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A movie can influence an individuals way of thinking

201020724 Sun-wook, Na

Have you ever heard the famous phrase Carpe diem which is a shorten
version of the original Latin phrase Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero
meaning Seize the day in your life? We might hear this sentence when we watched
a special movie, Dead Poets Society that released in 1989 and gave many people a
huge lesson to help them live their life well. It is not too difficult to find people who
were inspired by this movie and phrase and we are convinced that it had influence
us in our way of thinking, point of views, goals of life and etc. According to BBC
news, some people became teachers after being inspired by the role of Mr. Keating
who allowed his students to experience their way into knowledge. (Townsend, BBC
news) As we noticed, the movie has a powerful effect on our mind and can change
our way of thinking in positive and negative ways and even to our society.
Films are produced on every topic of life, classic, action, suspense, thrill,
history, romance, mystery, biography, research-based, animals, and others. Some
topics of films have a positive influence to the audience. A romantic movie will give
us romantic influence. It may give us some tips on how to persuade and please our
partner or the person we love. It may give us a hint about doing sex or some
affectionate scenes that couples or even youngsters may emulate once they saw it.
(Yaun, 2nd paragraph) Also, a lot of movie directors shoot a film to disclose some
sensitive issues; these kind of movies contain political or health-care issues. Sicko,

which released in 2007 by American filmmaker Michael Moore, investigated a health


care system in America, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical
industry. It pointed out how the U.S. health care system is bad when it compares with
that of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. Its effect was so strong that
in 2010, Barack Obama decided to revise the law which is related to health-care
systems. (Defever, 2nd paragraph) Many people in America might appreciate for
Moores work because if there was no Sicko, a lot of American still could be suffered
by their unfair system.
Not like the romantic movies, there are a lot of films that can give us negative
influence. We may feel uncomfortable when we watch the scenes that contain some
violent contents such as killing or torturing people brutally. What is more important is
that we can imitate main characters behavior, not thinking carefully. A copycat crime
can be a good example of this. People normally consider the crime that was
conducted by movie characters in films an interesting work that they want to imitate.
By copying the crime scene in reality, they feel like being one of the movie
characters. In Colorado, there was a huge tragedy on July 20, 2012 that the orangehaired man James Eagen Holmes cried I am a joker! and shot against the
audiences in the movie theater. 12 people were killed and 70 people were injured by
his behavior. We know that the Christopher Nolans famous movie The Dark Knght
leaded a young man to copy the crime of Joker and it is the one of bad effects of
films. Also, some people insist that the movie scenes that portray some characters
smoking are related to adolescent smoking. Most teenager usually dont have any
information about smoking but , Due to the development of the movie industry, it
become much easier for youth to be exposed to tobacco. Teenagers usually

recognize that movie characters who are smoking convey the message that smoking
serves particular desires, such as wanting facilitate social interaction or reduce
negative feelings.(RAND health study) As a result, it increases adolescents
smoking rate and, According to World Health Organization (WHO), 37 percent of
American teenagers start their smoking after watching the specific movies that has a
specific scene so it has identified adolescent exposure to smoking in movies as a
significant global health concern.(Garwood 6 th paragraph)
As we can see, we can be affected by the movies in various ways; we can
get a lot of information while we are watching the movies and be interested in
political or health issues. We also can be influenced in negative ways like copying
the scenes of films indiscriminately. Because the movie can influence an individuals
way of thinking or attitude, we should be careful when we watch the movies.

Citation
(Townsend, Lucy. "The Real Teachers Inspired by Dead Poets Society." BBC News.
N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.)
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28756375
(Loranne Yaun, How Movies Affect Peoples Life Academia.edu - Share Research.
N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.)
https://www.academia.edu/1611473/How_Movies_Affect_Peoples_Lives
( KathleenDefever. "Insurance Movie Sicko Did It Cause
Obamacare?" MisInsured. N.p., 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.)
https://kathleendefever.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/insurance-movie-sicko-did-itcause-obamacare/
( Paul Garwood , "Films Showing Smoking Scenes Should Be Rated to Protect
Children from Tobacco Addiction." World Health Organization. World Health
Organization, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/protect-children-fromtobacco/en/
( RAND health study , "How Do Movie Characters' Motives for Smoking Affect
Adolescents?" How Do Movie Characters' Motives for Smoking Affect Adolescents? |
RAND. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2016)
http://www.rand.org/health/feature/movie-smoking-motives.html

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