Having won the War on Mental Illness, psychologists decided that virtue ethics would benefit from some modernism and invented “positive psychology”. Their primary result so far has been to determine that Hope is not one of the Seven Cardinal Virtues. They then went and analyzed the Six Cardinal Virtues into sub-virtues.

This book Positive Psychology at the Movies lists movies that illustrate each sub-virtue:

8 Mile

if you mock people’s mothers with enough Wisdom-Creativity, you can escape from post-apocalyptic Detroit

Sideways

if you have enough Wisdom-Curiosity to drink merlot, you can pick up chicks

25th Hour

if you don’t have Wisdom-Open-mindedness, you won’t imagine how everyone is out to get you

The Karate Kid

with the right Wisdom-Perspective, waxing Mr Miyagi’s truck is not child-abuse

Silence of the Lambs

nothing says Courage-Bravery like giving them the hose again

Kissing Jessica Stein

it takes great Courage-Integrity to admit you were lying about being a lesbian

The Sound of Music

the hills have Courage-Vitality/with the songs they have sung for over 9000 years

A Space Odyssey

Courage-Persistence, or drugs, is what it takes to get to the end of this movie

The New World

there is no Humanity-Love so pure as between a grown man and a thirteen-year-old girl

Equilibrium

gun-kata actually requires a surprising amount of Humanity-Social Intelligence

V for Vendetta

blowing stuff up is a good way to show Justice-Fairness

Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, The Matrix and Spartacus

are all great examples of Justice-Leadership in the fight for sexual-orientation equality

Super Size Me

because nothing says Temperance-Self-Regulation like eating junk food

Grizzly Man

Transcendence-Beauty is om nom nom

The New World

“oh Father, allow me to express my Transcendence-Gratitude for giving this continent to the Europeans”

Hustle and Flow

“[I Transcendence-Hope] to get rich ‘fore I leave up out this bitch”

Half Nelson

you know what’s full of Transcendence-Humor? crack addiction

The Tao of Steve

the right Transcendence-Spirituality will get you laid