IDEA ONE: CELEBRITY WORSHIP SYNDROME (CWS)
Basing on the initial idea to work with people whom have unusual hobbies and addictions, in which we would adapt and manipulate into a story for our Documentary, the first idea I came across was Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS). This is an obsessive disorder in which people become deeply involved with the detail of a celebrity's personal life. I believe this would be an extremely interesting and increasingly thought provoking concept, in which audiences would connect with the people that we would portray. The abnormal set of symptoms indicated from this condition would inform audiences, by not only educating them of this flaw but furthermore allowing them to come to a new understanding of what unusual disorders are around.
Celebrity Worship Syndrome first arose to the public eye, when journalist James Chapman wrote an article about it for the Daily Mail in 2003 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-176598/Do-worship-celebs.html). Chapman embarks on a study taken by Psychologists from the University of Leicester, in which they discover three types of CWS. Chapman also goes on to explain how one in three people are obsessed with someone in the public eye. Furthermore comparing their feelings towards this celebrity with feelings towards their partner in a real relationship and how worrying this could be towards our society.
IDEA TWO: Albert Bandura's 'Bobo Doll Experiment'
The second idea I came across was from my housemate who does a psychology degree. He had watched a documentary in which split up into a few sections looked into several different human experiments. This focused on the effects and outcomes of the personality's and reactions found out and created within these strange yet meaningful experiments. The experiment that my friend really found interesting was Albert Bandura's, 'Bobo Doll Experiment', however within this documentary, it did not focus enough on this specific experiment. So therefore it would be our duty as a production company to create a documentary solely on the 'Bobo Doll Experiment'.
FURTHER RESEARCH ON IDEA ONE
CELEBRITY WORSHIP SYNDROME (CWS)
Entertainment-Social CWS The mildest form of Celebrity Worship Syndrome is filed as Entertainment-Social, in which the symptoms are seen as fans having an attraction to the celebrity because of how they are perceived in the media. This is seen as discussing the celebrity, checking the fan pages (Facebook, Twitter etc) Watching them live (as seen as the picture to the right of fans in a queue to a music concert) etc. This is not worrying and is seen to affect most humans. Intense- Personal CWS The second and not so concerning form of Celebrity Worship Syndrome is called Intense-Personal CWS. Here the fan is seen to have created a strong personal connection with the celebrity, in which an obsession is developed. Symptoms such as a low-self-esteem is seen, in which their relationship with human interaction is considerably interrupted, in turn delaying the maturity process. This therefore very worrying to parents and furthermore our society, however usually grows out throughout the maturity stage. (Examples include over exaggerated love, such as the picture on the right of Justin Beiber fans in complete awe over the celebrity, screaming.). Borderline-Pathological CWS The attributes of this particular disorder show uncontrollable obsessions mentally, in which they have frequent thoughts of the celebrity even when they choose not to. Furthermore they believe to have a special bond with this person, moreover a sense of friendship with the subject is developed. The youtube hit, 'Leave Britney Alone'(seen on the right) by Chris Crocker is what i portray as someone to have Borderline-Pathological CWS. |   |
The idea behind the documentary.
With the information i found out about this topic, there is more than one form of Celebrity Worship Syndrome. The three types of CWS creates a great start for the story, here we would go out onto the streets and ask people if they have an obsession towards a celebrity or public figure if they answer with positive indication of CWS, we would tell them what level they have, filming their response, we would see how they would react. More likely we would find a lot of people that would have a mild form (Entertainment-Social CWS), but we would like to keep looking and filming till we found a person/people with the harshest form of CWS (Borderline-Pathological). With confirmation we would follow this person and go on a journey with them and their obsession with the celebrity. Finding out how connected they are to their 'idol' we would inspect, why they are so connected as well as answering as many questions as possible. Collecting views from loved ones, to show different point of views. We would also get in contact with the psychologists whom originally inspected CWS and get their opinion on the matter, how they came up with the different types, why they made it up as well as other researched questions. To create more of an dilemma and dis-equilibrium to the story, we would hope to find people that oppose the syndrome completely and more so really go against the whole idea from when it was created. Returning back to our main contact with the Borderline-Pathological CWS, we would hope to end with them, in a way cured of their illness.
In terms of documentary modes, i believe that it would be the Poetic mode. With no narration, the shots and audio captured from our story would tell the story completely. Here the story of Celebrity Worship Syndrome would be told objectively. I believe that any interaction from narration would ruin other opinions and could possibly become too biased. A collection of beautifully constructed shots and sound would emphasise the story of CWS in an extremely strong and emotional manner.
FURTHER RESEARCH ON IDEA TWO
BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT
In the original experiment, Albert Bandura and his associates Ross and Ross tested 36 boys and 36 girls between the ages of 3 to 6, whilst the 'role models' were one male adult and one female adult. Half the children were made to watch the adult model behave aggressively towards a toy called the 'Bobo Doll', whilst the other half watched non aggressive behaviour towards the doll. The children then entered the room individually, filled with aggressive and non aggressive toys, Bandura and his associates monitored the kids behaviour towards the 'Bobo Doll'. The outcomes to this were; the children who observed the aggressive models had more of an aggressive response to the children watching the non aggressive models, whom had a non aggressive response. The conclusion to this experiment show and support the Bandura's Social Learning theory. Here it is seen that children learn their social behaviour through the process of observation. Embedded on the left is a record of Dr. Albert Bandura (Professor of Psychology, Stanford University) embarking on his Bobo Doll Experiment - A Study Of Aggression. |
