The Sense of Self in Adolescence: Teenager Movies Essay

While high school in reality is full of surprises and twisty roads, teen television shows and movies are based off a strict set of conventions that allude to other teen films. In David Denby 's "High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies," he describes the typical movie storyline and characters: the blonde, superficial cheerleaders that make up the popular crowd, along with the buff, handsome jocks versus the social outcasts comprised of geeks and freaks. Denby continues to explain the nature of these two social standings, including how the “cool group” bullies anyone below them. Denby goes on further to discuss how a particular outsider usually becomes the hero or heroine of the story, despite their social discomfort or awkward

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the story of a unique high school student named Charlie and his journey of self-discovery throughout his freshman year. Charlie’s personality changes drastically from the beginning of the book to the end of it; and this is what I want to focus on. First I am going to detail Charlie’s personality at the beginning of the book and then use Erik Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Development, Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development, Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and an article about adolescent bulling to analyze them. I will then use examples from the book and film to illustrate his growth in the respected areas. Through these major theories of psychology I will show Charlie’s evolution from a wallflower to a human being.

When examining the 1980s film Puberty Blues, using techniques of content analysis and personal reflection, I have observed certain differences and similarities between the culture depicted in the film and my own society and culture. The subject of the film is the journey that two young people go on as they transition from adolescence into adulthood, I will be outlining what exactly that means.

It outlines the struggle an individual faces in finding stability between developing a sense of forming a unique identity while still being accepted and “fitting in” with society. Erikson believed that when teenagers adequately navigated their way through this crisis, they would transpire into having a clear understanding of their individual identity and easily share this new ‘self’ with others. However, if an individual is unable to navigate their way through this crisis period, they may be uncertain of who they are which can result in a lack of understanding, leading to disconnection from society and the people around them. If youth become stuck at this stage they will be unable to become emotionally mature adults, according to Erikson’s theory. This period of an individual’s life allows them to investigate possibilities which will lead them to discovering their own identity based upon the result of their explorations.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is a book about the changes teens go through as they mature and the obstacles they face during this time. Charlie comes across changes in his relationships, his own stance in his family, school, and friends, and how he thinks of himself. He learns about his past and makes changes towards how he thinks about himself and why he is who he is.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming of age film about a 15 year old boy, Charlie, who has been through much trauma. As a freshman Charlie is left with no friends, because of the suicide of his best friend Michael, but he has the support of an english teacher who inspires his dreams of becoming a writer. Eventually, step-siblings Sam and Patrick discover that Charlie is lonely and in need of a friend, so they take him under their wing. Sam, Patrick, and their group of friends have much wisdom about life, because they are older, much of which they share with Charlie. Under the wing of Sam and Patrick, Charlie becomes more excited about life. Although, he still struggles with the side effects of past traumas, and dreads the day his new friends leave for their lives after high school.

I absolutely adored Stephen Chbosky's (Beauty and the Beast, Allegiant) ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ for its captivating and emotionally driven storyline that will intensely connect with all. The movie is filled with teen angst and struggles we can all relate to and discusses topics our society shuns from. This is captivating to an audience and makes them think about mental health and trauma in a way they haven’t before.

Erik Erikson has developed the psychosocial theory that proposes eight stages across the life span of human development. Each and every one of the stages has a “crisis”, a significant psychosocial topic that is important in that moment. The theories are deliberately having an impact on by social and cultural influence a process of development of the ego and self. “According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crisis that are distinctly social in nature. These involves establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for the future. (McLeod 2008, p. 1) In this paper I will be talking about each of the main characters in the movie, “On Golden Pond” and what they all go through to a crisis of psychosocial development using Erikson’s theory.

The movie The Breakfast Club takes viewers on a comedic tour of the ups and downs of adolescence. The Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes, focuses on the events that unfold between five very different high school students during a Saturday detention. Even though the movie was shot in the 1980 's the characters portrayal is still relatable in a way to a lot of people today. Director John Hughes takes us on a comedic ride with what seems like another typical "teen movie" while still portraying a few life lessons along the way and exposing some truths behind stereotyping.

First of all, with the use of plot and character as dramatic elements, MacLeod is able to depict the main characteristics of the nature of adolescence, mainly the search for identity and the quest for independence. Among the scientific community, adolescence is believed to be the most crucial period in human development. It is a period of “rapid biological, social and psychological change” (Soto, et al. 330). There are the transformations that define puberty, there are changes in the relationships and attitudes towards adults and peers, and many teenagers struggle to form a coherent identity (331). In the process of discovering their identities, most adolescents become self-centered. Having not yet

In Pleasantville, the film displays the change of an extroverted and introverted pair of teenagers from the mid-20th century who take a life experiencing journey into a

All throughout our lives, we wrestle with the question of who am I and what do I want in life? However, it is usually during the adolescent years that this issue really comes to a head and we begin a more earnest search into finding ourselves and deciding the direction we want to take with our lives. One of the theorists who studied this idea of identity formation was James Marcia. Marcia proposed that there were four different stages or statuses in the development of identity which he labeled Identity Diffusion, Identity Foreclosure, Identity Moratorium, and Identity Achievement. In this essay, we will briefly summarize his four different stages and then apply his theory to my own identity development during the adolescent years.

For Erikson (1950) adolescence is a period during which individuals seek to avoid dangers of role diffusion and identity confusion by establishing a sense of personal identity. Individuals have to find answers for two major questions “who am I?” and “what is my place in society?” Identity is a “conscious sense of individual uniqueness” and an “unconscious striving for a continuity of experience” (Erikson, 1968, p. 208).

“From the neon-sign opening titles to the derivative angst of the dialogue, it 's a touchstone of '80s pop culture, and a schizophrenic one, too.” This could only be describing the John Hughes classic film, The Breakfast Club. This film follows five high school students from different ends of the social spectrum coming together and finding themselves. The Breakfast Club is a perfect representation self-concepts and social perceptions- how difficult it can be to figure out who you are and what it is like to discover true reality. This paper illustrates part of the students’ journey and what concepts they utilized to figure out that each of them is a brain, a basket case, an athlete, a princess and criminal.

Identity was prevalent throughout the movie. A part that comes to mind immediately was through racial identity. This identity has arisen by social construction to categorize people into different groups, largely to make people superior to others ((Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniels, E. R., & Roy, C. S., 2017). To