The story about the two musicians' rivalry started in 1830, where Alexander Pushkin published a short play called "Mozart and Salieri".
This is a long movie, for sure, and there were a few instances where my mind started wandering back to a time when I was still learning music. Piano, to be exact. I started my lessons at around 4 or 5, and quit at the age of 17 using SPM as an excuse simply because I hated every second of it (at least I thought I did). I was not talented. In fact, quoting Salieri's line, very mediocre. I have always loved music, but that love gradually faded away with every passing second of my lesson. Long story short, piano exam pieces were the only songs I got to play and my teacher did not see any point in teaching me something extra. It was not until recently that I started to miss the feeling of playing a musical instrument and the enjoyment of immersing yourself together with the music. Even though I do not intend to pick it up again as I have already sold my piano to make more space, I truly regret letting it go without trying to find a way to rekindle my passion.
Now, with that out of the way, let's talk psychology. The film portrayed a striking contrast between the genius and the talented, in which all forms of talent fades in comparison to Mozart's brilliance. Thus, the cognitive dissonance experienced by Salieri is also very apparent in my eyes. Cognitive dissonance, as mentioned in the previous entry, refers to when an individual's attitudes and behaviors contradict each other, same goes to contradicting sets of attitudes and beliefs (Ciccarelli & White, 2015). Salieri, the main antagonist in this film, experienced a dissonance between his worship for God and his resentment towards God for the "unequal" treatment in terms of musical talent. Plus, his love for Mozart's music, which he described as the "voice of God", also contradicts with his envy which eventually caused him to take "revenge" on God in his twisted ways. This is in line with Festinger's theory which states that when an individual is experiencing psychological discomfort due to cognitive dissonance, he or she will seek ways to reduce said discomfort through either "changing behavior, changing cognitions or adding new cognitive elements" (Metin & Camgoz, 2011). What Salieri did, was to change his cognition that God has abandoned him and has chosen Mozart to be his messenger so he will have a legitimate reason for his hatred, and then proceed to plan the murder and theft of Mozart's work so he will be able to gain recognition using his Requiem after the former dies.
Besides cognitive dissonance, Salieri's aggressive behaviors towards Mozart is also explainable with the concept of social psychology. The frustration aggression theory states that aggression is triggered when a goal-directed behavior is blocked (Myers, 2014), which explains Salieri's malicious intentions as he feels threatened by Mozart's music. Typically, when the frustrated individual believes that aggressive behavior will reduce said frustration, he or she will act in ways that may put others' in harm's way. This is also an accurate illustration of the theory of relative deprivation, in which frustration occurs when there is an established perception that one is less well off as compared to others. Salieri is unable to shake his feelings of inferiority especially after Mozart effortlessly improvised his welcoming march in front of the Emperor. He realized then, that Mozart's music is something he could never achieve, and even though people regarded him as highly talented as prestigious, it is his own sense of inferiority that haunts him, thus marked the beginning of his resentment.
I am actually very fond of this picture. It looks oddly calming, if not for Salieri's deliberate murder attempt to literally work Mozart to death and claims the piece as his own. While I understand his frustration and struggles of not being able to be at par with someone so much more gifted and advanced than him (been there, done that), it also made me reflect on my past behavior, on how competition can sometimes be so toxic you might lose yourself in the process of trying to outperform another person.
*Disclaimer: I don't actually hate my "mediocrity" when it comes to music, I believe every one has their own talent and uniqueness in different areas, you just have to look harder/ wider/ deeper.
References:
Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2015). Psychology (4th ed.). England: Pearson Education Limited.
Metin, I., & Camgoz, S. M. (2011). The advances in the history of cognitive dissonance theory.
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(6), 131-136. Retrieved from http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol._1_No._6;_June_2011/14.pdf
Myers, D. G. (2014). Social Psychology (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
*I am not sure why the font size of my references' is so small but it's bothering me and I have been adjusting it for the past 10 minutes.
Now, with that out of the way, let's talk psychology. The film portrayed a striking contrast between the genius and the talented, in which all forms of talent fades in comparison to Mozart's brilliance. Thus, the cognitive dissonance experienced by Salieri is also very apparent in my eyes. Cognitive dissonance, as mentioned in the previous entry, refers to when an individual's attitudes and behaviors contradict each other, same goes to contradicting sets of attitudes and beliefs (Ciccarelli & White, 2015). Salieri, the main antagonist in this film, experienced a dissonance between his worship for God and his resentment towards God for the "unequal" treatment in terms of musical talent. Plus, his love for Mozart's music, which he described as the "voice of God", also contradicts with his envy which eventually caused him to take "revenge" on God in his twisted ways. This is in line with Festinger's theory which states that when an individual is experiencing psychological discomfort due to cognitive dissonance, he or she will seek ways to reduce said discomfort through either "changing behavior, changing cognitions or adding new cognitive elements" (Metin & Camgoz, 2011). What Salieri did, was to change his cognition that God has abandoned him and has chosen Mozart to be his messenger so he will have a legitimate reason for his hatred, and then proceed to plan the murder and theft of Mozart's work so he will be able to gain recognition using his Requiem after the former dies.
Besides cognitive dissonance, Salieri's aggressive behaviors towards Mozart is also explainable with the concept of social psychology. The frustration aggression theory states that aggression is triggered when a goal-directed behavior is blocked (Myers, 2014), which explains Salieri's malicious intentions as he feels threatened by Mozart's music. Typically, when the frustrated individual believes that aggressive behavior will reduce said frustration, he or she will act in ways that may put others' in harm's way. This is also an accurate illustration of the theory of relative deprivation, in which frustration occurs when there is an established perception that one is less well off as compared to others. Salieri is unable to shake his feelings of inferiority especially after Mozart effortlessly improvised his welcoming march in front of the Emperor. He realized then, that Mozart's music is something he could never achieve, and even though people regarded him as highly talented as prestigious, it is his own sense of inferiority that haunts him, thus marked the beginning of his resentment.
"God was singing through this little man to all the world, unstoppable, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar."
The theory of learned helplessness is also present in this movie, but instead of Salieri, it is reflected on Constanze, Mozart's wife. Unlike the beginning of their marriage, where Constanze would go out of her way to beg Salieri to give her husband a job, she stopped making an effort to recommend his works after Salieri humuliated her in front of his servant, and proceed to lay at home without doing anything productive, as shown when Mozart's father visited him and found her sleeping in, leaving their house in a pile of mess. On the surface, it might seem that Mozart is the one that was trapped in learned helplessness towards the end of the movie, but in my opinion he was still working even in his death bed to earn a living for his family, and that to me is the greatest evidence of a man's struggle against the misfortune life has presented him.
References:
Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2015). Psychology (4th ed.). England: Pearson Education Limited.
Metin, I., & Camgoz, S. M. (2011). The advances in the history of cognitive dissonance theory.
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(6), 131-136. Retrieved from http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol._1_No._6;_June_2011/14.pdf
Myers, D. G. (2014). Social Psychology (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
*I am not sure why the font size of my references' is so small but it's bothering me and I have been adjusting it for the past 10 minutes.
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