BF149257

BF149257 Film Response I decided to do my film response on a fiction film because I think people use cartoons and animation to send a clear message to an audience of all different ages. Yes it might come off as nothing but entertainment but if you see pass that everyone can learn something useful. The first thing that pops into people minds is just to sit back and enjoy the movie but the next time you watch a fiction movie try to keep some of these things in mind; for example, what message is the director trying to send? I picked the movie Shark Tale because I remember that fitting in and trying to be something in life was an issue throughout the movie. What developmental and/or psychological issues does the work depict? Well from the start at 1:07 into the movie one of the characters Lenny, who is a great white shark see a warm on a hook and sets him free. In most cases an average would have ate it and these right of the back indicates this shark might be different from the stereotype of sharks. Lenny has a different social domain from the rest of the sharks, his best friend is a fish named Oscar. As for his older brother Frankie and father Don Lino they associate themselves with other of their own kinds. I think this is a great example of multi-contextual nature of development according to the definition in the Lifespan Development by Denise Boyd and Helen Bee it means, “Individual development occurs within several interrelated contexts.” (pg.5) So it is apparent that Lenny grew up different. So now for the psychological part, Lenny is very different in his thinking pattern; he’s much more open minded, sensitive, friendlier, emotional and caring. At 20:20 into the movie Don Lino tries to force Lenny to eat a live shrimp but he fails. His father’s face expression shows disappointment and then continues to tell Lenny, “I’ve been hearing things…when you look weak, it makes me look weak.” Then other shark looking say, “what’s wrong with that kid? Why does he have to be so different?” If Lenny was human he would probably be young eighteen year old boy. Throughout the movie Don Lino tells Lenny he and his brother are going to take on the family business; he never asks him what he wants to do. It is obvious that the father and son relationship lacks much communication. I think it is because of the parenting style Don Lino uses; it is the authoritarian parenting style. It means, “a style of parenting that is low in nurturance and communication but high in control and maturity demands.” (pg. 221) What is the intent of the author in showing these issues? I think the director was trying to show that ones family and love is more important than what other think of you. Also being yourself should not being embarrassing and don’t change who you are just to fit in or feel acceptance. An example of this in the movie was at 1.1:40 when Lenny shows his other fish friend Angie his new look as a dolphin. For the younger audience, I think he want them to take in that everyone is different and being different is a good thing because they might be able to help each other, like when choosing friends. But for the adolescents, I think he tries to send a message that love can be closer than what you think, maybe in a close friend and not the superficial admirer. As for the adults, I think what his going for is parents might feel ashamed or embarrassed that one of their children might be completely different from the rest of their siblings and parents and they should not try to force a son or daughter into something they are not but rather learn to accept them for who they are. How do the depictions compare with the scientific evidence, as represented by your textbook and other scholarly sources? Well throughout the film, many developmental issues are brought up. For example gender roles; it plays at part from beginning until the end. Gender role identity is the gender related aspects of the psychological self. (pg.346) Lenny appears to be masculine but has higher feminine qualities. Yes it is possible to have both qualities regardless of your sex. In 1970s Sandra Bem did a research and the results showed each qualitities can be found in both men and women in their personalities. Something to keep in mind is that on page 346 from Lifespan Development by Denise Boyd and Helen Bee it states that, “parental attitudes and parental behavior become increasingly important in shaping teen’s ideas about gender and sex roles (Castellion, Lerner, Lerner, and von Eye, 1998; Ex and Janeens, 1998; Jackson and Tein, 1998; Raffaelli and Ontai, 2004 ). But in this case its not because Lenny’s father Don Lino appears to be a tough killer shark and is less caring about others. When a person see themselves as having both masculine and feminine traits it is known as androgynous. But if they see themselves as lacking both its undifferentiated. Another thing that appears mulitpe times in the film is ethnic identity. What is it? Ethnic identity, “includes self-identification as a member of their specific group, commitment to that group and its values and attitudes, and some attitudes (positive or negative) about the group to which they belong. (pg.347) Lenny again is a great example be he comes from a mob life style. So most would think that someone from that lifestyle must be strong, tough and fearless but he’s not. At 9:32 Don Lino talks about how he was protecting, teaching and preparing his sons (Lenny and Frankie, the oldest son) for the family business, I think it had to do something involving the reef. Lenny is always being told to be tough and not weak and Lenny appears to be tired of what other are telling him. Another character that is affected by ethnic identity is Oscar, the main character. Oscar is a little fish at the bottom of the reef and he feels like a nobody. He is portrayed as a African American and has a dream of becoming rich and famous. At 8:05, Oscar dreams about being at the top of the reef and these, in way, presents itself as the typical negative view and stereotype of the African American culture. Now Lola, is the character that appears to be really pretty and is only into Oscar when his famous and has money. Some would think that a really pretty girl is mostly in the relationship with a not so good looking guy only for the money; so people would most likely think she is nothing but a gold-digger. They even play a short song saying “she a gold-digger” when Lola over hears Oscar placing a 5,000 dollar or clams bet on a racing seahorse. Another aspect that appears in the film is friendships. Lenny has a scene at 47:23, he open up to Oscar say he is a vegetarian. It can be taken in many different ways like a guy telling his best friend he is gay. Because how Lenny acts sometimes, sensitive, cross-dressing (the part where he appear as a dolphin) and different from other shark, it can be associated as if he was a homosexual; only based on how some appears on the outside. You can tell that Lenny sees Oscar as his best friend because, “adolescent friends share more of their inner feeling and secrets and are more knowledgeable about each other’s feelings.” (pg.359) What praise or criticism has the work received for its depiction of these issues? I could not find anything but a boycott on Shark Tale only because they feel that movie was being racial about Oscar was representing the African American culture and encourage negative view of the typical Italian life. “They play creatures of rage who praise violence as a virtue; kidnap, extort and intimidate. The dialogue contains Italian dialect phrases such as capeesh, consigliere, marron and agita. (on Osia.org in article) What developmental domains or psychological fields are most relevant to the issues? One of the domains that is present in the movie is cognitive domain; it means “changes in thinking, memory, problem-solving, and other intellectual skills.” (pg.5) The way Lenny think it much more different from his father and his brother, even though they tried to teach him how to think a certain way. One other domain is seen in the movies is social domain, it means “change in variables that are associated with the relationship of an individual to others.” (pg.5) Again Lenny, the shark being friend with a fish like Oscar, but Oscar and Lola is another example. He only wants her when he was rich and famous. Then he relize that he is in love with is close friend Angie and act like himself around and acts different around Lola. What symbols does the work contain? How would various theorists interpret these symbols? Some of their work symbols self-discovery and acceptance. Oscar trying to be somebody his not and Lenny’s father accepting his son for who is really is, a fish loving vegetarian shark. Another thing that is symbols is reasoning. One of Piaget’s formal operational stage is presented in the movie, hypothetico-deductive reasoning is, “the ability to derive conclusions from hypothetical premises.” (pg.324) Oscar needs to appear as a hero in public’s eye and Lenny must disappear so they decided to come up with a plan so it can benefit them both. So they think that the new plan will help them have a fresh start and all of their problems are going to go away. At 53:16, their new plan starts off by Lenny swimming into the reef and Oscar calls him out, then Lenny start to chase him. Lenny accidentally catches Oscar in his mouth and then Oscar pretends to open his and start to spin him. As he continues to spin his faster, everyone in the reef is watching including Lenny’s father’s friends and mob members. Oscar beats up Lenny and he falls into the depth of the ocean and it appears as if he is dead and Oscar is the hero. They soon meet up and think their plan worked but little do they know it is going to back fire. Another thing that is present in the movie is one of Marcia’s Theory of Identity Achievement. The one is identity achievement; it means, “the identity status achieved by a person who has been through a crisis and reached a commitment to ideological, occupational or other goals.” (pg.342) For both of then I think the crisis is the death of Frankie. At that point they both felt responsible and it made them try some crazy fake plans. Everything for them took a turning point, it start of bad and lies, then things continued to get better and everyone was telling the truth and being more acceptance of others. Even though some were lied to and hurt, they learn to forgive and help a friend find who they really are. When it comes down to what we can learn from watching films, we can usually learn something from the relationship in the movie. Numerous films have a parent and child relationship or some type of friend that plays a great part in the plot. By observing and taking notes, people can at least take in to consideration what they learn and always remember if they are in a similar situation, they can probably apply it to their life. In conclusion, the massage behind Shark Tale is not limited to any particular age group because of the dynamic personalities and it shows a great example of be who you are regardless of what others think or say about you. Weather its fiction or nonfiction films, the director always has a message they are trying to send to their audience.

Bibliography Boyd, Denise Roberts., and Helen L. Bee. //Lifespan Development//. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2009. Print. "National Shark Tale Boycott." //Www.osia.org//. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.

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__Subject Matter—20 points out of 20__

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You are missing the textbook and third source from your bibliography.

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Awkward paragraph transitions--try breaking them apart using empty lines (hit "enter" twice).

Grade: 92/100