How To Write An Essay About The Movie The Experiment

In the movie called “The Experiment”, a group of men are called to participate in a study wherein they take on the roles of prisoners and guards. The two most notable participants are the characters played by Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker. They are assigned to prisoner and guard, respectively. Over the course of the time they spend together, many things happen between the men. The most notable thing observed in the movie is the aggression between the prisoners and guards. Violent incidents occur such as rape scenes, beatings and even the death of two participants in the experiment. In the end, the prisoners rebel against the guards and the experiment finally comes to an end. Charges are made against the propagator of the experiment – Dr. Archuleta. The participants agree to testify in court as a result of all the damages they suffered.
The scene that struck me the most was the part when things began to get out of hand.
Forest Whitaker’s character, at the start of the movie, was a calm and gentle man. It disturbed me to see him really change during the experiment – partly because it scared me to think that good people could be like that. It made me think that human nature , and rights and wrongs, could be subjective for some people. All the scenes wherein his character acted violently and rashly affected me. It also made me think that since his character was submissive at the start (especially to his mother), he liked being in charge in the experiment. He liked power. It gave me the idea that power is really something that changes people. What makes us different from animals is that we have morality. However, I did not even get a glimpse of this during the movie. When I was watching the movie, it made me remember the saying “survival of the fittest”. It was just very hard to
watch. The learnings from social psychology that could be applied in this film are on behavior and attitudes, impression management , cognitive dissonance and most importantly, the significance roles play in our society. In the film, almost all the participants experienced cognitive dissonance because even if they were uneasy with the things they were doing, they continued to make excuses for themselves. A clear example of this is when one of the guards decided to make an old man do pushups. He rationalized that it was okay because it was a form of "payback". Although he thought this, it was still wrong. Impression management was seen throughout the whole film because in general, they wanted to be perceived as "tough" men. They wanted to let themselves be perceived by the rest in a favorable manner, even if it meant adjusting how they really felt about certain things. This was prevalent in both the guards and prisoners, but more on the guards. An example of this was bullying. The men believed that bullying was a way to be accepted by the rest. The importance of roles was emphasized throughout the experiment. It was frightening to see how quickly people could adapt and adjust to given roles. It was almost like they actually believed it. As individuals, we are well aware that social roles are placed on us, and we feel we must act on them. Expectations are made. In the prison experiment, there were no exceptions. With each social role we are given, our behavior changes to fit what is expected of us. Although I think the experiment was a breakthrough in terms of learning more about the psychological nature of humans, I do not think it was at all ethically appropriate. To begin with, the ethical guideline of respect for people’s rights and dignity was not followed. In the experiment, harm was done unto the participants, and as psychology majors, we know that sometimes the harm done is irreversible. It is not uncommon that people suffer from post traumatic stress disorder from terrifying situations, and I am quite sure that those involved in the experiment find this hard to forget, if they will at all. As a viewer, it was hard for me to watch the so called “prison culture”. It brought me back to reality as I realized that somewhere in prisons out there, these things do happen. It is disturbing to note that nothing can really be done to stop this, as people act of their own will and do things as they see fit.