Cultural diversity incorporates and appreciates the different groups’ interests, beliefs, and customs in societies. The appliance of diverse cultural beliefs, ideas, and customs in films and movies positively and negatively impacts society. Popa et al. (2021) discussed an article, “Linking Positive Psychology and Intercultural Competence by Movies: Evidence From Brunei and Romania,” which investigated the role of films in developing intercultural competence and increasing well-being and showed increased openness to multicultural setups among students and the impact of positive psychology. Another article, “Stereotypes in a Multilingual Film: A Case Study on Issues of Social Injustice,” by Eriss et al. (2023), identified cultural, gender, political, and religious stereotypes and how they affected minority groups. Films adversely impact people’s psychology through fictional representations of different cultural differences.
According to Popa et al. (2021), cultural diversity had a positive link between positive psychology, intercultural competence, and the influences of movies. By investigating the activation of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment, the study showed increased openness to different cultures. This positively impacted the psychological well-being of individuals who got to explore the diverse social constructs and the need to appreciate the differences. The article also suggests that “cinematic storytelling and characters are associated with positive psychology research” Popa et al. (2021). This means that through films, people think differently, appreciate different cultures, and accomplish long-term goals through association and knowledge-sharing.
Cultural diversity also positively impacts lives through exploring different aspects of life. Through cinematherapy, individuals enjoy the films while being engaged and empowered, leading to positive interventions. In addition, shared perceptions and experiences also go a long way in helping people understand, face, and confidently address different societal and life concerns when they arise. Developed “intercultural motivation, attitudes, knowledge, and awareness” can also help individuals face various concerns. Individuals engage with multi-faceted ideas and information that help boost their knowledge, understanding, and motivation of different cultures and facets of life. The analysis of character passages through denial, defense, minimization, acceptance, adaptation, and integration helps individuals reason and accept that they can adapt and live with diverse cultures peacefully.
On the other hand, a study by Eriss et al. (2023) studied how diversity creates “false and deviant stereotypes” and the damaging effects it had when looked at out of fiction. As opposed to the previous study, Popa et al. (2021), which showed the positive impacts of diverse representations through films, the authors suggested a different view on how diverse cultural representations impact psychology. The article proves this by stating, “Over time, exposure to these stereotypes through television causes individuals to perceive and internalize them despite their falsified nature” (Eriss et al., 2023, p. 174). Stereotypical evidence can be in the form of characters, language, or dialects in audiovisual films. The deviant stereotypes can be explained by investigating marginalizing minority groups through visual representations that render these communities helpless and stigmatized. This marginalization is due to power relations and ideological and political reasons.
By examining the relationship between mass media and social constructions of race, ethnicity, and gender in multilingual films, the article highlighted how portraying biased aspects of people or cultures negatively impacts “the receiver’s knowledge, attitudes, and expectations about other groups.” Despite multilingualism being a mirror for society, it adversely impacts society. It negatively impacts receivers’ expectations by instilling clichés, which, in turn, impacts the cognitive abilities of respondents. This challenges the study by Popa et al. (2021), which provided a direct relationship between movies and positive psychology in diverse cultural representations. The authors also pointed out how diverse audiovisual representations are manipulative, judgmental, and reinforcing.
To understand the psychological impacts of cultural diversity in films, Popa et al. (2021) and Eriss et al. (2023) carried out studies to address the underlying issue. On the one hand, Popa et al. (2021) discuss the positive psychological impacts of diverse representations like engagement, knowledge sharing, intercultural motivation, and adaptability, while Eriss et al. (2023) discuss how focusing on a specific cultural aspect negatively shapes the mentality and affect minority groups through the manipulative and judgmental nature. However, looking at the negative psychological impacts of diverse audiovisual representations is vital before looking at the obvious positive impacts. After critical evaluation, Eriss et al. (2023) provide a more compelling discussion of how cultural diversity impacts psychological constructs. This suggests that future researchers gain more knowledge and insights concerning the negative psychological impacts of multicultural representations in audiovisuals.
Works Cited
Eriss, Azadeh, and Masood Khoshsaligheh. “Stereotypes in a Multilingual Film: A Case Study on Issues of Social Injustice.” Languages 8.3 (2023): 174.
Popa, Daniela, et al. “Linking positive psychology and intercultural competence by movies: Evidence from Brunei and Romania.” Frontiers in Psychology 12 (2021): 750904.
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