Movies Change Lives is a rigorous interdisciplinary examination of cinema as a vehicle for personal and social transformation. Interdisciplinary scholar Tony Kashani builds a theory of humanistic transformation by discussing many movies while engaging the works of philosopher/psychologist Erich Fromm, cultural studies theorist Stuart Hall, critical pedagogy theorist Henry Giroux, political philosopher Hannah Arendt, the great French thinker Edgar Morin, the pioneering psychologist Carl Jung, the co-founder of string theory, physicist Michio Kaku, and Frankfurt School philosopher Jürgen Habermas, among others. The book argues that in the globalized world of the twenty-first century, humanity is in dire need of personal and social transformation. Movies have universal appeal and can deeply affect their audiences in a short time. Coupled with critical pedagogy, they can become tools of personal and social transformation. Movies Change Lives is an ideal text for graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses on film (cinema) and society, visual culture, consciousness studies, transformative studies, media and social change, advanced personal and social psychology, and political philosophy.

Tony Kashani (PhD, California Institute of Integral Studies) teaches interdisciplinary studies courses at Southern New Hampshire University. His previous books include Deconstructing the Mystique: An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Cinema (2009) and Lost in Media: The Ethics of Everyday Life (Peter Lang, 2013).

Contents: Pertinent Theories ¿ Cinema as Pedagogy for Constructive ¿ Humanistic Transformation ¿ Ten Movies: Mississippi Masala, Syriana, The Runner (Davandeh), The Truman Show The Matrix, Match Point, Paradise Now, Doubt, Her, A Separation.