Movie Analysis: Easy a

2725 Words11 Pages
Social Psychology Final Paper Daniel Lear Easy A December 3, 2012 The film Easy A explains the life of a high school girl who got herself into a lot of trouble by trying to fit in with the status quo. A teenager named Olive (played by Emma Stone) tells a simple white lie and goes from an unnoticed normal girl to the town “slut” who is suddenly the talk of the school. The purpose of this paper is to explain the social psychology themes that are present throughout the film such as, the Social Comparison Theory, self-presentation and impression management, stereotypes, and self-concept. I will go into great detail and show specific examples of how each theme is tied into the film and how they relate to our everyday lives. I will also try and find the overarching theme of self in this film and explain why it is so important to be true to your values of self. In class, we learned about the Social Comparison Theory, which was made popular by Leon Festinger. I researched this topic in my American School’s database to find a peer reviewed academic source and found some very interesting and relatable information to the film Easy A. I found that according to the similarity hypothesis, “individuals tend to make comparisons with similar, rather than dissimilar, people because similar people offer more adequate and relevant comparative information.” [ (O'Fallon & Butterfield, 2012) ] I read in another article that went into further detail about this theory. This article says, “The central premise of Festinger’s social comparison theory is that people have a natural desire or tendency to evaluate themselves and comparisons with similar others can provide relevant information. People make comparison with others regarding many aspects of the self, including appearance, weight, and eating habits.” [ (Lindner, Tantleff-Dunn, & Jentsch, 2012)
Open Document