14 Pews partners with Jung Center for popcorn psychology film series
church of cinema, 14 Pews, is partnering with Dr. Sean Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Jung Center, to present Popcorn Psychology, a monthlong exploration of film and discussion.
“At 14 Pews, we believe in utilizing the arts as a tool to promote civic discourse and stimulate dialogues around the most pressing and complex issues we face as a culture and as human beings,” says Cressandra Thibodeaux, executive director of 14 Pews. “Our collaboration with the Houston Jung Center is an exciting opportunity to continue this mission.”
The series will contain four films, one a week, for a single price, with a long discussion and analytical presentation afterward by Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick has been doing a similar series at the Jung Center for six years and looks forward to expanding it for the 14 Pews audience.
“I had a rich experience with 14 Pews last fall for the talk on Cressandra’s show, ‘Shadow,’” he says. “The audience was just wonderful, full of creatives. People willing to ask questions and be vulnerable. They were willing to go further and deeper.”
Exploring depths is one of the main themes contained in the four films that will be shown. The schedule includes the Tom Cruise science fiction classic “Minority Report,” Kirsten Johnson’s documentary and autobiographical film “Cameraperson,” Houston’s own Richard Linklater’s experimental rotoscoped animated film “Waking Life” and the 1996 Texas Western “Lone Star.”
“Lone Star” is an interesting and timely choice. Directed by John Sayles and set on the Mexico border, it’s a collection of parallel stories that shatter the Hollywood cowboy mythology of the frontier and pushes the narratives of Black, Native and Latino Texans into the spotlight. It’s a controversial film that ends with the line “forget the Alamo,” a sentiment that is even more likely to ruffle feathers today, thanks to public backlashes against disThe cussing a nuanced view of Texas history.
“I am fundamentally a psychotherapist,” says Fitzpatrick. “There are some culture that have the mic and the control of the way they tell their stories again and again about themselves. What is essential is telling stories that are elemental, the ego and the dominant culture. It’s there that we find justice and liberation and wholeness that we didn’t realize was possible. I feel strongly that we need to tell stories that have been hidden, both as a tool of psychological growth and for the health of a community.”
However, Popcorn Psychology is not a woke preaching session. Instead, Fitzpatrick hopes to use the screenings and discussions as a way to open conversations about the nature of stories and what they say about us. “Minority Report” explores how empathy can be exploited for evil, while “Waking Dream” is a more abstract look at the nature of imagination. Fitzpatrick is adamant that he doesn’t have a monopoly on how these works should be interpreted and loves how much he learns from spirited discussions.
“This isn’t a lecture. It’s a conversation,” he says. “I come in with my conception of these films, and the audience gives me a hundred more. We do a lot of thinky thinking, but also a lot of feeling. I always come out with expanded consciousness, and it’s because of the audience.”