Assignment: Become an Abnormal Psychology Film Critic
Do you like watching movies? Have you ever wanted to be a film critic? Do you enjoy learning about psychological disorders and why people do what they do? Now is your chance to combine what you are learning in a creative way to share with others!
STEP 1: Choose a film that depicts a character suffering from a dissociative disorder or somatic symptom and related disorder. You can find a list of mental disorders in film on Wikipedia if you need ideas. Watch the film of your choosing and provide a short synopsis of what the film was about, how the character met criteria for their diagnosis, whether you believe the film accurately portrayed the character’s mental illness or not, and if you would recommend this film to others learning about psychological disorders. Explain your answers fully within 3-8 minutes.
STEP 2: Create a YouTube video reviewing the film based on the above criteria. You can choose to record yourself talking about the film, incorporate a slide show, use a voiceover, add visuals, etc. Programs like Animoto or Powtoon, Voicethread, or others may be used. Just make sure any images or audio you use are openly licensed with a Creative Commons license or similar license. You can search for openly licensed images on the Creative Commons website or on Google’s advanced search option. You can also watch a short video on finding open educational resources (OER) using Google’s advanced search option.
This assignment doesn’t require that you necessarily appear on camera in the YouTube video, but you must answer all of the questions for this assignment. You may use up to 30 seconds worth of clips from the film in your analysis, but that is not required. If you do that, you should include proper APA citations below the video. Share your YouTube video link to submit your work and cite any sources you used outside of the film in APA format with these guidelines from the OWL at Purdue. Have fun and be creative!
STEP 3: Share your video with your classmates by posting in the discussion forum. Commenting on other posts in encouraged, but not required.
Sample Abnormal Psychology Film Critic Rubric
| Criteria | Does Not Meet Expectations | Meets Expectations | Exceeds Expectations | Points |
| Short synopsis of what the film was about | A summary of the film’s plot was not provided, was incomplete or off-topic. | A satisfactory summary of the film’s plot was provided. | A summary of the film’s plot was provided in great detail and demonstrated understanding of key points in the story. | __/5 |
| How the character met criteria for their dissociative or somatic disorder | A description for how the character met criteria for their disorder was not provided, was incomplete, or inaccurate. | A satisfactory description for how the character met criteria for their disorder was provided. | A description for how the character met criteria for their disorder was provided in great detail and demonstrated understanding of the diagnosis. | __/6 |
| Film’s accuracy in portrayal of the character’s disorder | There was little or no review of whether the film portrayed the character’s disorder accurately or not. | There was a satisfactory review of whether the film portrayed the character’s disorder accurately or not. | There was a detailed review of whether the film portrayed the character’s disorder or not. Evidence of critical analysis and application is provided. | __/6 |
| Recommendation of the film to others | Little or no discussion of whether this film would be recommended to others learning about psychological disorders. | Satisfactory discussion of whether this film would be recommended to others learning about psychological disorders. | Detailed explanation of whether this film would be recommended to others learning about psychological disorders. Evidence of critical analysis and defense of rationale. | __/4 |
| YouTube video production & citations, as necessary in APA format | The video did not meet the required 5-10 minutes length and/or citations were not provided, as necessary. | The video met the required 5-10 minutes length and citations were provided, as necessary in APA format. | The video met the required 5-10 minutes length and citation were provided, as necessary in APA format. The production was creative and of high quality. | __/4 |
| Total score | __/25 |
