Film

Photo of a man in a green shirt holding a gun in a desert landscape with rocky cliffs under a blue sky.
Psyche Exclusive
STORIES AND LITERATURE

Why are we so drawn to characters that take us to moral extremes?

Video by Psyche

Photo of a businessman in a suit explaining with a Jenga tower, another man stands behind him, both in an office setting.
Psyche Exclusive
FILM

Our world’s complex issues can’t be solved by lone heroes. Our stories should reflect that

Video by Psyche

A film still of a woman, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games movie franchise, with a braid standing in a transparent elevator looking out with a thoughtful expression.
FILM

Hollywood’s fixation on the wrong stories won’t help our world

Today’s global problems are caused by broken systems, but the studios still feed us a diet of movies focused on individuals

by Namir Khaliq

A still from the film Miss Congeniality showing the actress Sandra Bullock in a tight-fitting lilac dress walking towards the camera, surrounded by people in pink uniforms.
FILM

From drab to fab – a playful dissection of the Hollywood makeover

Directed by Sue Ding

Black and white photo of five women joyfully driving an open car wearing hats surrounded by trees and hills.
FILM

Why was a laughing woman seen as lethal, not least to herself?

When early cinema weaponised the sight of women’s laughter, it borrowed from flawed psychiatric ideas about female hysteria

by Maggie Hennefeld

A rake with a wooden handle rakes through sand dunes, its trail mixing with shadows from a line of multicoloured flags.
MEANING AND THE GOOD LIFE

An artist captures the joys of solitude amid a month living in a beach shack

Directed by Lynne Sachs

A young couple in handcuffs lean against a 1950s police car beneath a brooding prairie sky
MIND AND BRAIN

What films and literature reveal about the voice in your head

Inner speech is mysterious and hard to study. But movie voiceovers and introspective novels offer fresh ways to understand it

by Shayla Love

Photo of a woman with curly hair comforting an injured woman in a crowd, whose nose is bleeding.
STORIES AND LITERATURE

Fiction has a special power to give us insight into our flaws

Losing yourself in a book, film or show provides a useful mirror for character – one that is hard to access in real life

by Martina Orlandi

Photo of a man with a serious expression sitting at a table holding a fork in a kitchen setting.
STORIES AND LITERATURE

What is it about film and TV antiheroes that’s so captivating?

They’re entertaining, of course – but research highlights a deeper psychological reason viewers are drawn to the bad guys

by Ana Gantman & Jordan Wylie

Illustration of a giant camera with a set inside, showing a person filming and another entering, with autumn leaves and street lamps outside.
SOCIOECONOMICS OF MENTAL HEALTH

The therapeutic power in learning to make a film together

A collaboration among workers in India showed the power of making and discussing films for sharing life’s inner challenges

by Varun Kurtkoti

A person stands on a staircase in dim light, looking at a phone. Sunlight streams through large windows, casting shadows on the walls and stairs.
PLACE

A filmmaker’s ode to the beloved Cairo building where he learned his art

Directed by Disha Hisham

Black and white photo of a man and woman sitting at a café table in conversation, looking thoughtfully to the side.
FILM

How to find great films to watch

Bored with Hollywood and Netflix? Becoming an adventurous and informed explorer of the cinema world is in everyone’s grasp

by Geoff Andrew

Black-and-white photo of a pensive woman in a herringbone coat and cloche hat, holding a handkerchief to her lips.
PERSONALITY

Dietrich showed how adopting a persona can reveal one’s true self

Kaloprosopia – the art of crafting a persona, as Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie did – can help us access a truer self

by Sam Mills

Scene from a film with three men indoors, one holding a computer mouse. A badge reads “I quit smoking.”
TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA

What the journey from Star Trek to Siri says about our culture

The talking computer in Star Trek takes the culture and technology of the present and dreams up future possibilities

by Liz W Faber

Abstract human head with anatomical elements and surreal landscapes blending together on a black background with geometric lines.
MUSIC

Science, emotion and electronica fuse to form propulsive digital art

Music by Max Cooper

Abstract painting with flowing black, white, and red colours, creating a dynamic, wave-like pattern resembling a fluid motion.
ARTISTS AND ART HISTORY

An artist’s serene moving paintings probe the surface of reality itself

Films by Susi Sie