BRYANT FUKUTOMI / BFUKUTOMI@STARBULLETIN.COM Hollywood treatment Dumped for the third time by the same beau, can't pay the bills, having a bad hair day -- escape seems the only solution, and it doesn't have to be as drastic as buying a one-way ticket to Borneo.
"Cinematherapy" suggests that
Movie prescriptions
watching the right movies can ease
the pains of a woman's heart and soulRuby Mata-Viti
ruby@starbulletin.comInstead, head to the nearest movie theater or video store. Better yet, grab the TV remote for a dose of "Cinematherapy" on the Women's Entertainment network. The show, a hit on the mainland for two years, and which marked a year on Oceanic Cable in September, may be just what it takes to soothe your psyche.
Inspired by authors Nancy Peske and Beverly West's "Cinematherapy: The Girls' Guide to Movies for Every Mood" (Dell, 1999 $12.99), the program takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to prescribing movies for what ails the heart and soul.
Viewers are greeted with "you go gurlfriend" animated hosts who tie features into life issues, making for a few hours of psychology-lite entertainment.
Although cinematherapy may sound like just a campy, fun word, it's in fact a legitimate tool used in the profession, evolving from bibliotherapy, a process by which clients were asked to read books and discuss relevant themes.
Evelyne Raposo, a psychologist and lecturer at Chaminade University, often recommends movies to her clients, and said cinematherapy is what everyone does instinctively. "We ask ourselves, 'Well, what do I feel like seeing tonight?'
"Watching movies is a projection and identification of ourselves. We say, 'Man, I can really relate to this.' It allows us to go through experiences from a disassociated view -- in our mind -- without actually having to go through them."
We're the girl getting the guy, the spouse rising above a partner's infidelity, the single parent struggling to make ends meet.
All of us have a movie production going on in our heads anyway, she said, and watching one can sometimes help us process intense feelings and emotions.
She often tells her clients to look for a specific message that she doesn't reveal until next session, when they discuss what he or she might have done in that situation.
Tomas Cummings of Argosy University, a private psychology school in Honolulu, said that simply watching a movie is not therapy in itself. "But if a movie moves you to a certain point that it gets you to look at something differently, consider alternatives you wouldn't have thought of, feel and experience emotions you normally stuff and hide, then it's therapeutic."
If it perpetuates a pattern of avoidance, addiction or isolation, then it only reinforces dysfunction, he added.
Well-made films showing the horrors of war can be therapeutic for society, said Cummings. Most depict it in a macho, bravado way, without showing loss and sadness. But "We Were Soldiers," starring Mel Gibson, "was a very good movie in that it lets you into the life of the soldiers, you've come to feel close to the characters, then they die. Society gets to see that war is not a football game."
Cummings doesn't discount the value of simply watching films to counteract a bad day. "You deserve to escape for a laugh or see beautiful scenery in movies. In that way it can be therapeutic."
The powerful psychological attraction to the big screen, said Raposo, is that it allows the mind to go on a journey out of reality.
Exactly what WE executives had in mind when they approached cousins Peske and West with the proposal for the program centered on themes in their book.
"We're really trying to tell women it's OK to take a couple of hours from meeting everyone elses' needs and just indulge, get in touch with your feelings," said West, during a conference call with Peske in New York.
"Eat a few thousand empty calories, use a little glitter nail polish and watch a movie that makes you feel good."
Peske and West, who describe themselves as movie buffs and identical cousins, conceptualized the book when West, going through divorce, found herself using movies as a way to learn to be by herself after 10 years of marriage.
If they could design a video store they would replace categories such as "action/ adventure" or "mystery/suspense" with "mother issues" or "pms blues" shelves.
"We realized that's how we reach out for movies, according to the mood we're in," she said.
The two evaluate each film on its messages about love and self-discovery.
"Erin Brochovich" for instance, relays empowerment yet has disturbing undercurrents. Women learn to bank on themselves no matter their history, said West. However, the woman who finally embraces herself is a sexualized beauty queen (Julia Roberts) who is at odds with other women. Lawyers who made the decision to become educated professionals are seen as "frigid, horned-rimmed bitches."
"What's up with that?" said West.
THE BOOK AND program have become popular with women, leading to a follow-up "Advanced Cinematherapy" currently on the shelves, and two sequels planned for 2003.
The only negative feedback received has been from men, they said. One called in during a radio interview saying their concept was ridiculous and reductionist.
"We basically told him, 'We're just really trying to encourage women to take time out, thinking about what matters to them and not caring what some man thinks about it.'" said West. "He wasn't phased by the slightest."
Most film critics are men, said Peske, often dismissive of what they term "chick flicks," saying, "Oh they are riddled with cliches."
"And of course there are tons of guy flicks with so many cliches in them. They just don't recognize them because they're guy cliches," Peske added.
" 'I'll be back,' " says West, laughing. "Or, 'Make my day.' "
"Chick flicks" get dismissed a little too easily, she said. "It's not the movie, it's your perspective on it that makes it a chick flick."
West, the daughter of a Freudian analyst, said she would never suggest movies as a substitute for legitimate psychotherapy. "But, it's an enhancement to one's own interior landscape."
"You oughta put that on a coffee mug," quips Peske.
"Cinematherapy for Lovers: The Girls Guide to Finding True Love One Movie at a Time," the third book in the series, will be released Valentine's day and they have just completed "Cinematherapy for the Soul."
"Cinematherapy for Lovers" encourages couples to watch certain movies to remember why they first got together, or if they're wrestling with the marriage, having problems with kids, to help spark conversation in a relaxed context of watching a film.
"The activity bonds men and women; it's so much a part of the dating and married-life experience," said Peske.
"You get married -- then what do you do? Stay home and watch videos," adds West.
As far as viewing movies as therapy, it can give the brain a break to escape thoughts, but can also help when you're dealing with difficult emotions and you just need to cry, said West.
"Maybe a person just needs to give into it or wallow in it," she said. "Music and movies are cathartic. You feel better afterward."
It really is about the little things you do for yourself everyday that add up to big things, she added.
So wherever you may be on the roller coaster of life, grab a package of potato chips, pour yourself a glass of champagne, pop in that DVD or tune into "Cinematherapy," and indulge.
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From "Cinematherapy: The Girl's Guide for Every Mood," by Nancy Peske and Beverly West Movie prescriptions
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Life's good when you're hanging out with good friends, doing facials, feasting on popcorn and drinking white wine.
>> "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" (1997)
>> "Soul Food" (1998)
>> "Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991)
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You don't need that insensitive clod incapable of genuine intimacy. If only you could be as self-involved.
>> "She-Devil" (1989)
>> "The War of the Roses" (1989)
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You're always there when they need you, but when you need them, they're busy cutting their toenails. Martyr yourself to the cause.
>> "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981)
>> "Household Saints" (1993)
>> "Romeo + Juliet" (1996)'Yeah, OK, So He's a Jerk, But He's Sooooo Cute!': Dysfunctional Romances
Treat yourself to the forbidden pleasures of codependent enmeshment with a bad boy without having to pick up the emotional check.
>> "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951)
>> "Sid and Nancy" (1986)
>> "Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights" (1992)
>> "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995)
>> "Legends of the Fall" (1994)Going Postal: Working Girl Blues Movies
Boss doesn't appreciate you? Try on someone else's career for a while.
>> "Nine to Five" (1980)
>> "Silkwood" (1983)
>> "Working Girl" (1988)
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