Movie Review
The Movie, "As Good as it Gets" is on reserve in the professor's office. You may check it out there for three days. After viewing the movie, critically think about the major character, Melvin Udall. The goal of this assignment is to evidence mastery of the course material by applying theory that explains the behavior of Mr. Udall. Special attention should be given to the impact that diversity has had on him, as he relates to the social environment. Critically analyze Mr. Udall within the multidimensional (person-in-environment/ecological) framework, and discuss the relevance of at least two theories studied in HBSE I.
Questions that should be addressed in the 4-6 pages APA formatted paper include, but not limited to the following:
A. How does the character display typical issues of his stage of human development according to these three theories?
a. Freud - Stage of psychosexual development
b. Erickson - Stages of psychological crises
c. Kohlberg- Stage of moral development
B. Use any material from the text that describes these three stage theories, and compare them to describe Mr. Udall's life challenge. For example, discuss the importance of the social and psychological crisis of a man in mid-life who develops a disability, etc.
C. What other conflicts are evident in the role (race, gender, ethnicity, age, class, color, disability, family structure, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, religion) or norms of Mr. Udall? Is his behavior in conflict with group, cultural or ethnic norms of his/her family or community system? How so?
D. Using your FIRST chosen theory, what is the nature of the interactions of Mr. Udall with other systems (i.e. family, community, formal organizations, and society)? How does this shape his development and functioning? What is the socioeconomic status of Mr. Udall? How does that impact his development? Are there patterns of abuse, neglect, and/or addiction on the part of Mr. Udall or his family members? How does that affect his development? How does your first chosen theory explain this?
E. How might your SECOND theory offer explanation to the behavior of Mr. Udall? How is this second theory similar/different than your first theory? Provide examples of scenes from the movie and from the research literature to help support your argument.