The Hurt Locker By Kathryn Bigelow

I’m going to use Kathryn Bigelow’s 2008 film, “The Hurt Locker,” for my final project. The film is about an Iraq War Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who are being targeted by insurgents through use of booby traps, remote control detonations, and ambushes. The Hurt Locker shows soldiers' varying psychological reactions to the stress of combat, which though intolerable to some, is addictive to others. I’m not a soldier and have never fired a weapon on the battle field, but I am a war survivor. I came here to the U.S. from Liberia, having fled from a civil war that lasted over thirteen years. A war that destroyed the country, left many of us homeless, took our freedom, and left a painful scar in the heart of the people that experienced it. Even
My family was jumping over dead bodies and running away from bullets looking for a safe place for us to hide. Countless people watched as their loved ones were chopped down in front of them, and felt the grip of helplessness as we had no power to save them. People who had come from different areas to trade and were not local were killed because they spoke different languages. I fully understand these characters in The Hurt Locker and what they are going through, I really do. I will explain how I feel this movie supports the information that was presented in the text on Social Judgment Theory, and how the effects that we process can be chosen to be to accepted or rejected. I hope those who have never had the chance to see this movie do so because it’s a good movie that shows different views of characters based on their perceptions of
There are some characters in the movie that are able and fit to handle the different hardships of the turmoil, while others struggle dearly. After watching this movie, I couldn’t think of any theories in the book that fit best quite as well as Social Judgment Theory. For those that may not be aware of what Social Judge Theory is, let me give you the definition and some examples before going further with my comparison with The Hurt Locker. “Social Judgment theory states that when you are presented with a statement or message, you accept it or reject it based on your cognitive map. You will accept or reject a message based on your own ego-involvement, and takes into account whether of not the message falls within the latitude of acceptance.” The explanation of this theory is that an audience (one or multiple people) are presented with an argument, and left to accept or reject it. There are people in the world, including myself, who are harder to persuade than others. Social Judgment Theory teaches the essence of opinions and perceptions of others, and how they view something in order to make