Cast Away-Storm Scene

The scene we watched in Cast Away, like many of the scenes throughout the movie, had no words or social interaction at all. However, there was definitely still psychology intertwined in it! I was able to tie in my expertise area of motivation into this scene, especially when focusing on the aspect of needs.
Once the storm started to get intense, Tom Hanks’ character felt the need to protect himself, and this activated a behavior—one of the main ingredients in motivation. He protected himself by finding shelter from the storm and the rain. He met his safety need, as well as the physiological need for sleep—it was obvious that he was very fatigued at that point.
There are numerous categories/sources of motivational needs, and his behavior can be linked to many of them. One of the sources is behavioral/external. This is when one works to obtain a desired, pleasant consequence or escape/avoid an undesired and unpleasant consequence. He avoided the unpleasant consequence of the rain by seeking shelter from the storm. Another motivational source is biological. The motivation behind this is to activate senses, maintain homeostasis, and decrease hunger, thirst, discomfort, etc. Again, the character decreased discomfort by seeking shelter and proceeding to fall asleep. The cognitive source of motivation looks at how we maintain attention to something, develop meaning, solve problems, figure things out, and eliminate threats or risks. He solves the problem of getting wet and possibly injured by the storm by seeking out a cave to protect himself. Finally, the conative source of motivation looks at taking control of one’s life, developing self-efficacy, reducing others’ control of one’ life, etc. He attempted to take control of his life by “out-smarting” the storm in the sense that he was not going to let it win—he didn’t want the storm, and the island, to control his life—he wanted to obtain his personal dream of survival.
Motivation is important, and necessary, for survival. It is directly linked to needs, which were depicted throughout this scene. His physiological needs were partly met, as were his safety needs. Now he needs to work on the belonging needs, considering he has no social interaction with any other human!

I felt this scene was a pretty good example of the “fight or flight” response in humans. The storm acts as a stressor, and Hanks needs to seek shelter fast before the storm gets any worse. The hypothalamus coordinates the flight or fight response by stimulating two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The sympathetic system is part of the autonomic nervous system, meaning it controls involuntary body processes. For the sympathetic nervous system, the hypothalamus sends signals that tell the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine into the blood. These hormones have many effects on the body, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, perspiration, blood flow to muscles, mental activity and muscular strength. For the adrenal-cortical system, the hypothalamus also sends corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) to the pituitary gland. This signals the pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the blood. The ACTH then binds to the adrenal cortex, which causes the release of some MORE hormones called corticosteroids. These hormones increase energy (increases blood glucose levels) to prepare for action and decrease tissue inflammation in case of injury.

Because this response leads to increased muscle strength and energy, it is possible for one to due more physically difficult activities during the fight or flight response. I can’t remember all that happened in the scene, but this response could have helped Hanks’s character to drag that covering to the cave and to climb into the cave more quickly and efficiently than if there wasn’t a storm and he hadn’t felt stressed to find shelter.

I thought this scene had a lot of psychological things going on. First of all, the most obvious thing was Tom Hank’s struggle for survival. Before the storm finding shelter was difficult enough. He’s stranded on this random island and has no idea where he’s at or how to survive. In addition, he has little to no food and no companionship to help get him through. When the storm comes, things get even worse, and he’s in a quick, intense battle to find somewhere to help him weather the storm, literally. He is trying to fulfill the basic needs of survival, and his conditions are making it very difficult on him. If the storm wasn’t as intense or dramatic as it was depicted, the struggle for shelter would not have been as eminent and may not have shone through as an important aspect of the scene. But, because of the loud thunder and cracking lightning, our brain realizes the danger of the experience because we’ve been there and experienced that fear at some point in our lives.
An even more interesting aspect of the scene was the flashlight. I haven’t seen this movie in a while, so I can’t remember the relative importance of it earlier in the film and later on. However, in this scene I thought it was a great metaphor for the character’s resolve. Throughout the scene, he has the flashlight as sort of a comfort item, as it directs him into the cave and through his surroundings during the storm. When he gets into the cave, he uses the light to check things out and see where he’s at. The dark atmosphere at this point also plays on our sensation and perception too, as it allows the viewer to tap into the character’s feeling of doubt and unknowingness. The most dramatic point of the scene comes when he lays down next to the pool of water with the flashlight shining on him. At this point, the viewer feels as if this whole situation may be too much for him and he is losing his determination and resolve. Then, the flashlight burns out, which further drives home this point of losing resolve and determination to the end.
The loneliness in this scene was also depicted very well. When the flashlight burns out, we’re left with just a dark cave, which is probably what the character feels as well inside. Having nobody to talk to for days on end can really play on someone’s mind, and I’m sure it’s no different in this situation. The complete darkness of the scene really plays on our perceptions again and lets out brain equate it to the character’s feelings of loneliness. Hanks doesn’t regain companionship from anything until the arrival of Wilson, which proves to be the turning point in the story (if I remember correctly) and shows how important companionship is in our lives.

Disclaimer: I have never seen this movie before so I may misinterpret stuff! I kind of cheated on this movie and analyzed the opening portion when his face is hidden behind clouds or fog. It seemed as though his identity was hidden from him, or as though he was having difficulty finding himself. I was also very intrigued by the fact that the scene was wordless. I wondered if the wordlessness of the scene was intended to prompt viewers to pay attention to the sounds of nature and what was happening during the scene.

I noticed the intense storm that was going on during the scene and wondered if it was supposed to help viewers draw a parallel between the intensity of the storm and an intensity of a storm that was going on in the character’s mind. I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know if he is dealing with a “mental storm” or not. I thought perhaps the persistent darkness in the scene was intended to hide the cause of the storm and indicate that there was a darkness in his mind that hid the cause of his mental problems. Also, there was a lot of visual and auditory information in this scene that affected viewers’ sensation and perception. Sensation and perception aren’t my expert area, so I really haven’t spent a lot of time studying that portion of the textbook yet. I had a hard time analyzing this scene because my expert area is social psychology and this scene only involves one character and doesn’t focus on any social interactions.

In this scene, Tom Hanks’ character is under a tremendous amount of stress. When he is standing on the beach looking around and taking in the situation (storm, night, loneliness, and few resources), we can see that he is appraising the stress he is facing. He is evaluating the situation and deciding whether or not he is able to meet the demands of the situation. I would argue that he views the stress as a threat, meaning that the situation is dangerous and he may be in harm’s way. This threat appraisal then extracts the emotions of fear, anger, and anxiety, which cause more stress. Also, since he is all alone on the island, the effects of his stress are exaggerated, and his emotions of fear and anxiety are more intense (according to this article: http://everydaypsychology.com/2006/11/can-loneliness-affect-your-health.html).

These feelings of fear and anxiety lead to the alarm stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), which is triggered by the continuing fight-flight response (which Hanks is experiencing because of all the stressors in his situation). GAS can often lead to the development of psychosomatic symptoms (real pains, like headaches and stomachaches, caused by psychological factors) if all three stages are reached. During this first phase, the alarm stage, the fight-flight response triggers physiological arousal in response to the stress. Hanks’ character during this stage would be experiencing an increase in his heart and respiration rates, in addition to the other physiological responses that Adrienne described above. The second stage of GAS is the resistance stage, during which the physiological arousal decreases, but the body (still in fight-flight mode) still uses up a lot of energy, which can lead to those psychosomatic symptoms earlier mentioned. Hanks’ character may have reached this stage in this scene when he is finally in the cave, sheltered from the storm. His doesn’t seem to be breathing heavily, meaning his respiration would be back to normal, but he is still probably experiencing stress from the situation and the storm. The third phase of GAS, the exhaustion stage, is not reached in this scene.

This scene demonstrates the concept of independence. I am guessing that the character in the movie came from an individualistic culture, however, I have never seen this movie before so it is completely a guess. Because he is all on his own, he is forced to make decisions, solve problems, and get by all on his own. Living in an indivualistic society may have helped him prepare for the situation that he was in in the clip. No one else was around to help, so he was forced to be creative and find ways to help himself out. He accomplished this by searching for and finding shelter, drinking some rain water that had accumulated in a puddle in the cave he was in, and by resting.

I'm not sure if the character did come from an individualistic society or not, but I think it is interesting to ponder whether the culture that a person came from (individualist/collectivist) might play a role in that specific situation. In collectivist societies, people are encouraged to be interdependent, cooperative, and group-oriented in contrast to individualist socieities which value independence, self-reliance, and self-oriented.

A person living in an individualist culture may be more apt at making decisions and coming up with ideas that will improve survival. On the other hand, a person living in a collectivist society may be used to other people makind decisions, and thus have more trouble deciding what to do. I think that this scene shows the value of independence. This shows that culture might play a role in the ability to quickly and actively make decisions in a survival situation.

I agree with everyone so far about the basic needs for survival and fight or flight responses. But something I found really interesting in the scene was the effect that the scene had on me physiologically. The rain and storm made me cold, and the sound effects like the wind and thunder made me remember what it feels like to be caught outside in a storm. I felt freezing and cold and tired watching him drag the raft onto the beach. I find it crazy that simply watching this little tv screen can do that to the audience. It's so interesting because I was only receiving stimulation for my eyes and ears, but I could feel the rain and wind too (even though I was completely dry and in a room with no wind). According to my text (and Gestalt psychologists), I took those sensations and organized them into a gestalt- meaning the "whole." I wasn't just seeing all of these wavelengths of light and hearing different frequencies- I was organizing that all into a known previous experience- a thunderstorm. Movies would be really boring if we couldn't organize sensations like this. We'd essentially be staring at a screen showing us colors/shapes/lines and hearing different frequencies of sound waves.

Again, similarly to others’ points about stress, I do believe Tom Hanks’ character is experiencing lots of stress in this scene, and in the rest of the movie. I think earlier in this class we talked about the two types of stress- eustress (positive stress) and distress (negative stress). As I try to think about it, I am not entirely sure which one Hanks is experiencing in this scene. I would say that perhaps he is experiencing both types. The eustress that he is partaking in is causing him, like in this scene, to do something positive with himself- namely, to find shelter during the storm. However, he also looks like he is in distress during this scene, trying to fend for himself on an island that has no basic resources that he is used to from modern America. This distress is evidenced by how he is just exhausted and then falls asleep at the end of the scene, forgetting that he is leaving his one and only flashlight on.

Secondly, there was no interpersonal interaction in this scene, because Hanks is the only person on the island. I thought earlier comments on this blog were interesting about how individualistic vs. collectivistic individuals would have acted in this scene. Hanks did come from an individualistic society, and thus was more prone to have creative and original ideas and was able to make quick decisions.

However, it’s interesting to think that people from a tribal society would have no problem in this sort of situation. They would be right at home on an island with no modern conveniences. Western societies can sometimes look at tribal societies as being primitive in their ways, which is true by definition. But, in a situation like this, the “primitive” skills that they have would come in quite handy. Hanks looks a bit primitive trying to survive by himself on this island.

The scene in Castaway is a good example of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow’s theory, needs lower in the pyramid must be met needs that are higher up on the pyramid. In other words, lower level needs are considered more essential to life, whereas needs near the top are less basic, and an individual could live with fulfilling them and not have it seriously impair their quality of life. Maslow’s hierarchy has 7 levels, stacked on top of one another like a pyramid. They are, in order of most basic/essential (bottom) to least essential: Physical needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs, cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, and self-actualization.

Having been stranded on a desert island, Tom Hanks is struggling to simply survive. He must focus on fulfilling his most basic needs food and water, which fall in the bottom level of physiological needs, then if these are fulfilled, he can move on to the safety level which includes the need for shelter and protection. In the scene that we watched, Hanks’ character is trying to find shelter from the storm outside. This would suggest that he has enough food, water, and air to satisfy the physiological level of Maslow’s hierarchy, and is moving on to the level of safety. It is unlikely however, that he will move beyond the level of safety needs. The next level in the pyramid is that of belongingness which, as the name would suggest, implies a sense of belonging and love. Other people would be needed to meet this particular need which is not feasible at this particular point in the movie.

We can all agree that Tom Hanks' character in this movie is exceptionally intelligent and creative, which ties in perfectly with Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence. This theory (which I mentioned in brief earlier in class) has 3 areas of intelligence: Componential, Experiential, and Contextual. Componential intelligence mostly composes metacognition (thinking about thinking) and problem solving skills. Experiential intelligence mainly concerns creativity and transferring skills from one situation to another. The final area, Contextual, is basically taking your intelligence and using it in the appropriate contexts.

As we can see, all of these aspects of intelligence are evident in Tom Hanks' character. For instance, using his componential intelligence, Tom is able to recognize the problem of the ensuing storm and take actions to 'solve' the problem by finding a cave and climbing into it. Using his experiential intelligence, Tom learns quickly what to do when a storm comes and though we can't see this from the clip we watched, we can infer that he will visit this cave again during the next storm. Finally using his contextual intelligence, Tom is able to adapt his behavior from his normal lifestyle in the 'civilized' world to a new behavior that is suitable for his environment on the island.

Nothing from his previous schooling taught Tom how to behave on an island by himself. He probably never took classes on survival and we have no evidence that he took notes from a Discovery Channel series, but we can see that when his environment changes, he is able to transfer his intelligence and skills to fit this new situation.

I think the most important part of this scene is the light. I think we all take for granted the way in which our vision works, but the fact of the matter is that it's completely a matter of light.

What we see in the everyday world is based on different wavelengths of light. We don't just see as humans because we have the capability to see, our eyes are merely "filters" that channel different levels of light (via the pupil, lens, and retina - a few of the real key players), and that is how we are able to perceive our world. It somehow takes the power away from us, I think, that we don't just always see because we have eyes, we depend on the light to "illuminate" our world.

I think it's the reason that so many people are afraid of the dark - we're unable to perceive our world. In this day and age, we don't really worry about it because (barring the annual ice storm) we have electricity, so we never really go without light. And for most of us, even when we turn out the lights to go to bed, we have a streetlight shining in or a roommate's light... some kind of light coming in. That's part of the reason that it's so unsettling when there's very little light on the island. What there is is the erratic flashes of thunder, and a small-beam flashlight. I think the flashlight demonstrates how strongly we rely on light to provide comfort.

I also think it is interesting to look at the light culturally by way of colloquialisms. There are MANY, here are a few:

Everything looks better by the light of day
Light at the end of the tunnel
The light of my life
A light in the darkness
Let there be light
The light of the world

Anyway, we have all of these positive associations with light that make their way into our daily vocabulary. This affects Tom Hanks on the island less, but is very important to us while watching the scene. It's the same "memory web" that I discussed in my last blog - we make these associations that can have a serious affect on how we feel watching the scene.

Without light we cannot perceive, which is uncomfortable to us "in the light" of modern technology. And we have so many positive associations with light that we can feel a sort of "negativity" without it.

Similar to Lauren L., I also thought this scene was a good illustration of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. When stranded on a desert island with no civilization around, you drop down to the bottom level of the hierarchy to even survive on the island for a period of time, hoping for a rescue. The bottom needs are physiological needs, which are for food and water. While I don't know if this character has food or not, nothing appears in the scene. Though since he is doing physical labor in the beginning of the scene, he needs energy to do the work, therefore food. So at some point he must have had some food. Thirst can be satisfied by the rainwater coming down with the storm for somethiing to drink. The next need is for safety and security, and with a strong storm hitting the island the character has a very compelling need in this scene to find a secure and safe place. It seems like at first he was going to attempt to use the raft as a shelter, but, it was not hefty or stable enough to provide adequate protection so the character sought out the cave. The cave protects him from being pelted with rain and from the lightning so it is safe. Constantly keeping his flashlight on seemed like his way of feeling secure in the dark cave. The next need is of belongingness and love, and unless there is another companion somewhere on the island this will not happen immediately. Constantly trying to reach out to any sort of rescue will not only satisfy the bottom needs to bring him food, water, and a safe place to go, but will help satisfy need for companionship because of the rescuer. But, until this happens, this character is stuck being lonely and with this need unsatisfied. Until rescue he will not move up into the highest needs of self esteem and self actualization.

This scene from Cast Away was interesting because there was absolutely no dialogue to base anything off of, and while I recognize that this particular moment in the movie dealt a lot with basic human needs (shelter, sleep, etc.), I was intrigued by the flashlight because I thought it had multiple functions in the scene. On one level, he seemed to need to keep the flashlight lit when he was sleeping in the cave. It was a scary, stormy situation and it was interesting to see a grown man need a “nightlight.” The mere presence of that light provided a sense of comfort and security, which allowed him to sleep.
The entire scene was dark, with no music at all, and only the natural effects of a storm to provide lighting and sound, which had an exceptionally realistic and despairing effect. We could see just as much as he could see (not much) and it was overwhelming to become a part of the scene like that. However, the flashlight was the only unnatural device included. It provided a bit of lighting on his face and body in between flashes of lightning, and was the focal point for the close of the scene. Although it wasn’t an optical illusion because my eyes weren’t being used to somehow trick me, I was undoubtedly unable to remove my eyes from that focal point, and I think this was a deliberate artistic and thoughtful decision made by the movie makers. When the flashlight finally burned out, it seemed to symbolize an isolated, hopeless moment.

This is actually the first movie we watched a clip of that I've actually seen before. I guess I didn't have to try at all to separate out the scene from the rest of the movie on any of the other ones but I will for this one.

This scene is about basic instinct. Instinct is an innate, biological patter of behavior that is assumed to be universal in a species. Humans have a basic instinct for survival. In this scene, Tom Hanks needs shelter to survive a storm. A need is a lack of something that energizes the drive to eliminate or reduce the need. The drive that the need creates is an aroused state that occurs because of the psychological need. These work to maintain the body's homeostasis, which means to maintain an equilibrium or steady state. Tom Hanks needed out of the rain in order to maintain this homeostasis because the rain may have caused him to lose too much body heat which could have made him sick.

The lighting in this scene is definitely meant to play on the audience members. The flashlight is important and it provides contrast with the darkness which makes it seem all the darker when it finally does go out. I believe the flashlight going out is meant to be a metaphor in many ways. It represents the loneliness of being stranded by himself. It represents the hope of rescue that has faded away. It represents a loss of all modern technology because when the flashlight is dead he has nothing electronic left.