Senia Maymin and Kathryn Britton are the senior editors of PositivePsychologyNews.com. Together they have edited two books in the Positive Psychology News series: Resilience: How to Navigate Life's Curves and Gratitude: How to Appreciate Life's Gifts. Kathryn co-edited the third book in the series, Character Strengths Matter, with Shannon Polly. Their co-authored articles are here.
Senia Maymin, MAPP '06, is the coauthor of Profit from the Positive. Maymin is an executive coach to entrepreneurs and CEOs. Her PhD is in organizational behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Full Bio. Her solo articles are here and her articles with Margaret Greenberg are here.
Kathryn Britton, MAPP '06 also co-authored Smarts and Stamina on using positive psychology principles to build strong health habits. Blog. Full bio. Her solo articles are here.
Movie Projector
Editor’s Note: Today the authors and editors of PPND share some suggestions for movies to watch during the holiday season.
This is the third in a 4-part series for the end of 2010, starting with the Holiday Book List for 2010. The authors are in reverse alphabetical order so that our Z authors have a chance to come first. For additional holiday ideas, see the 2008 Holiday Ideas article.
We lead off with Ryan Niemiec, coauthor of Positive psychology at the movies: Using films to build virtues and character strengths. Ryan has written earlier articles about movies, including nominations for Academy Awards based on elements that convey positive psychology themes.
Joyeux Noel movie
Ryan Niemiec: Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas, 2005): International film that is as stunning as it is inspiring. The setting is a battlefield during WWI in which Scottish, French, and German soldiers who are shooting at one another in the trenches call for a ceasefire for Christmas Eve. The common humanity and fraternizations that develop are so magical, it is hard to believe this is actually a true story. Scenes in this film get at the true meaning of Christmas, in a way that no other film can.
Meet John Doe (1941): Listed by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 most inspiring films of all time and directed by Frank Capra (director of It’s a Wonderful Life; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington); about a columnist for a local newspaper who makes up a story about a man, “John Doe,” who is so distressed by the poor economic times and lack of jobs that he plans to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. This spurs a contagion of kindness and a web of community interconnections across the country, referred to as “The John Doe idea,” which relates closely to current research on the spread of kindness.
Emily Van Sonnenberg: The Black Swan. Interesting interrelationship between the perspective of an actor/performer and aspects of positive psychology.
- Life is Beautiful – 1997
- The Blind Side – 2009
- Love Actually – 2003
Grayfriars Bobby statue
Elaine O’Brien: I personally love the classics:
- Miracle on 34th Street
- The Bishop’s Wife
- A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim
- It’s a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
- A Christmas Story
But I can’t help enjoying Bad Santa, too!
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
- A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim
Senia Maymin: Farces (for their ability to make us laugh at ourselves and at how seriously we take ourselves):
Nicholas Hall: Groundhog Day with Bill Murray
Margaret Greenberg: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Sean Doyle: Taare Zameen Par (Hindi: ???? ????? ??) – The 2007 Bollywood drama directed by Aamir Khan.
Aren Cohen: When Harry Met Sally – Positive relationships, and it ends on New Year’s Eve.
Kathryn Britton: Children of Heaven. See the description in my blog. We’re also plan to watch A Child’s Christmas in Wales again together, m daughter’s suggestion.
Images
Movie Projector courtesy of Katherine Johnson
Grayfriars Bobby courtesy of Netherby House
