Through the answer she was able to ensure, Mr. Deegan could interpret that whatever she said as on par with his own ideas. Furthermore, as a housewife she has had little to no exposure to such things so she is relatively unlearned in the area. Mr. Deegan went to business school and it can be assumed that while at school things like art were presented to him.

Frank's progression through the movie exemplifies the theory of group unanimity. In the beginning, he was sneaking into late night movies, and bars at the end of dark alleys. The group he traveled in at that time, the high society of Connecticut and the general population viewed gay relationships as wrong so he kept his in the dark. After going to the bar, he met people who shared his views and subsequently became a bit more open, bringing his lover to his office late at night.

By the end of the movie Frank had met more men, like the one in Miami, and seemed to have established a more structured relationship in which he was living with a man. At this point, Frank had fully found his "social supporter" and now was able to reduce the pressures of conformity enough that he was more open about his sexual preference. 5. When Cathy looks at the train she ultimately has two choices, attempt to join Mr. Deegan, or forget about it. In the end she chooses the later and lets him leave and start a new life without her. While she was making her decision she had two contradictory thoughts in her head, 1) I want to be together, and 2) our relationship is wrong; this lead to a state of cognitive dissonance.

Due to the choice she made it is obvious she did not deny that these cognition's were related, because if she had she would have gone with him. This means she most likely followed one of the three other paths. Without knowing for sure what happened any of them are possible. She may have added an additional cognition that he did not want to be with her, this seems unlikely because his actions showed to the contrary. She also may have modified the cognition, trying to make herself believe that she only somewhat wanted to be with Mr. Deegan.

This also seems unlikely, as she would be outwardly ignoring her feelings and lying to herself. This leads to her changing the importance. Perhaps she looked at it and decided that what other people thought would ultimately never change and their relationship would never happen. She also may have weighed her kids into the equation and decided that they had already been through enough. 6. The entire movie is based upon the prejudice attitudes found in Connecticut in the late 50's.

There are two main instances, the attitude towards black people and gay people, but a less obvious one is the attitude towards the roles of men and women in the society. Throughout the movie the stereotypes seem overdone by today's standards illustrating just how easy it would be to be come prejudice and discriminatory 50 years ago. When Mr. Deegan first appears in the back yard Cathy goes outside to investigate. Her facial expressions and attitude towards him as well as the reaction of the journalist and photographer set the tone for the movie by illustrating just how people viewed a young black man. Once Cathy found out he was Mr. Deegan Sr.'s son however, she ignored the stereotype and treated him as if he was white. Whenever a job was considered of lower class, housecleaning or valet it was a black person who was employed.

The other residence of the town's attitudes did not seem to change at all during the movie. At the art show Mr. Deegan was stared at, any time he was with Cathy, they were under the utmost scrutiny, and his daughter was attacked by a group of young white boys. These boys, too young to really have a reason of their own, were influenced by past generation's feelings towards black people. All of this contributed to the separation of school that the children attended and the unacceptability of an interracial marriage. Just as Frank was stereotyping black people, he was stereotyping himself. He lived a double life for a while trying to convince himself that being gay was wrong, it was a sickness.

Frank went so far as to go to a doctor to be cured. By the end of the movie, his attitude had changed because he opened his eyes and realized that the things that society had told him were incorrect and there was no reason to think being gay was wrong. Eleanor also made comments about men not quite being men. While she didn't know it, the comment she made must have influenced Cathy's opinion of her husbands situation and reinforced any stereotypical attitudes she may have had. For the length of the movie, we never see any women or men outside traditional roles. All of the men in the movie have authoritative positions, whether it be Frank as the executive in the firm or the restaurant owner.

The women however seem to be placed in lesser supportive rolls, homemaker, secretary, and waitress. In the case of the seemingly upper-class group that Cathy associated none of the women ever had jobs, their lives revolved around their family, setting up dinner parties and gossiping. This was an accurate portrayal of the way people thought in those days; it was supported by the way the women and men were treated at parties and the work place. When ever Frank went into his office, the secretary was sure to take his coat of for him, and if Frank wanted to speak to his wife get he on the phone. When at dinner-parties it was always the hostess's job to make sure glasses were filled and people were having a good time. The discrimination caused by these emotions weren't as obvious in the movie, but it can be assumed that Cathy never went to college because she was a woman in this period..