Film Analysis: Lars And The Real Girl

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Recommended: Concluding erikson's psychosocial theory

The motion picture industry has established itself greatly in educating and entertaining its viewers by mirroring the different chapters of human life and bringing to light many individual and societal problems. Albeit many films are memorable for both good and bad reasons, only a few are regarded as true “classics.” One such classic film, directed by Craig Gillespie, is “Lars and the Real Girl”.

1 Overview of Lars and the Real Girl
The movie portrays a very sensitive screenplay highlighting several factors that may affect the psychosocial development of an individual and the multiple processes required to remediate the given situation. The movie revolves around a 27-year old Lars Lindstrom who succumbed to loneliness and insecurity due to bitter experiences in childhood.

2 Links to Theoretical Perspectives
Throughout the movie, possible links to concepts of psychosocial development via Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory, Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory, John Bowlby’s attachment theory and Winnicott’s psychoanalysis can be made to explain the psychosocial point of view of the movie.

2.1. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory
The presence of multiple contexts which influence an individual’s development seems evident as the movie progresses. Referencing Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory, interactions of entities in the microsystem, in this case, the family, colleagues and church group; and the mesosystem which involves interactions between two microsystem entities - in this case, Lars and family, family and Dr Dagmar, Lars and church group, appear to have strong influence on Lars’ psychosocial development.

The trauma of his mother’s demise during childbirth, his father’s emotional negligence due to depression and ...

... middle of paper ...

...ity (for instance, relatives, peers, teachers and media) may step in to interact with the affected individual and guide the latter on how to be self-motivated to set and achieve goals. As a result of this, channelling thoughts and energy to attain personal goals in life allowed me to release my transitional object and made me gain more control over my own development.

4 Conclusion
In a nutshell, we may not have considerable amount of control over our personal development as the degree of control depends on our age, experience and the influence and interactions of people around us. Furthermore, “there is in every child at every stage a new miracle of vigorous unfolding, which constitutes a new hope and a new responsibility for all ” and thus family, friends and the community collectively have an imperative role in unfolding a child’s potential throughout the years.

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