Beast Of The Southern Wild Analysis

There is no doubt that children have a very innocent mind and it is not as easy for them to understand unfortunate events. Though they are still affected by things such as the death of a family member, natural disasters and circumstances of that kind. In the film Beasts of The Southern Wild, Hushpuppy faces a few fatalities which are approached using coping methods. These methods are found in the BASIC Ph Coping Model developed by Dr. Mooli Lahad who is the director of the Community Stress Prevention Center in Qiryat Shmona in Israel. Hushpuppy’s relationships with adults, her mom and also her dad, can easily be linked to some of these coping methods. The Social style of coping is reflected through Hushpuppy’s relationship with adults. All

Some people may argue that the way Wink treats her daughter is very harsh and not how a little girl should be treated by her dad. Despite the “tough love” showed towards Hushpuppy, her dad was just looking out for her. The Physiological coping method is described as the use of physical activities being implemented to provide coping fulfillment for many children. According to the article mentioned before written by Frank Zenere, “Children cannot deal with intense issues in a continuous manner; they need to be diverted. Directed physical activity has a dual benefit, allowing necessary buffer time and permitting informal processing of traumatic experiences in a non-threatening format.” After the storm destroyed most of The Bathtub, Hushpuppy needed a way to cope with all the horrible moments she had just lived. They had passed by dead bodies and animals, destroyed houses—everything was a catastrophe. Luckily her dad was there to help her. Wink tried to distract Hushpuppy by showing her a very peculiar way to fish. In the script of the movie, it can clearly be seen that while being aboard the improvised boat, “Wink goes to the edge of the turck and sticks his hand in the water.” (26) and he says to Hushpuppy “Now, stick your left hand in this water, stick it in there.” (27) “Ok, what you do is you hold your hand steady and you just wait for your fish to come. You gotta ball your fist up, this is your punching hand. Ball your fist up in case you have to whack it when they come up.” (27) This simple exercise is an example of the Physiological method is linked to Hushpuppy’s relationship with her father. Another instance in which this method is used is when Hushpuppy is having dinner with the adults left after the storm and also some kids. Wink gets mad because his daughter is eating a crab in