You find yourself struggling with how to respond when faced with fear. Whether it’s a big or small challenge, fear is a part of life that we all have to face at some point. And the truth is, we all have our own unique way of responding to it. You may have a “fight”, “flight”, “freeze”, or “fawn” fear response.
And the key to your struggle is to understand your own fear response, which can help you navigate through difficult situations and find the most effective way to cope. In order to better understand these four fear responses, let’s take a look at some movies that show these fear responses.
“Fight“
“Fight” response is taking action in response to the situation. Sometimes people tend to become aggressive in this response.
Just like in the movie Don’t Breathe (2016) starring Stephen Lang, where his character is a blind veteran who lives peacefully at his home until one night when three thieves broke into his house. Of course, for us viewers, we’ll think that the acceptable and safer reaction for the blind veteran is to either freeze or just run away from his home and let the thieves steal whatever they want to steal, but no. Stephen Lang, the blind veteran in the film, fought back against the thieves, and only one of them was able to escape.
Of course, we’re not telling you that you should fight back until someone dies, just like in the film, but the point is to not just freeze up, run away, or go with the flow whenever conflict or fear comes.
“Flight“
“Flight” response is the tendency to flee or run away from fear or conflict. Do you remember the famous scene and line in the movie Forrest Gump (1994), “Run Forrest, Run!”? That specific scene where Forrest Gump runs away from his bullies is a great example of a “flight” response. Instead of facing the problem by talking to the bullies, he chose to run until his leg braces fell off.
Luckily for him, running away from his bullies is a sign of triumph for him, as anything is possible with great determination. Just like in his situation, having a “flight” response does not necessarily mean you are weak or a coward, but we also have to acknowledge that there are circumstances in our lives where “flight” is the right response we have to take.
“Freeze“
“Freeze” is a response where the person either literally cannot move or does not make any decision, resulting in a feeling of being frozen or stuck until the threatening situation has passed.
Titanic (1997), specifically the scene where Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCarpio, died freezing in the ocean. Aside from the fact that he was literally freezing, he reacted to the problem by not fighting back or doing anything at all. I know that it is still debatable whether Jack will survive if he just boards himself into the door where Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by Kate Winslet, is lying. But according to this MythBusters’ video on YouTube, Jack could have really survived if he had just gone up with Rose in the door. Meaning, if he just decided to think of another solution and not freeze up, he and Rose might have lived happily ever after.
“Fawn“
“Fawn” is the fear response in which people try to please whoever or whatever is causing the fear response in order to avoid harm.
The movie She’s the Man (2006) is the closest thing to showing how “fawn” reaction works. Viola Johnson, played by Amanda Bynes, posed as her twin brother, Sebastian, when her soccer team got cut due to a lack of funding and then wanted to join her school’s men’s soccer team. Unfortunately, they do not allow girls. So she thinks, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” She dressed as her twin brother, Sebastian, and auditioned for the rival school, Illyria Boys’ Soccer Team, and made it.
Instead of finding another solution, what Viola did was adjust herself and just pleased the people causing her problem. She could have just stopped from losing her women’s soccer team and moved on (“freeze”), or fought back from not being accepted into her school’s men’s team just because of her gender (“fight”), or transferred to another school where there is a women’s soccer team (“flight”), but no, she had a “fawn” response to her situation.
At the end of the day, we cannot conclude that only one of these four fear responses is the only correct way to respond to our fears. In reality, the healthiest way to respond to our fears is to be able to identify which of these four fear responses is the most applicable and useful depending on our own situation. But most of the time, we are unaware that we are already fixated on only one fear response.
Do you want to know your most commonly used fear response? Take this Four Fear Response Quiz we made for you.
If you think you have a different fear response, you can try reading these articles:
How Does “Fight” Fear Response Manifest In Us?
5 Hidden Signs You Might Now Know About the “Flight” Response
Stuck In A Freeze Fear Response, Should I Be Worried?
Fawning: The Not-Well-Known Fourth Fear Response
Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services, LLC is a diverse therapy clinic that can meet the needs of anyone. If you’d like to talk about your mental health, feel free to message us here.
References
Cameron, J. (1997). Titanic [Film]. Paramount Pictures; 20th Century Fox; Lightstorm Entertainment
Fickman, A. (2006) She’s The Man [Film]. DreamWorks Pictures; Lakeshore Entertainment; The Donners’ Company
Sayagues, R. & Álvarez, F. (2016). Don’t Breathe [Film]. Screen Gems; Ghost House Pictures; Stage 6 Films; Good Universe; Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions; Bad Hombre
Zemeckis, R. (1994). Forrest Gump [Film]. The Tisch Company
