The Peak Experience In The Movie

Peak experience is a theory put forward by humanistic psychologist Maslow. He aims to study the ecstatic experience in our life, which he thinks is the best state of consciousness human being can ever achieve. The research object of this thesis is the peak experience from the perspective of film, including the peak experience of movie characters, the aesthetic psychology of the audience and some special ways to express this experience in film. Mainly through the humanistic psychology and psychoanalysis psychology, developmental psychology, aesthetics and other related theory, the author tries to provide some reference for the kind of film that want to express some meaning of life. In order to effectively discuss the characters’ peak experience in the film, the author studied the growth of the character from the vertical and horizontal aspects. In vertical aspect, life is divided into different stages, the core events of each stage were studied: coming of age, self-actualized, midlife crisis, plateau experience etc. In horizontal aspect, the author studied transpersonal and collective peak experience. Then, the author discussed the aesthetic psychology of the audience. The film can make the audience achieve the aesthetic peak experience by resonating. This experience can fulfill the self-actualized need of the audience and encourage them to actualize themselves. Then, the author discussed why is there so many inspiring film in the US. At last, the author studied some ways to express peak experience in film, such as song and dance, color, motion shot, and flashback, etc.