Psychopath Games - Reviews

The virtual world is seething with emotions: after all, the long-awaited seventh season of the immediately cult series "Game of Thrones" has begun. Psychologists love to watch TV series too. But even more they love to watch the onlookers.

Several fun features ofA Song of Ice and Fire

Characters are patients too

First, all viewers immediately become experts in psychology when watching the series. And they easily diagnose the main characters. This is understandable: the most charismatic heroes are too defiantly unhealthy.

And yet the question arises: why did it not occur to anyone before to diagnose the creatures of Tolkien, Lewis or Pratchett, and then there is such a stir? Perhaps this is due to the bright, voluminous images (and then honor and praise to the author). Or maybe this series is just a kind of personality test …

Favorite hero is the mirror of the soul

Indeed, sometimes it seems that as soon as someone declares his beloved hero - and it immediately becomes clear which character traits this person most values in himself, what he wants to strive for.

Well, for example, the young lady chooses Daenerys Stormborn as her favorite - it means that she strives for independence, but at the same time it is very important for her to be always in the spotlight; she is close to the image of a brave maximalist, but without strong support behind her wings, she cannot spread her wings.

He considers someone his favorite character Peter Dinklage - which means that a person is creative, with great potential, but deeply vulnerable, with low self-esteem, introvert, prone to excessive reflection. Etc.

Of course, all this has a very distant relationship to scientific and even practical psychology. Rather, it is an easy psychological game, not binding, but entertaining in parallel with the plot of the saga.

Meanwhile, among the relative novelties of the serial market there are projects that are really interesting for "professional patients", that is, people who are deeply interested in psychology and try to live consciously.

Rating of the best TV seriesaccording to the editorial board of the magazine "Our Psychology"

1. Black mirror

Technology is dramatically changing our world, and therefore our perceptions, our emotions and our behavior. Each episode of the British project is a separate film dedicated to a narrow topic.

You never know what you will be asked to “discuss” at the moment of watching: how, due to the low number of likes on social networks, you completely lose your own life and end up behind bars? Or is it possible to replace a deceased partner with an android with digital memory and speech of the deceased to cope with the pain of loss? Is it permissible to punish criminals by plunging them into a state of endless existential fear of death and inescapable suffering? Etc.

Be prepared for the impact of the series to be much more tangible than the "games of psychopaths" from the country with Walkers and dragons, although the reality of "Black Mirror" is also fictional.

2. Big Little Lies

A social drama full of various psychological deviations. The small town has a well-established community. Various vicissitudes arise between the mothers of first-graders, but external confrontations are nothing in comparison with the secrets that ladies keep behind the doors of their own homes.

The series very accurately conveys the problems of codependent relationships, the trauma of abused people, the pressure of modern society on working mothers, the inability to build relationships with ex-spouses, and much more. And this was done with a certain meticulousness, as close as possible to life, but not without invention. That is not boring.

3. The Leftovers

Imagine that one day half of the world's population simply disappears. Now your loved ones played badminton with you - and now the shuttlecock falls on an empty place where a living person just stood. Here you slept in an embrace with your loved ones, and now your hand embraces emptiness.

The series is dedicated to the theme of experiencing a mystical loss. How to deal with pain? How to manage the chaos that has arisen out of fear of unknown society? What mental consequences (from religious ecstasy to madness) can arise? And is it possible to build new relationships in these realities? There are no answers, but there are paths of very dissimilar heroes and their versions.

4. Bates Motel

Multiple personality narratives are not new to American cinema. Moreover, this series is a prequel to the story shot by Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho, and previously recorded by Robert Bloch in the novel of the same name. It is noteworthy that the plot is based on real events, although, of course, the characters of Norman Bates and his mother are heavily reworked and are far from the prototype (Ed Gin and his parent).

The series only tells about the history of the disease in a little more detail and in detail. About how Norman first decides that he is his own mother. And how after her death she cannot give up this illusion. The masterful work of young Freddie Highmore adds to the excitement on the screen.

5. Westworld

An amusement park for wealthy people is a grandiose project designed to satisfy absolutely any whim of its visitors. Do you want to kill? You are welcome! After all, the world is inhabited by androids. Of the people here - only guests. Want to save the world? It will be more difficult, but also quite realistic. Or just milk the cows on your "own farm" in the "real" Wild West.

The main conflict arises when one of the park's developers decides to take an artificial intelligence test. And soulless, according to guests, androids come to life in the truest sense of the word.

The main problematic of the series is connected with reflections on what thinking, cognitive abilities are, how they arise, what determines what our intelligence is, our feelings, who can be considered a Human with a capital letter, and to whom this right is given by nature, but it does not justify high rank.