Psychology

Siriwat Tumthong (Steve)

Movie Analysis Essay

ID: 5761138

Submission Date: 26/09/16

The Psychological Development Theories Associated with The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button.
Ever wonder what it would be like to grow younger? What would the world be
like to you? How would other look at you? This film is a perfect example of how
youll experience the world. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008
American romantic fantasy drama film directed by David Fincher. The story is based
on the 1922 F. Scott Fitzgeralds short story of the same name. The film revolves
around the character Benjamin Button, played by Brad Pitt, who was born with an
unusual aspect that is aging backward. He was born into a baby with the physical
appearance of an old man. Throughout the film, Benjamin experiences the world and
the different aspect of life but with a little twist because of his appearance. This essay
will apply the psychological developmental theories of Infancy, Childhood,
Adulthood, and Old Ages to Benjamin.
When Benjamin was born, he has all of the characteristics of a 90 years old
man. However, his mind is still a mind of a newborn. Benjamin started off the way
any other child started off, lots of curiosity. He plays with a child toys and, like any
other kid, are always looking outside and wondering what its like to go out of his
house. He also learned that sitting on the step are dangerous because his mom tell him
so. He was raised normally apart from the environment hes in. Normal kids would be
playing with children of the same age, but Benjamin does not. Despite having
Queenie as a caring and lively mother, he was mostly influenced by the elders he
lived with. From the fact that his home is a nursing house, Benjamin learned most of
his lesson from interacting with the elder. His aged appearance causes him social
difficulty to interact to people of the same age. This result in him being locked in the
world of elderly and was isolated from the world of color as what usual kids are
exposed to. From what Benjamin experience in his Childhood, he has grown to be
more grown up than most kids of his own age. If he has been in a different
environment, he would have grown to be more vocal and lively than he is.
As Benjamin enter Adolescence stage, he started to experience the world
where no other kids would have been able to experience in his age. Because of his
deceiving appearance, he was able to do things that are for adults only. During this
stage, Benjamin starts developing a sense of independence like any other teenager
would. He started experiencing the world by getting a job as a sailor. This scene can
be applied to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. Erikson stated that during
an adolescence period Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at
the future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing, etc. The individual
wants to belong to a society and fit in. And in later stage of Adolescence, the child
develops a sense of sexual identity, which is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to
whom one is romantically or sexually attracted. This can be seen when Benjamin
starts developing an attraction to his first love, Elizabeth Abbott.
As Benjamin enter adulthood stage, his role confusion comes to and end.
According to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, Benjamin is starting to
enter the stage where he starts questioning himself about love and serious

Psychology
Siriwat Tumthong (Steve)
Movie Analysis Essay

ID: 5761138

Submission Date: 26/09/16

commitment. This can be seen when he accepts the feeling that he has toward Daisy
and went to the hospital when he realized that Daisy was severely injured. Once
people have established their identities, they are ready to make long-term
commitments to others. They become capable of forming intimate, and willingly
make the sacrifices and compromises that such relationships require. If intimate
relationships were not a sense of isolation may result; arousing feelings of darkness
and angst, which can be seen in the scene when he was rejected by Daisy so he lives a
lonely life and only get on with girls to fulfill his sexual identity. However, as the
story continues, he was able to fulfill his sense of intimacy when Daisy came back to
him and they starts living together. He later enters the other stage, which is when he
starts asking himself if he was good enough for his daughter. This was the reason that
he chooses to leave all his money to his wife and daughter so that he wouldnt be a
problem for the family and to at least let his daughter have a father that could grow
old with her.
Approaching the end of his life, Benjamin enters the last stage of his life,
Wisdom: ego integrity vs. despair (maturity, 65 death). During this stage, Benjamin
explores the world as if he has nothing to care. Or in other words, explore life as a
retired person. In this stage, people look back on their lives and accomplishments.
They develop feelings of contentment and integrity if they believe that they have led a
happy, productive life. If we see that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become
dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and
hopelessness. Thats why Benjamin came back to Daisy in this stage, to fulfill his
only wish of being with Daisy and meet up with his daughter.
To conclude, The Curious Case of the Benjamin Button is based on the
developmental theory of Childhood, Adulthood, and Old Ages. Along the adventure
Benjamin has through his life in his deceiving experiences. Benjamin goes through
the struggle starting from his Childhood, Adolescent, Adulthood, to his Maturity. As
in my perspective, I enjoyed the movie because of the fact that this movie was based
on a psychological theory. Resulting in it being relatable and so we are familiar with
the character. But even when it was based on the theory, it has never gotten into any
real insight of the particular stage and we never actually see how life (especially one
in rewind) has made our main character any wiser or more insightful. Moreover, the
later part of the story was not quiet clear on the reason why Benjamin left his family.
When he left the family, it was for that Benjamin would not be a problem for Daisy in
his latter year. But he ended up being take care by her in his last day anyway.

Psychology
Siriwat Tumthong (Steve)
Movie Analysis Essay

ID: 5761138

Submission Date: 26/09/16

References
Martinez, K. (2009, January 6). World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved September 21,
2016, from https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/01/benj-j06.html
@. (2011). Know What To Expect! The 8 Stages Of Social Development In Children.
Retrieved September 21, 2016, from https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/childdevelopment/erickson/#ixzz3ZaBI7RQf
Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2016,
from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erikson's_stages_of_psychosocial_development
Grande, G. L. (n.d.). Psychology Reaction Paper FINAL. Retrieved September 21,
2016, from https://www.scribd.com/doc/103474615/Psychology-ReactionPaper-FINAL
McLeod, S. A. (2013). Erik Erikson. Retrieved from
www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film). (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2016,
from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Case_of_Benjamin_Button_(film)