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The following is an example of the application of a few psychological

principles/concepts to the movie Afro Samurai: Revenge

Movie: Afro Samurai: Revenge

Summary

One psychological concept evident in this movie is motivation. Motivation

refers to the various physiological and psychological factors that cause us to act in a

specific way at a particular time (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2008). Motivation is said

to have three characteristics which include; being energized to do or engage in some

activity; directing energies toward reaching a specific goal, and having differing

intensities of feelings about reaching that goal (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian). These

characteristics play a critical part in Afros goal of seeking to obtain the title of the

number one headband. After the main antagonist Justice murders Afros fatherfor the

number one headband, Afro directs his energy toward hunting for the number twoheadband so that he can face Justice, defeat him, avenge his father and claim the

number one headband along with its title. He finds out that his teacher has the

number two headband in his possession and slays him, taking its title along with its

heavy burden. He is intrinsically motivated. Afros only aim is to move forward and

he is even more focused on achieving his main goal as he cuts down any mortal or

machine that dare to challenge him for the number two headband.

The second concept was from a cognitive perspective of Self-awareness. Self

awareness is traced to Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklunds (1972) landmarktheory

of self awareness. Duval and Wicklund proposed that, at a given moment, people can

focus attention on the self or on the external environment. Focusing on the selfenables self-evaluation. When self-focused, people compare the selfwith standards of

correctness that specify how the self ought to think, feel, and behave. The process of

comparing the self with standards allows people to change their behavior and to

experience pride and dissatisfaction with the self. Self awareness is thus a major

mechanism of self-control. This is evident in Afros attitude as he chooses his own

path, no friends, no joy and no love. His only focus is the number two headband. His

teacher helps to bring him to this state of self awareness as he teaches him to become

unpredictable and let his moves flow out from his individual essence.

The third concept observed from a cross cultural perspective was

multiculturalism, Bill Martin once wrote If multiculturalism, as a social and politicalagenda, is to be more than a banner under which diverse groups pursue their piece of

the pie, then it must indeed be a matter of a 'gathering,' one that aims to, through the

enactment of a radical diversity, bring together a radical confluence of possibilities for

all humankind. (Martin, 1998, pg 128). An example of this was shown in the film

where they integrated men of European and African descent into Japanese culture

with no racial or cultural bias towards them. As for the main characters, Justice

portrayed a white westerner and Afro portrayed a black African. They were both

known for their combat skills more than their racial and ethnic background which

didnt matter much to anyone. Even though they fought against each other the director

of the film made an ingenious move by portraying both characters the way he did. He

was able to highlight and portray that the different races, cultures and ethnicities wereall unified to achieve one goal. What was very interesting is every creed and race

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banded together to hunt and kill any person who possessed the number two headband

title.

The fourth and fifth concepts came from a psycho analytic approach. The evident

concepts were abjection and multiple personality disorder. Abjection is a state of

deep and sickening horror. The basic theoretical dynamic in multiple personality isthat the person deals with conflicting feelings and thoughts by repressing them and

compartmentalizing them so that certain kinds of feelings and thoughts are expressed

in one personality or state of consciousness, and other conflicting feelings and

thoughts are expressed in another personality, making it unnecessary to reconcile the

different thoughts and feelings. Afros first abjection was when he witnessed his

fathers death at the hands of Justice. This led him to form an imaginary partner called

Ninja Ninja. Ninja Ninja is a figment of Afro's imagination to cope with severe

psychiatric trauma from unbearable sights and actions of death. Being that Afro is a

heartless murderer, his mind may well have created Ninja Ninja to hold his other

emotions excluding anger and hatred. He often hangs with Afro as his self-appointed

"Road Dog". Afro generally doesn't speak to Ninja Ninja, and when he does it isusually one line, mostly telling him to shut up when he has gotten too annoying for

Afro's patience. Ninja Ninja is speculated to be a solid representation of Afro's

emotions, often commenting on an event before or after it happens with a running

commentary common with thought or strong emotion. The way he is brought into the

film supports this because after he has seen all his friends die, and his teacher by his

own hand, the shock was so immense that he showed no emotion, which then

manifested itself in this complete reversal of just about everything Afro is. Afro

continually attempts to silence this inner voice, generally during a long ramble, by

simply saying "Shut up.

Conclusion

References:

Duval, Shelley, and Robert A. Wicklund.A theory of objective self awareness. New

York: Academic Press, 1972. Print.

Beitner, Marvin . "Multiple personality information, Marvin S. Beitner Ph.D., Long

Beach, Fountain Valley, CA." Psychotherapy, marriage counseling, hypnotherapy,

Long Beach,Fountain Valley, CA. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2012..

Plotnik, Rod, Haig Kouyoumdjian, and Matthew Enos.Introduction to psychology:

study guide. 8th ed. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008. Print.

Martin, B (1998). Multiculturalism: Consumerist or Transformational? In Cynthia

Willett (Ed.), Theorizing Multiculturalism: A Guide to the Current Debate (pp 121-

150). Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishers, Inc.

"Ninja Ninja - Afro Samurai Wiki."Afro Samurai Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

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