An Empirical Analysis of the Film, "The Gambler"
Date
2004-01-28
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
eCOMMUNITY: International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction
Abstract
Pathological gambling has been portrayed by a number of movie-makers around the world, although many of these film representations tend to cast gambling in an innocuous light, often portraying gamblers, largely male, as hero figures (Griffiths, 1989). On the other hand, The Gambler (1974) has dealt entirely with the downside of gambling, and is likely the most in-depth fictional film about the life of a pathological gambler. Consequently, it is appropriate to ask whether the film accurately portrays the "typical" compulsive gambler. The DSM-III (APA, 1980), DSM-III-R (APA, 1987) and DSM-IV (Lesieur & Rosenthal, 1990) criteria for pathological gambling were used to assess the gambling pathology of the film's main character. In addition, further examination of other parts of the film's text and scenarios will be used to examine the film's theoretical perspective and its relevance to contemporary representations of pathological gambling.
Description
Copyright © Masood Zangeneh, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction
Keywords
Compulsive gambling in motion pictures
Citation
Griffiths, M.D. (2004). An empirical analysis of the film, "The Gambler". eCOMMUNITY: International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, 1(2).