Everyone is an expert!

After reading this some people might think that I am a snob but I don't care because I feel very strongly about it. So here it goes...

'It's the best movie of all time'

'This was definitely the best film of the year and should win the Oscar for the best picture'

I am sure you must have heard similar lines being spoken quite often by people around you (some of you may have actually said so yourself). I find it ok if these lines are spoken very casually but it is blasphemous if the speaker is quite convinced and is willing to debate about it. I am not referring to someone who's a film critic or someone who watches loads of Hollywood movies. I am talking about the average joe who watches 10-15 Hollywood movies in a year and has probably not seen a single movie of a period before his / her birth.

I have met loads of people who make this mistake of giving their 'expert' opinion on the above subject matter. My question to these people is 'Have you seen enough movies released during the year to say that a particular movie was the best of the lot?' or for simplicity's sake 'Have you at least seen all the nominated movies to form such an opinion?' I am sure one can easily guess that in most of the cases the answer will be 'no'. How can then one make a statement like the ones above!

Just to illustrate my point, while watching the Oscars a few days back my flatmate made a comment that Slumdog should win the award as it deserves it. This comes from a guy who, given a choice, would probably rate any Adam Sandler movie as the best movie of the year (Just to make it clear, I too, am a huge fan of Sandler). This guy sees all the lowly rated comedies of the year and thinks that they are the best. He thinks that Mark Wahlberg is the best actor out there and has made the best movies around. What do you say to a guy like that!

Most of us Indians have been bred on a whole lot of stupid Bollywood movies (I am not saying that all of them are stupid) and haven't seen enough Hollywood and other language cinema to comment on these movies. Yet, people think it is intelligent for them to comment! I am not lamenting that people shouldn't give their opinion about a movie. There is no problem if someone says that 'I didn't like the movie' or 'It was boring' but to make statements like the ones above is simply not acceptable.

Everyone might think that they are connoisseurs of films. I, too feel the same but I will leave it up to my readers to decide whether I am one or not. To help you decide here are a few facts about myself:

1. I have seen 700+ Hollywood and Foreign Language movies

2. So far, I have seen 39 movies released in 2008

3. I have seen 72 out of top 100 movies on IMDb and 142 out of top 250. That is as of today - the list is very dynamic esp. the last 20 slots

4. I have seen 29 foreign language movies which include German, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, Swedish, Chinese and Italian

5. I have seen the following number of films in each decade:

1930 - 11

1940 - 16

1950 - 26

1960 - 27

1970 - 43

1980 - 67

1990 - 168

2000 - 381

What do you say...

Results of the Experiment

This post describes the events that took place during the experiment as shown in the movie and not as it happened in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Also, the events may not be in perfect order as mentioned below.

When the prisoners were escorted to the mock prison cells by the guards everyone was very cheerful and expecting it to be an enjoyable experience. They didn’t know what was going to befall them. Out of 20 volunteers, 12 were chosen as prisoners while the others were guards. There were 4 cells with 3 prisoners each. The guards were wearing uniforms while the prisoners were wearing a single piece gowns which looked like sacks. Thus, the experiment began.

The prisoners were having fun initially but got bored very soon. Some started mocking the guards, knowing that they can’t hit back physically. The guards didn’t take it well and decided to retort. Some of the things which they did were gassing the prisoners, undressing them, parading them nude among others. The prisoners were supposed to eat everything they were served. One of the prisoners was allergic to milk and didn’t want to drink it. The guards said that if he didn’t drink it every one of the prisoners will have to do push-ups.

Here I’ll describe the experience of one of the prisoners. He was abused the most by the guards. He had abused one of the guards as a homosexual and the guard didn’t like it at all. Also, this guy was kind of becoming the leader of the revolution by the prisoners. Thus, the guards took it upon themselves to teach him a lesson. He was made to clean the toilet seats with his gown and then wear it without washing. The guards took him to a secluded room which was not monitored and beat him up. After this they all decided to pee on his face. Later they locked him up in a small locker kind of black box, barely big enough to hold a guy.

The whole thing became an ego game between the prisoners and the guards. The guards became obsessed with their roles and tried to maintain order at all costs. They became sadistic and started enjoying the misery of the prisoners. When one of the guards showed sympathy towards the prisoners they beat him up and locked him up with the prisoners.

On the fifth or the sixth day the events culminated into total madness with the guards beating up a guy and then strapping him up to a chair. He was bleeding profusely which ultimately lead to his death. I must make it clear that in the actual experiment no one was killed. It was the same day they had locked up the other guy in the box. Somehow, he managed to get out of it and freed the other prisoners. All hell broke loose with the prisoners running for their lives with the guards chasing them ultimately a few guys on both sides losing their lives.

Just before the pandemonium one of the doctors tried to intervene by declaring that the experiment was over. When she went down the cells one of the guards caught her and took her in one of the cells. He tried to rape her!

The experiment raises a lot of questions and observations. It seems like the dark side of man takes over as soon as it gets a chance. The guard who tried to rape the doctor would have wanted to screw her but couldn’t while he was living in the actual world. When he saw that there is utter chaos and found the opportunity he went for it. Why did the prisoners behave like real prisoners and abused the guards? They knew that it was just a game and when it’s over, all of them will be their own self. Why did the guards forget that they were not supposed to use physical force? Why did they take offence to the expletives hurled at them when they too knew that the prisoners were just having a bit of fun? I guess it’s too difficult for anyone who’s not experienced it to understand the reasons behind what took place.

Experiment, Das

Let's say you are playing a live practical game where some of the players are to act as prisoners while the others as prison guards. If you are given a choice which one would you be? Take a decision about this question before you read further.

Let's add a bit of excitement to the game - the prisoners are given some compensation per day while the guards are given none. Now which one would you like to be?

Here is the best part - the prisoners are to suspend all their civil rights and stay in a mock prison for a few days while the guards have to ensure that all the prisoners follow the rules of the prison - without resorting to physical means. So, what's your final choice?

Interesting isn't it?

What would you say if I told you that your selection as a prisoner or as a guard was decided by some arbitrary psychological tests? Would you still want to play the game?

This is what the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by a group of researchers at the Stanford University in 1971 was all about. They wanted to see what happens to good people when you put them in an evil place. Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? The results were astounding. The experiment had to be stopped prematurely after only six days because the situation had become very bad; the guards became sadistic while the prisoners became depressed.

Here are a few more questions for you to ponder. Let's take them based on whether you were a guard or a prisoner.

If you were a guard

- What would you have done if some prisoner tried to be friendly with you? Would you do any favours for him?

- What would have been your reaction if some prisoner abused you?

- What would you have done if the prisoners didn't obey the rules, rather specifically disobeyed your commands?

- Even after trying your best if the prisoners do not follow the rules will you resort to violence?

Tough ones, aren't they? Now let's see what you do as a prisoner.

If you were a prisoner

- Will you be friendly with the guards?

- The guards are just a bunch of players like you. Would you obey them?

- Think about a particular food item which you don't like. What would you have done if the guards forced you to eat it?

- What would you do if the guards come and truncate your free hour and ask you to go to the prison?

- Will you abuse a guard if you don't like him knowing that he is not supposed to use physical force on you?

- What would be your reaction if the guards start taking their role too seriously?

Too many questions and tough ones, right? Most of the situations described above are extremely probable in a scenario like the one mentioned above.

Human psychology is extremely complex and studies have been going on for decades and I don't think it would be blasphemous to say that they will continue for as long as one can imagine.

If you want to know how things panned out in the experiment I would recommend that you watch Experiment, Das (2001). It's a german movie based on the above real life experiment and shows how the dark side of man takes over, given a chance. I am not going to write anything further to spoil your experience of watching the movie. Given below are some links which might be of use to you in case you are interested in knowing more about the experiment or the movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250258/
http://www.prisonexp.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment

Reservation Road

I am curious to know what I would do if I were responsible for an accident. Let’s say I am driving a car on a dark night and suddenly on a bend I see a child standing in my way. It’s too late for me to swerve around and save the child. I try my best but still hit him! What should I do? Should I stop the car and check on the child or just run away from the scene of the accident? Stopping the car wouldn’t be an easy task as I might be charged for reckless driving and sentenced to jail! Running away seems easier – let’s do it!

Let me change places with the father of the child. I stand there near the road and suddenly I see a car hurling towards my dear child. There is nothing I can do about it! My son is hit by a car and it doesn’t stop to help! I rush to my son who is lying in a pool of blood but it’s too late. A few minutes later the police are there and my son’s body is taken away for post-mortem.

What do you think would be my mental state in either case? Let me tell you what happens in ‘Reservation Road’ from where this scene is taken.

Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) is the guy who was driving while Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix) is the father. Dwight’s life becomes miserable. He is so affected by guilt that he decides to hand himself over to the police. Ethan is burning with rage to find out the perpetrator and punish him. He even tries to take things in his own hands. Such is the irony of fate that Ethan goes and hires Dwight as his lawyer to help him in this case. There is no running from it as far as Dwight is concerned.

I don’t know what I would do if I was Dwight. May be I would be as affected as him but whether I would decide to hand over myself to the police is a matter of conjecture. If I was Ethan I guess I would have been enraged and bayed for the blood of the guy who was driving.

What would you do if it was you in place of Dwight or Ethan?

Earnings Season

Sounds weird, isn't it? This definitely doesn't mean that I earn during some seasons while not in others :) The phrase makes it seem like it is something to look forward to but it is quite the opposite. I and others like me dread the earnings season.

At the end of every quarter, most companies release their earnings for the quarter. Basically, they state the activities of the company during the quarter and the profit or loss they made. Now, you must be wondering what does that have to do with me. I would say a lot!

I work in the Equity Research division of one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. My work involves analysing the financials of some companies and giving an opinion on whether the clients should buy or sell the stock. We have our estimates for the quarterly earnings of the companies and as soon as the companies announce their earnings my work begins. We are supposed to prepare a report stating where and how the company's actual earnings differed with respect to our estimates and what are our new estimates going forward.

Every firm tries to come out with their report as fast as possible so that they are the first to tell their clients how the company fared. It's a mad rush! Most of the companies report their earnings way before the markets open at 9:30 which means you have to be in office before 7. Some companies choose to report it at close of market at 4 in the evening which means sitting in the office till almost midnight. A lot of times what happens is that there are multiple companies within your coverage reporting on the same day. When this happens it makes your life miserable. I remember last quarter when we had 6 companies reporting the same day! We were 3 associates in the team and each handled 2 companies which was still bad. That week I had spent 70 hours working in office! That's the total, the range being 10 to 18!

This Thursday was one of those days when 2 companies reported, one in the morning while the other in the evening. I knew I had to reach office by 6:30 so that I am not late for the release. I could hardly sleep at night trying to make sure that I get up on time. I reached office at 6:30 and found that the company had just released their earnings report. At 4 in the evening the other company also reported. This was a conglomerate with many divisions making life really difficult for anyone trying to analyse the company.

At 9, my boss came up to me and said that he was going home and expected me to complete the rest of the report so that when he comes at 6:30 the next day, it is ready for edits. Before you jump guns, I must say that he had had a rough week with the previous 2 days also being earnings days for him. He also asked me to be in office at 6:30 the next day so that I can submit the report for publication once he is through all the edits. It was a Hobson's Choice really and I agreed! I worked till midnight at which time I felt the report was ready for my boss and took a cab home. I slept at 1 and was up once again at 5 to be in office by 6:30. Thankfully we didn't have any company reporting on Friday and I had an easy day. I left office at 4 in the evening to meet a friend and watch a movie...