Friday, June 24, 2005


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Tuesday, June 07, 2005

So what is eating Gilbert Grape?


Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape

After viewing Lasse Hallstrom's What's Eating Gilbert Grape(1994), discuss whether these characters have personality traits, personality disorders, or troubled personalities.

Questions to consider:

-What troubled personalities might these characters embody? (Chapter 8 of Psychology text)
-What personality traits/disorders (this distinction is worthy as well) do the characters exhibit? (Psychology Today article)
-What are the roots of these traits/disorders?
-Are any of these characters struggling with the "Developmental Tasks of Adolescence" that relate to self or others? (Psychology text pgs. 150-157)
-What defense mechanisms, as defined by Freud, do the characters in the film exhibit? (Psychology text pgs. 187-191)
-How might Freud approach psychotherapy with one of these characters? (Psychology text pgs. 194-196) How might a behaviorist approach the same character differently? (Psychology text pgs. 204-207)

Minimum 2 posts (more encouraged!).
Agree, disagree, expand, explore, question, digress-YOU control the direction of the discussion.
Avoid repetition. If you agree, say so and move on.
Soft cap-150 words.
Mandatory use of acquired knowledge-no armchair psychology-use what you've learned.