Deanne is in the ego identity versus role confusion crisis stage of development. Richard is in the adult’s stage of generatively versus stagnation. The article explores how each of the individuals resolves the crisis and the impact on the family unit as they move to the next stage. The essay further highlights how the three function as part of the family unit. Finally, evaluations of the major challenges as well as areas of strength related to wellness and resilience are explored. 3 Introduction The film, Little Miss Sunshine shows a dysfunctional family unit made up of several individuals in different life stages. The three characters that are analyzed in this paper include Olive, who at 7 years old falls within the 6 to 12 years age bracket of industry versus inferiority crisis stage. The second character is Deanne, who Is about 15 years and falls under the 12 to 20 years adolescence stage consisting of Identity versus role confusion crawls stage. Finally, Richard, who Is In middle age (30 to 65 years), Is faced with a crawls of generatively versus stagnation.
Besides Identification of their life stages and the crisis that the characters face, cultural and other influences effects of transitions of the three members from the present life stages and their nutrition within the functioning of the family unit. The essay further define challenges and areas of strength related to resilience and wellness within cultural groups and communities and subsequently delineating its relevance to clinical mental health interventions. Character 1- Industry VS.. Inferiority Psychosocial Stage The first character in the film is Olive.
Olive is the youngest member in the family unit and is the daughter to Richard and Sherry. Olive plays a central role in the family unit as she provides the divided family with focus through her innocence and curiosity. Olive receives support from other family members to participate in beauty competition and this is evident as the family Joins her in 14 a road trip to the beauty pageant. Olive is in the industry versus inferiority psychosocial stage since she is about 7 years, which falls within the 5 to 13 year school age bracket.
The psychological crisis experienced by Olive relates to new social demands reflected in her desire to Join the pageant. If successful, Olive would benefit from the crisis by developing competence while lack of success would lead to inferiority feelings (Palm et al, 2006). In order to succeed, Olive undertakes to repaper for the event through persistent rehearsals for the event. Based on the psychosocial development theory, children in middle childhood stage seek social competence (Bier, 2014).
At this stage of development, the child seeks to develop competences in the mastery of bifocals as well as cognitive abilities that are considered important in their culture and seek to make psychosocial accomplishments (Grahame, 2013). The development of self-concept is further extended. The theory further highlights the role of families in influencing the children and their experiences and in the case of the film; this is evident when the ether supports Olive. The psychosocial theory in the film in relation to the middle childhood is reflected in diverse scenarios.
First, Olive strives to acquire social competence by participating in the beauty pageant. The ways that families influence children and the ways that children cope with stress is also reflected in the persistent support that the family members provide to her. The issue of peers in influencing or providing supportive behavior or even rejecting a peer and making them subject of bullying is another important element underlying development of children at this stage. In the example tit Olive, she did not receive support from her peers when she participated in the pageant. 15 curiosity towards pageants.
She is further influenced by her family and especially the father Richard who suggests to her that if she believes she is the best, then she is the best and the grandfather who teaches her dance moves that she uses at the pageant. Other influences at this stage include cultural influences related to the communities that the individual belongs. An interrelationship exists between work, family as well as other roles that characters envision within a given life stage. Family influences shape the careers that most individuals select. Encouragement from parents or peers may shape once vocation.
A balance is often sought between the career that an individual pursues and family demands. In Olives cases, her future aspirations may be largely shaped by the family and the support that they receive from the family. Character 2- Identity vs.. Role Confusion. The second character is Deanne. He is Richards and Sherry teenage son. At about 15 years, Deanne is in the adolescent stage, which falls around 12 to 18 years. Deanne experiences a psychological crisis of identity versus role confusion. At this stage men’s try out different roles while developing their goals, beliefs and goals (Townsend, 2013).
Deanne wants to be a pilot and believes that he will be one until he realized that he was color blind after which he was no longer sure about his life and neither what he would want to do. According to Erikson psychosocial development theory, the adolescence life stage is marked by difficult decisions that surround their future as well as the adult world (Southwest et al, 2011. Subsequently, questions such as the vocation that one should choose and whether or not 16 to attend college among other issues lead to major challenge of identity. The developmental tasks that are faced by Deanne include the preparation for an economic career.
In case an adolescent was able to resolve earlier conflicts such as development of basic sense of trust and strong sense of identity and believe in themselves, the individual is better able to effectively search for an identity (Townsend, 2013). The inability of Deanne to effectively address the conscious search for identity through successful resolution of the crisis, he faces risk role confusion. Once Deanne realized that due to being color blind, he could no longer pursue his ream to become a pilot, he becomes frustrated and is no longer sure of what he would want to do with his life.
Deanne becomes frustrated and aggressive once he learns that he would not attain his goal of being a pilot due to the color blindness. There are various influences that are related to the individual’s life stages and culture that may influence the behavior of Deanne. In the film, Deanne life is depicted as a teenager who is rebellious. By using the vow of silence, Deanne rebelliousness is portrayed. This attribute is further portrayed in other ways. For instance, Deanne wears a t-shirt with the inscriptions,’ Jesus was wrong.
Various His reading of the philosopher Nietzsche leads to his believes about Jesus. Character 3- Generatively vs.. Stagnation The third character is Richard. Richard is Olive’s father and is married to Sherry. Richard is in the middle adulthood stage of psychosocial development, which falls between 40 to 60 years. In this stage, the most important virtue that is developed if successful is care. Richard 17 faces a conflict of generatively versus stagnation (Townsend, 2014). The psychological crisis is marked by the desire of Richard to succeed as a motivational speaker and writer.
According to Erikson, the successful completion of the stage leads to generatively. Based on the psychosocial development theory, individuals at this age bracket striver to ensure that they succeed in life by making positive changes to the society and for future generations (Townsend, 2014). In the case of Richard, he strives to become a motivational author but is not very successful. Faced with the failure during the crisis at this stage, an individual may face increasing frustrations. This is evident in Richards case. In the film, Richard aims to become successful as a motivational writer.
However, he has not been successful for most of the time and is frustrated. The opportunity to motivate Olive with his suggestions that if she believes she is the best then she is the best and the eventual support that is provided. Various life influences including cultural influences at this stage include the media, family, ethnic background such as race and the values within the culture among other factors may have an influence on the behavior of the individual (Palm et al, 2006). The interrelationship between work, family and other life roles for Richard are reflected in the film.
For instance, while Richard is keen to succeed as a motivational writer, he reflects the same attitudes when he tries to support Olive in his endeavor. The vocational choices as well as career development are significantly influenced by cultural influences including solicitation that occurs within the family setting, peers and the society (Bier, 2014). 18 Functioning As a Family Unit The three characters play diverse function differently within the family unit. From a clinical perspective, families are able to grow and change and thus constitute the basis for interventions that are geared towards the family (Bier, 2014).
The family system is often a major source for resilience. In the film, this is particularly evident with the support that they give each other. For instance, Richard and Deanne accompany Olive together with other family members and help her towards her goal supports Deanne upon learning that his vision would make it impossible for him to have a career as a pilot. Bier (2014) adds that learning about a family strengths is important in assisting families with difficulties especially considering that family stress is experienced by almost all families.
The families reactions to the life terrors affects the overall health maintenance and promotion of health of the family leading to effects on the health of the individual family members. The transition of Olive to the next developmental stage, which is the adolescent stage, may have an impact on the functioning of the family unit. Successful performance of the tasks associated with the school age of between 6-12 years, accompanied with successful resolution of the industry versus inferiority crisis would lead to development of a sense of purpose as well as an ability to initiate as direct own activities.
By receiving support from the family member, it is likely that Olive engaged to successfully navigate the initiative versus guilt stage as she entered the adolescence stage. In the new stage, Olive would be faced with a new crisis of identity versus 19 role confusion. At this stage, she will integrate the tasks that were mastered in the prior stages to form an identity of secure self. The transition of Deanne into the next stage of development, which is the young adulthood, will have an impact on the family.
At the next stage, Deanne will face a new crisis of intimacy versus isolation, with the major developmental tasks being to form intense and lasting relationships, committing to other persons, a particular cause, creative effort or institution (Townsend, 2013). This will mostly involve him moving out of the family unit and becoming more independent from the parents. The transition of Richard to the next developmental stage will also influence the functioning of the family unit.
While at the adulthood stage, Richard aim was to achieve his life’s goals that he has established for himself including being a successful motivational writer as well as taking into consideration the welfare of the future generation including his children. If successful, the transition into the old age, which is accompanied by ego integrity versus despair crisis, will come to the fore. Richard will seek to review his life while trying to derive meaning from the positive as well as the negative events and at the same time aiming to achieve a positive self- worth.
Wellness and Resilience According to Southwest et al (201 1), resilience is the capacity of individuals to endure as well as recover from major disturbances and proceed to develop in healthy ways. Various challenges are faced by the diverse characters in the film and these challenges range from negative perceptions by the society as seen with the negative exception in the pageant, career selection setbacks as seen with Deanne due to eye vision problems, failure in career as seen with Richard and so on. Resilience and wellness are shaped by communities and cultural groups that one belongs.
For instance, protective and primitive factors associated with resilience range from good care giving, close relationships, intelligence and problem solving skills, faith, hope and religious affiliations and schools (Southwest’s et al, 2011). These factors are supported by adaptive systems that explain the power of these systems to facilitate recovery or adaptive behavior hen faced with challenges and these range from the family, community education system, community beliefs and so on. A particular culture may therefore be more resilient than another based on the existence of protective systems.
For example, cultures that value family are likely to take care of each other during a time of need leading to better resilience and wellness among its members. In the film, when people started getting out of the pageant in reaction to Olive performance, the family members Join her and support her and even Join her on stage while other people leave in annoyance. A culture or community that values education may for instance provide effective schools under community education system leading to more resilience among its members.
