Motor City Hypnotist
Motor City Hypnotist
Psychology of Surprise Endings
Psychology of Surprise Endings, Show Notes
In this episode of the Motor City Hypnotist Podcast, we are discussing the psychological impact of surprise endings in movies.
And I’m also going to be giving listeners a FREE HYPNOSIS GUIDE! Stay tuned!
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FREE HYPNOSIS GUIDE
Text the word “hypnosis” to 313-800-8510
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WINNER OF THE WEEK: Man Whose Dog Ran Away While He Was in a Coma Is Reunited Thanks to Strangers on Internet
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/man-whose-dog-ran-away-while-he-was-in-a-coma-is-reunited-thanks-to-strangers-on-internet/
Surprise Endings
Plot twists are a key element of movies that captivate audiences. They add excitement and unpredictability to the storyline, keeping viewers engaged and on their toes. But have you ever wondered why plot twists have such a psychological impact? It's because they tap into our innate desire for suspense and surprise. Our brains are wired to seek novelty and unexpected outcomes, which is exactly what plot twists deliver. These unexpected turns in the narrative create a sense of anticipation, curiosity, and emotional arousal, making them one of the most thrilling aspects of movie-watching for many people.
Reflect on your memories of the first movie that left a lasting impression on you. It's likely that this film had an intriguing plot twist at its core. Personally, I recall the excitement when everyone gathered to discuss "The Sixth Sense," a movie known for its unexpected narrative turn.
Cognitive scientist Vera Tobin aptly describes stories as a form of magic trick in a recent NPR article about the psychology of plot twists. This statement resonates with the idea that storytelling has a mysterious and captivating effect on our minds. "When we dissect them, we can discover very, very reliable aspects of those tricks that turn out to be important clues about the way that people think."
The Psychology of Surprise Endings
In a recent episode of Hidden Brain on NPR, an intriguing exploration was conducted into the impact of plot twists on our brains. The half-hour story delves into various instances, such as parents capturing their children's reactions to movies like Star Wars and our collective obsession with M. Night Shyamalan's mind-bending narratives. Surprisingly, these twists and turns in storytelling have tangible physiological effects on us, indicating the powerful influence of plot development on our minds.
The phenomenon of being easily deceived or tricked while watching movies provides valuable insights into the workings of our brains beyond the cinema.
Vera Tobin, the author of "Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the S
FIND ME:
My Website: https://motorcityhypnotist.com/podcast
My social media links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motorcityhypnotist/
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Change your thinking, change your life!
Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.
David R. Wright MA, LPC, CHT
The Motor City Hypnotist
In this episode of the Motor City Hypnotist podcast. It's kind of going off track a little bit, but it's very interesting. But we're talking about the psychology of surprise endings. Now we're talking about movies typically it could be TV but there's a psychology involved with why these things resonate with people. So we're going to talk about that and, as usual, we're giving away a bunch of free stuff. Being in there, folks, we'll be right back. Welcome the Motor City Hypnotist, david R Wright.
Speaker 1:What is going on, my friends? It is David Wright, the Motor City Hypnotist. We're back here with another episode of the Motor City Hypnotist podcast. Yes, you are, and as Matt Fox, the other voice you hear, thanks for joining me, Matt. As usual, Of course, we're hanging out here in the podcast, your voice, Southfield Studios, Kind of back on track. We had after my busy grad season and we had a holiday last week, so yeah, it's just kind of it's just busy, it's just things happening.
Speaker 3:It's only the 4th of July where we celebrate our freedoms. We did.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and Happy 4th to everybody, which was just last Tuesday. So yeah, just a week ago Just a week ago, that's it. It was yesterday. You know why? Because I'm still hearing fireworks, like every night.
Speaker 3:My dog hates life at about 8 o'clock until about 10.
Speaker 1:And he's like fuck, no, no.
Speaker 3:Don't shut me up.
Speaker 1:Your dog is saying no, no, don't shut me up.
Speaker 3:And also.
Speaker 1:I'm listening to you, no more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's not been happy the past week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get it. Our dog did not like fireworks. He never got like crazy like pee himself, but definitely he would just like the carpet cleaner came out this past week.
Speaker 3:Oh boy, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:He'd definitely cower and sit next year.
Speaker 3:really close and yeah, but yeah, whatever Down the basement bathroom.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess, go at it. You know you get this one week of the year. You can let off explosives legally.
Speaker 3:Right, right, right, yeah. How about it? Just on that one day? Don't take advantage of it, or else it'll get taken away Well let's see, that's the problem.
Speaker 1:Like your freedoms. It's a week later and there's still fireworks. This past weekend, so, you know, because of all these different celebrations, like Woodhaven, which is where we're at the Uncle Sam Jam was this past weekend.
Speaker 3:Uncle Sam.
Speaker 1:Jam, it's Uncle Sam Jam. That is fantastic. I have never heard of that. Yep, yep, it's kind of their street festival thing that they do. You know, right at 75 and West Road is where it's all set up.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess I know what I'm doing next week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, give it a try. I'll be honest, I've never been down there just because it's just a massive humanity and just getting in and out is just you know, I don't know, so anyway, we're here yeah we're back, yes, let me tell you, folks, where you can find me.
Speaker 1:The website is MotorCityHittonTistcom. Check it out. There are links to all kinds of different areas, as far as shows, as far as personal sessions, as far as information. My book is noted on the website. Just again, take a look at the website. That'll answer all your questions and also get you in contact with me. If you want to send a direct message. You can find me on social media, on Facebook and YouTube our both MotorCityHittonTist and on Instagram and Snapchat, which are both MotorCityHipno H Y P N O yes, hypno H Y P N O.
Speaker 1:And, as usual, we're just giving away. We always give away the free Hypno. This guy is always there. I'm just going to leave it out there and just see how many you know if I don't say anything, just just see what. But we want you to know it's there because it's always free. It's always there for you to download. It's not any big thing. It's a couple page PDF, but again, it gives you the basics of hypnosis, what it is, what it's not, and all that kind of good stuff. So yeah, awesome. So yeah, we're back in the swing of things, back here on a Monday night and just enjoying time with Matt doing our podcast. We got a pelagre Enjoying our winter of the week from last week.
Speaker 3:Oh, shut up.
Speaker 1:What I did lose I've already put back on, and that's okay, just the fact that you did that and finished it is impressive to me because you know I do around the golf and I can't walk for two days.
Speaker 3:So I'm just saying that I did a 10 take up 10 K tough. Yeah, you did a tough one for a week.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, but yeah, but that's understandable. You know me, I'm just riding a cart and swinging a club. You know 300 times you don't walk the course.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 1:God? No, I know.
Speaker 3:Oh, you're lazy Well here's the thing.
Speaker 1:No, I always ride this, this course that we play, and actually my wife's on a lead league at this course called Woodside Meadows. It's in. I think it's technically Taylor and might be Brownstown on that shirt. It's right on the border there in Michigan, right yeah.
Speaker 3:Downriver Reddit Inkster and King roads for those of you that live in Michigan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for those of you that live in that area and they don't do tee times. You just show up and they and you play. So it's like I got there, there was already two people lined up at the front tee waiting to go, and there were three people on the 10th tee waiting to tee off. Oh my goodness. So you know, they'll always tell you go to one or 10, you know whichever one. Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 1:So it a lot of waiting. Yeah, it was like a five hour, five hour round, Ooh that's like the army.
Speaker 3:Yeah, hurry up and wait. It's a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's the only down thing. I we do enjoy golf, but that's if, especially if you have, and I this is not criticizing people, but some people take longer because they don't. I mean shoot. I take probably longer than I should because you know, every once in a while you shank a ball, you gotta go find it, right, you know leave a new ball.
Speaker 3:You know, do you label your balls? Yes, your golf balls.
Speaker 1:Well, I I think Kendra does She'll put a K on hers. Okay, I don't often write on mine, but like right now, I'm using these shoot. What are they? Minor knee on yellow.
Speaker 3:Okay, whatever I?
Speaker 1:think.
Speaker 3:I think they're titleist, but so I got I got a bag of balls that were probably on resale. They were on resale.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Bag of balls and I actually labeled every single one of them. Yep, I put my M effort on every single one.
Speaker 1:I actually had golf balls that said that had that printed on there. These golf balls print, they print on there. Yeah, no-transcript.
Speaker 3:No, I actually wrote with the red, with the red red Sharpie MF yeah, my MF'er. So I always knew what ball was mine, which is kind of funny, because a week later I went back and I found my other one.
Speaker 1:Oh, did you really. I've always thought that I shaked it at the same place, because sometimes you know if you have to go looking for it you'll find three other balls that aren't yours, and I pick them up. Yeah, I'm going to use them. Yeah, I'll use them. Yeah, absolutely so, yeah, so cool Is it? Is it time? It is time, man, here we go, here we go.
Speaker 3:That's how winning is done All right, I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:All right, this is a good story. Okay, waking up from a coma. That's the first sentence, first half a sentence of the story. Okay, waking up from a coma. A man was devastated when he learned his dog had gotten lost, but his luck turned around after the help from a local dog rescue organizer. Okay, and this is great, the guy's name's Bubba the guy's name is.
Speaker 1:Bubba, all right. How long was he in a coma? For Bubba Nel, bubba Nulish, n-u-l-i-s-c-h Nulish I'm going to say Bubba Nulish was hospitalized with a bacterial infection and put into an induced coma on April 18th, okay. After waking from his coma three weeks later, he was desperate to see his four-year-old dog, bullet. Okay, bubba and Bullet. Bubba and Bullet Got it, yep. However, while still in the hospital recovering, Bubba received a call to tell him his beloved pooch had gone missing from his home in Grand Prairie, texas. Okay, on the suggestion of some of the hospital nurses, he immediately took to Facebook and asked for help in a lost pets group in the hope someone had spotted Bullet in the area. Okay, he had adopted Bullet after being forced to retire from his truck-driving job for medical reasons in October of 2015. And what's his name? Again, bullet. Bullet is the name of the dog. Okay, and he says the dog pulled him out of a deep depression. Okay.
Speaker 1:So, he was a truck driver who's forced to retire for medical reasons, so couldn't work. He got adopted, this dog, and it pulled him out of a deep depression. Okay, as it happened, someone had seen him, 43-year-old Jim Kim Joppe, who runs a dog rescue in Dallas. Bullet had made it to Joppe's rescue center on June 4th and after she learned who he belonged to, she stepped up to make sure he was back at Bubba's side as fast as possible. The dog neutered and microchipped. Joppe drove the dog out to Bubba and was delighted with what happened after she arrived. When they were reunited, I can't describe the pure emotion that came from him, said Kim. They were so bonded, it was so beautiful. I've never seen anything like it.
Speaker 1:Bubba adopted Bullet after some friend's dog had a litter of puppies. Okay, the people I was staying with at the time had a dog who had babies. One of them wouldn't leave my side ever, said Bubba. I don't know why, but he started hanging out with me, so I adopted him. Well, that's what you do. Yeah, absolutely yeah, he was my reason to keep on going.
Speaker 1:He really helped me through emotionally and brought me so much happiness and joy. Hmm, him being gone was the hardest part of waking up. Bubba said he and Bullet are now back at home Safely and are continuing to enjoy watching their favorite TV shows together, which are I don't know.
Speaker 3:I was just going to wonder what is Bullet's?
Speaker 1:favorite show. What happened? I don't know, K911?.
Speaker 3:What do you want? The dog just sits in the background.
Speaker 1:I've done that like this in the background what the? Fuck, is it with you? It's just to be someone's calling they got the dog.
Speaker 3:It's microchipped. They keep trying to call the owner, bubba, and he's not answering his phone. They're like what's wrong with this guy? Yeah, he's not. I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1:If there was never any communication, they could have put the dog up for adoption or whatever Right. Somebody didn't respond. In a couple of weeks he was in a coma for three weeks, three weeks, yeah, right. So wow and then the Bubba said Kim is an angel. I'm so thankful to her for bringing him back to me. I'll never forget what she's done. That's awesome, cool story.
Speaker 3:I like stories like that, and well, I'm glad that he's here. Stories like that.
Speaker 1:And what adds to it is you have to see the picture. Oh, you got a picture, yep, their picture of them reuniting.
Speaker 3:Take, a look at that. Oh, he is. Oh wow, okay, yep, he is able. Yeah, look at that. See, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Bubba and Bubba and Bullitt reuniting.
Speaker 3:He looks like a doxin or some type of a doxin type.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they never said what kind of dog you actually looks like more of a.
Speaker 3:It's got a brown snout, more like a doberman-ish type.
Speaker 1:Maybe. Yeah, there's. There's Bubba and Bullitt being reunited. I'd love to have them on the show. Oh yeah, it's what we got it. I we saying we, I'm talking about you, matt, but but I need to start doing some research to find some of these people. Right, we really do. I think that would be a great thing just to add to it. I know we've talked about that, but, like anything else, best laid plans of how does that say?
Speaker 3:I was your first live Winner of the week cast. So yeah, that's true, you're right. Let's do this more often.
Speaker 1:That is absolutely right, you were no, our winner of the week was in office when he was awarded winner of the week, see so prior yeah that's my man having the person in before they know they're the winner of the week.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Well, thank you for that, david. You always find the best. No, it's a great story.
Speaker 1:I I go to a couple sites usually and they always never fail to to Deliver yeah, absolutely. They're always good stories awesome.
Speaker 3:That's how we did is done it is Bubba and bullet, so Back to it speaking of yeah, so I'm the past number of episodes we we did a lot of talk around a lot of Understanding Q&A of question and answers about mental health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we did a lot.
Speaker 3:So I'm curious as to what we're gonna be talking about today.
Speaker 1:Well, today, and I told you in the intro, it's a little bit off the beaten path, but there is still some psychological Connection here. Okay, because what we're gonna talk about is why are the psychological effects of surprising plot twists or endings of movies or stories or books or TV okay, and and and there is some psychology behind it. So, so typically, and and I'm gonna those of you who add literature or writing classes in college, you probably have, you have heard a lot of these things, but your typical story structure is you have a, you have a Protagonist who is kind of not in a right and probably not where they want to be in life, or they have some character faults, or they're not quite who they should be right, and the way the story develops typically is that they will alienate some people or lose contact, or Relationships might be failing, they face some adversity, okay, and then often, in almost all of these stories, there's an exciting event, okay, a tragedy or an accident or an event for an example.
Speaker 3:For example yes, nobody expected Romeo and Juliet to end the way it did. No, and that was like that. That is kind of what propelled those surprise endings. You know, was she? Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, even going way back, and and because it goes against what your brain expects. And, like I said, if you look at Most every novel you've read, most every Hollywood movie you've read, they follow the same formula. It's and, and give or take some, some, some parts here or there. It's what we call save the cat beat. There's a book out there called save the cat and it's a story it's about. It's a. It's a book on writing and it goes through all the story beats of of the save the cat, like the cadence to it, yes, the cadence and the steps in the inciting incident. And then you, there should be an in. You know, with this there's specific steps and maybe they don't always go in order, but it contains most of these steps when you're writing a novel or doing a movie or TV show.
Speaker 1:Okay, so our brains are hardwired to accept these because it's it's it's been proven that these are the satisfying Types of movies and stories that we want, right? You know? I'm just even going to something like the Avengers. You know they start out and they find each other and they face a challenge and they defeat the challenge and it's all got that. And again it's. It's that same cadence, that same Steps that that most stories go through. It's just disguised with different characters and, and you know, environment let's say that I gotta say hi to Alan.
Speaker 1:Oh, alan, thanks for checking in, brother. I haven't seen you in a long time. Happy summer, yep, happy summer. Alan Appreciate you checking in. He's our. Oh wait, wait, alan. What are you doing? Are you doing? I don't remember which one we had for Alan I. It's been a while so yeah.
Speaker 3:So every story it's got your baseline, it's up the character development. Then you have your protagonist, then you have your antagonist that comes in, then you have the reason why they're coming together. Right, then you have the fight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then you have the fight and then you have the, the. The protagonist typically is in a losing position. Right, it's not going to beat the antagonist, but they overcome somehow, and then they end up beating the antagonist, right that's. And then the protagonist gets their award or reward in the end, right, yeah, that's every Star Trek. The next generation, yeah it's, it's every story on. Probably 95% of stories books, tv movies follow that formula, because it's been proven that it works. Yes, that's how they make money.
Speaker 3:So what about the surprise?
Speaker 1:so let me, let me tell you, well and just as a heads up, spoilers, spoilers ahead. So if you hear something that you you haven't or don't know, you might just I don't want to stop listening, but just be aware there there could be spoilers, and actually more in next episode than this one, but we'll get to that in a little bit.
Speaker 1:All right so think about the first. So so, just as a guest man, I know there's no way to quantify this how many movies have you seen in your life? I mean, think about that.
Speaker 3:Okay, how many movies or how many times have I watched the same movie over and over? How about we're talking hundred?
Speaker 1:there's hundreds of movies that I've seen, thousands, thousands problems in your lifetime, yeah have to be thousands of movies and you remember the ones that just blew you away. Correct that's just like whoa, what is this? So what? What is one of yours that that gives you that feeling?
Speaker 3:Harold and Maude.
Speaker 1:Harold and Maude Jokes. I went there. Okay, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 3:That that movie actually surprised me throughout the entire story Stuff that that little man did, yeah, to piss his mother off, to freak her out, to just get her to a point of I don't want to deal with this shit anymore. Right and then the other steps that he took with the with the really nice car, turned it into a Do a hearse, you know and you know all that, that movie just absolutely annihilated my sight, my psyche.
Speaker 1:So so I'm gonna go back and again. This is very Run of the mill now. It's very passe, because it's just the the, the antithesis of what a twist is it was when Empire strikes back. Okay. Everybody knows this, your father. Yeah, when Luke finds out that Darth Vader is his father oh that's not true, that's not possible. That's it possible?
Speaker 3:Such a no it to be true?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, so, but that was like the first time I remember being like whoa, like, just right, your mind's blown because, because it takes a turn, that's not the typical turn, it's it's, it's just this out, just just this twist, when that's that's what we're talking about. So it it's rare that these things come along because because, think about it, if you could do that with every movie, it would become the norm. Sure, people would come to expect the twist, people would start trying to guess what it is. That's what I'm like, that's when you like, that's what. That's why Shyamalan I've, that's the one of the ones I was gonna bring up. Yeah, you know, you go back to his first movie, six cents, yes, boom, yeah, I. But then every movie after that you're looking for it now because he's known for that, correct?
Speaker 1:So so let me tell you about but a an a recent NPR article. Okay, in this article specifically about the psychology of plot twists. So in this article Her name is Vera Vera Tobin. She's a cognitive scientist who wrote this article, okay, okay, she said stories are a kind of magic trick. When we dissect them, we can discover very, very reliable aspects of those tricks that turn out to be important clues about the way people think, right. So the the NPR story. It just tells you how the twists and turns affect the effect the brain. And you look and you've probably seen these reactions. Talk about Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back. You know, I run across videos on YouTube where parents are showing their nine-year-old the very first time yeah, and getting their reactions to it because it's such a visceral Gut-punch reaction doing that right now with a, with a young man watching dr who oh nice, how far are you?
Speaker 3:He is still in the Capaldi years. Oh he's a Chris Capaldi, okay, and I say all these are yep.
Speaker 1:Yep geek sidebar Uh-huh. Capaldi was my favorite. Oh, I understand why I Really and he's not most people's favorites, but for me I loved him.
Speaker 3:David tennis just an icon in it. So you can't really put him into the same echelon as all the other Doctor who's, because he just he put doctor who back on the mat Eccleston kind of, you know, kind of did, and I did like I'll stand now, wish you would have had it more than one season. I had a ticket, then took it to the next level.
Speaker 1:Just read out yeah, went, went off from there.
Speaker 3:But I enjoyed Matt Smith. Real quick I'm gonna get out.
Speaker 1:I enjoyed Matt.
Speaker 3:Smith not all of his episode, but there are a few episodes that he did that just really really made me like him that much. Well, I'm just as dr who's, but as an actor.
Speaker 1:Well, and I also think too he had and not to not to downplay him, because I did like him as a doctor, but he also had a great supporting companions. Amy Pond yeah, karen Gillan was On most of his run, which which helped a lot. Yes, yes understood.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the good backstory, if you will. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So now let me ask this while we're on, dr who did you get there? You caught up to current nope, not even close. Okay.
Speaker 3:Just checking, just yep, I do know what happens after Our lady doctor. I know what happens. Oh, you do know what happens, I do know you didn't know.
Speaker 1:Last time we talked about it, you didn't know what happened. I do now. Did you watch it? I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it yet. Okay okay, we won't go into it Okay. We're talking about plot twists. Okay, that's a big one. Yes, it is All right. Okay, we'll leave it there. Spoilers. So so this this study by Vera Tobin and she also wrote a book called elements of surprise are mental limits and the Satisfactions of plot. So I'm gonna look that, I'm gonna read this. You repeat that last part.
Speaker 1:Elements of surprise are mental limits and the Satisfactions of plot. Okay, got it, I'm gonna look up this book because I'm gonna read this, because as soon as I found this story I was like in tree, like I really. There's a whole book on this, nice, so. So I'm gonna get into that. So here she used a couple of films as as Examples. Wasn't okay. She used the sixth sense Okay, and the usual suspects, the usual nice yeah. To dig into the neuroscience behind plot twists, mm-hmm. And she said human see patterns and stories and then have blind spots towards twist because the when we did our introduction, move, most stories follow the exact same Cadence.
Speaker 1:Cadence, exact same, you know formula beats, yeah, and when you have a twist in there it messes with your mind. So when she analyzed stories she said, scientists found that most people had preconceived notions about where stories go. We make inferences based on what we already know and what we've already seen in movies and television that came before. The best tricks used by storytellers are like magic tricks. They distract the audience with what they know and then show them something they're not used to seeing.
Speaker 3:So they?
Speaker 1:they had no idea who Kaiser so say was right, yes, exactly and that's the whole that, and that's that whole point, that that that they're playing it straight Mm-hmm, because people think that way. So, and as long as you don't have overt clues to throw it off, sure, now I did read. And again, spoilers. If you guys haven't seen this too late, too bad, because you know I'm listening to you no more, I'm just saying so back to the sixth sense.
Speaker 1:I've read interviews with Shyamalan and with a couple other directors and a couple other people involved with the project. They said we have to. We have to cut the scene out when he sees Haley Joel Osment in the hospital and he tells him a secret, when Bruce Willis is sitting there right and and yeah, and he and he's laying in the hospital bed and he has the covers pulled up and he was dead people.
Speaker 3:He was in his own bed. I thought he was in a hospital.
Speaker 1:Oh, I thought it was. I thought it was a hospital bed after he got in the bedroom.
Speaker 3:OK, OK, sorry.
Speaker 1:So I could be wrong, but I think he was in his own bed. So he's in bed and he tells Bruce Willis a secret. And they thought we're just giving the whole movie away. We're just giving the whole thing away right here. But they found through test audiences that almost nobody got it, even though he says I see dead people. They don't know, they're dead.
Speaker 1:Right, they didn't know they see what they want to see. He's telling the whole secret in the middle of the movie and most people don't get it, but most people weren't expecting Bruce Willis's character right.
Speaker 1:To be dead. Yes, but that that was a big debate. Is this scene too much? Is this going to give away what is happening? Sure, which, again, even even just the conversation about that, and to go with it like it was Right, it worked, you know. So back back into the article she says it doesn't have to be scary, it just needs to be. What you thought was happening turned out to be something completely different. It's just subverting expectations. So here's, here's some biases that storytellers have. Ok. So in these are it's like a list OK. One is the curse of knowledge. This is the mother of all blind spots. This is the tendency to assume that others know what you know. So it's like almost like you've seen the story so many times. It's like just this knowledge is like you can almost predict every story that you see, or every movie that you see, every insidious movie, every insidious movie ends the same.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:The confirmation bias which exists in culture in general, and that's the tendency to seek information that confirms what you already believe. So if you already believe a story is going a certain way, you're going to find those items that derive that that thought home.
Speaker 3:So one of my favorite things to do is actually try to figure out the plot and how it's going to end about halfway through.
Speaker 1:Right Well.
Speaker 1:I'm so bad with that, you know it's sherry to pinions, you know and here's one of the things that that I that I find funny is that certain things I do that are weird. Like any time there's a death scene in a movie, I look to see if the person's breathing. I just want to see are they breathing, that they hold their breath for 20 seconds while that scene was going on. Sure, yeah, I always look for that. It's weird, it's some weird thing in my head. So another another thing they talk about is anchoring, and it's the tendency to lean too heavily on the first piece of information you hear and then you don't account for any new data that comes after that. Oh, so, kind of like you know, if a story set up to be a a scary story, you're probably going to kind of think that throughout the rest of the movie, whether it goes that direction or not. Sure, you know what I mean, yep.
Speaker 3:They're going to go on because I got to share a movie with you but go.
Speaker 1:Yep. Availability bias, and this is the tendency to believe things that are that spring readily to mind or more plausible than things that don't come to mind. Okay, so again, your mind is just used to working a certain way when you watch movies and read stories, that you have an idea already that, yes, the way I think is more plausible, because that's what I'm used to, right? Yep. And then hindsight bias the tendency to see an event is predictable once it is already unfolded. We experience hindsight bias when we look back and say I knew it all along. Now, here's the thing that drives me crazy about a lot of twist endings and movies. A lot of people will say, oh, I saw that coming a mile away. But yeah, you can say that after the fact, but did you really while you're in the midst of it? I doubt it, right, I just don't think that's. Yeah, I really don't think that would be.
Speaker 2:I'm very important. I have many leather bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.
Speaker 3:There we go, all right, so I have to bring this up. Yeah there was a movie that I that I was introduced to a couple of years ago, and it was described to me as a ghost movie.
Speaker 1:Oh OK.
Speaker 3:But it was a ghost movie with subtitles and the ghost doesn't talk. Ok, there is a ghost and there is looking at another ghost and these two ghosts had a conversation in subtitles and it was the strangest, most obscure. What did the subtitles say Hi, how are you? I'm OK. Do you know where you are? No, it was the weirdest thing you'd ever seen. Yeah, I have no idea what that is.
Speaker 1:It's called the ghost story. That's got Casey Affleck in it.
Speaker 3:Oh, boy, and it's, it's, it's supposed to be a romantic, you know love story. But it is the first 20 minutes. It is the wildest thing you'll ever see. I couldn't stop laughing that. I showed it to my daughter and she couldn't stop laughing herself. It just sounds so ridiculous. It is, it's absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 1:But it's called the ghost story.
Speaker 3:It's absolutely ridiculous, but it's called a ghost story with Casey Affleck.
Speaker 1:OK, I'll look for it. I'll look for it.
Speaker 3:It kind of. It kind of doesn't pay attention to the cadence of a story. It just goes off in its own direction and you can't figure out. What am I watching? What's the plot here? Right, right, yeah, so anchoring.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes. So here's a thing for your aspiring writers out there. You know, capitalize on these features that you know that people expect and drive it in that way. And if you want to put something to subvert expectations, that's a great way to get that twist. It's almost like setting a trap for somebody getting them. Oh yeah, we know right where this is going. And then boom right, it's off.
Speaker 1:It's off the rails, or off to the left or whatever. There it is, yeah. So here's the thing Viewers always, always kind of assume where something's going. So when you throw a plot twist in, it fires their brain, their brain just just goes haywire for a moment. Right, right, and that's why it makes them so memorable, these plot twists and we're going to talk about these in our next episode coming up. So everybody, stay tuned in we're going to count down the 10 best plot twists in movie history. I'm looking forward to that, yes, so so hang on for that. So there is, there is a satisfaction to having your mind blown Sure by a movie, and that that's what gives us that adrenaline, especially people who are very into story and very into character and events. And then when you're watching a movie, you get really involved with it and you're hooked in, 100 percent, engage. That that twist just fires off these synapses, which just gives you a sense of like. No, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's satisfying. It's something that because it's not something that you get from from 95 percent of movies and stories out there.
Speaker 3:I know you already know what's on the top 10 list, but I do throw in my two cents for plot twist yes. I'm going to say devil's advocate. Okay, that's that had a really nice plot twist.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:At the very, very end. Okay, so okay, just throw that in there.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to come back on next episode and talk and count down the 10 best plot twists in movie history. All right, think about that. And if you haven't, again spoiler warning we're going to count these down and talk about them. So if you hear a movie that you haven't seen, yeah, just just put it this way there's nothing. There's nothing recent, okay, like recent within the last 10 years. Oh yeah, that will be fine. So we should be good with that. And if you haven't watched the movie from 10 years ago yet, then you should, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Well, you probably will never watch it anyway. Yeah, you'd like the kid under the stairs.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So before we go, let me show you our, our Detroit dog rescue. You know who needs a home at no, Twinkie, twinkie, twinkie needs a home he looks like a twinkie.
Speaker 3:It's a Chihuahua. It is. Chihuahua is a neutered male. She was actually estimated to be born around 2017. She's kind of small.
Speaker 1:Eight pounds. So she's probably about seven, eight years old, but she is a dog friendly.
Speaker 3:It depends on the other dog Right. I'm not sure about the cats.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Kid friendly, 15 plus Yep, and that's what most Chihuahuas I think Right.
Speaker 1:Yes, I would think so. Yes, but you know the very little kids. Yeah. But look at, look at, twinkie, oh, let me, let me make.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, you want to put your camera up. Yeah, bigger, I got to get the screen bigger.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:For a Twinkie here. Here you go, there's Twinkie.
Speaker 1:Oh oh yeah, you had your finger in her eyeball. There you go. There's Twinkie. Twinkie needs a home. Detroitdogrescuecom. Check it out. She's adoptable right now. Sweet, it needs a home. Awesome, go get Twinkies. All right, folks. So join us for the next episode. Top 10 movie twists of all time. We're going to count those down and I have some fun with it, excellent. So in the meantime, folks change your thinking, change your life. Laugh hard, run fast, be kind, we will see you next time.