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Philadelphia movie summary essays
Philadelphia movie summary essays
Philadelphia movie summary essays
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The movie Philadelphia portrays the struggles and eventual passing of Tom Hanks’ character Andrew Beckett as he battles AIDS. According to the textbook, “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which destroys the body’s immune system” (Santrock, 2009). Andrew faces problems not only with his contraction of AIDS, but also with society’s ignorance of the disability. Throughout the movie, instances of prejudice and discrimination can be seen but are ultimately overcome. Two opposing lawyers have to come together to fight injustice, and through the process their friendship grows deeper than either of them could have ever imagined.
Andrew is a middle-aged white male who works for the largest law firm in Philadelphia. He lives with his partner, Miguel, in a studio apartment in the city. The developmental tasks for middle adulthood include keeping the marriage going, managing the household, managing a career, and parenting. Andrew was very busy working at his job, and did not have much time for a social life. One can see examples of Erikson’s stages of development for this age period, generativity versus stagnation. A sense of generativity is felt when a person in middle adulthood focuses on producing something valuable for future generations and contributes to society. Conversely, stagnation involves being self-centered and lacking interest in helping society. Andrew was determined to seek justice for all of his clients at the law office. He seemed like he had achieved a sense of generativity because he was making a change in Philadelphia.
The most significant way that AIDS influenced Andrew’s development was the impact on his life expectancy. A person infected with HIV/AIDS currently...
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...., Cherry, C., & Kalichman, M.O. (2011). Integrated behavioral intervention to
improve HIV/AIDS treatment adherence and reduce HIV transmission. American Journal of Public Health, 101(3), Retrieved March 9, 2011 from http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.44
Maslin, J., (1993, December 22). Philadelphia; Tom Hanks as an AIDS victim who fights the
establishment. [review of the movie Philadelphia]. The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2011 from http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE1DC163CF931A15751C1A965958260
Demme, J., Saxon, E. (Producers), Demme, J. (Director). December 24, 1993. Philadelphia
[Motion picture]. United States: TriStar Pictures.
Santrock, J.W. (2009). Life-span development (12th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.
In the middle adulthood life stage the developmental task are “managing a career, nurturing intimate relationships, expanding caring relationships, and managing the household”. (Cite From Book) June is experiencing the psychological crises of generativity versus stagnation. June is comfortable taking her mother’s place at the table in the United States and not even looking for her sisters. However, when her aunties told her that they had received a letter from her sisters she fought the stagnation part of the psychological crises. According to Newman and Newman generativity is “to bring into existence”. (CITEp.513). This could be though “introducing new things, ideas, beings, or bonds to relationship-all of which not had existed before”. (CITE) June then switch to generativity in where she wanted to do what was best for her mother’s future generations. June wanted to meet her siblings to discuss the type of person their mother was and tell the sacrifice their mother made for them. June felt obligated to meet her sisters to contribute and bring forth the bond with her
People change over time, and no past history sets the future in stone. Developmentalists divide life into different segments based on age known as growth stages (Berger, 2009). Each stage affects the others causing development at every stage to build upon the other (Berger, 2009). Development does not follow a straight line, it instead moves up and down, back and forth, and it moves at different speeds (Berger, 2009). Although there are several theories of development, and it would be remiss to subscribe to only one; however for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on Erik Erikson’s Theory of Initiative versus Guilt; Industry versus Inferiority; and Identity versus Role Confusion. I also prefer to take an eclectic approach in the application of counseling theories and techniques; however for the purpose of this paper I will utilize three different therapies for each stage of development.
2) Moore, J. (2004). The puzzling origins of AIDS: Although no one explanation has been universally accepted, four rival theories provide some important lesson. American Scientist, 92(6), 540-547. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/stable/27858482
Rebel Without a Cause. Dir. Nicholas Ray. Perf. James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Jim
Erikson modeled his life cycle schema after the Shakespearean play “As You Like It”. The play identifies the seven ages that men experience starting with infancy and continuing in to old age.In the play the first age is infancy which lasts until a child is old enough to go to school. The third age is when a man falls in love. Next the man becomes strong and mature like a soldier and then becomes just and wise like a judge. The sixth age is when a man reaches old age and incompetency followed by age seven which is death. Erikson believed that Shakespeare had neglected to include the play stage in his seven ages presented in the play “As You Like It”. “In the late 1940s Eriksons received an invitation to present a paper on the developmental stages of life at the midcentury White House conference on children and youth. The paper they were to contribute for the conference was on growth and crisis of the healthy personality.” (Capps, 2004) It was on the way to this conference that the Eriksons realized that if Shakespeare had left out a stage then they too may have forgotten a stage. Erik Erikson realized that his life cycle model went from intimacy, signifying young adulthood in stage six to old age in stage seven. After this realization the Eriksons added “Generativity Versus Stagnation” as the new seventh
Randy Shilts set out to make monumental changes in the world’s perspective of AIDS. He planned to enlighten, motivate, and educate the population on this tragic disease that has already claimed so many lives. He believed that virtually all the misconceptions about AIDS would be corrected and the public would insist that more be done to stop the epidemic. "I had hoped to effect some fundamental changes. I really believed I could alter the performance of the institutions that had allowed AIDS to sweep through America unchecked" (220). Shilts’s immense expectations positioned him for his inevitable sense of failure. He did not accomplished all that he had planned. AIDS was still spreading and people were still dying. "The bitter irony is, my role as an AIDS celebrity just gives me a more elevated promontory from which to watch the world make the same mistakes in the handling of the AIDS epidemic that I hoped my work would help to change"(220).
The Movie “And the Band Played On” is the framework of the earliest years of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Also known as the Gay disease. The movie examines HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States in the earlier 1980’s and emphasizes on three crucial components. An immunologist with knowledge in eradicating smallpox and containing the Ebola virus, joins the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to attempt and recognize just what this disease is. The film also deals the administration and government side that does not seem to care. The homosexual community in San Francisco is separated on the nature of the disease but also want to know what should be done
The Classical Hollywood style, according to David Bordwell remains “bound by rules that set stringent limits on individual innovation; that telling a story is the basic formal concern.” Every element of the film works in the service of the narrative, which should be ideally comprehensible and unambiguous to the audience. The typical Hollywood film revolves around a protagonist, whose struggle to achieve a specific goal or resolve a conflict becomes the foundation for the story. André Bazin, in his “On the politique des auteurs,” argues that this particular system of filmmaking, despite all its limitations and constrictions, represented a productive force creating commercial art. From the Hollywood film derived transnational and transcultural works of art that evoked spectatorial identification with its characters and emotional investment into its narrative. The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor in 1940, is one of the many works of mass-produced art evolving out of the studio system. The film revolves around Tracy Lord who, on the eve of her second wedding, must confront the return of her ex-husband, two newspaper reporters entering into her home, and her own hubris. The opening sequence of The Philadelphia Story represents a microcosm of the dynamic between the two protagonists Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven, played by Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Through the use of costume and music, the opening sequence operates as a means to aesthetically reveal narrative themes and character traits, while simultaneously setting up the disturbance that must be resolved.
Until this day, many members of the LGBTQ community are still fighting for their rights and to be accepted for who they are. This community has to challenge political set beliefs such as same-sex marriage to change the societal norm because of who they choose to love and to find their identity. Jonathon Demme’s Film Philadelphia embodies the G and Q in LGBTQ. The protagonist, Andrew Beckett, is fighting an ongoing battle with AIDS but has continued to excel in his job at a Prestigious Law Firm in Philadelphia. Beckett has kept his identity to himself due to some homophobic remarks made by his boss’s in fear of losing his job. Soon enough, Beckett started to show what looked like lesions on his face. He was then sabotaged which caused him to lose his job due to suspicion of Beckett’s gay identity. This could have been questioned because of the connection of lesions to Aids and Aids to homosexuality. Beckett ironically proceeds to hire a prejudiced lawyer, Joe Miller to help him with his case of injustice and prejudice actions done against him. Beckett and Miller won the case against the head partners in the firm for firing him, but Becket lost his own battle with AIDS and lost his life. The root of prejudice and discrimination against Beckett is led by the idea of an over sexualized LGBTQ community derived from Social Media and Hollywood.
Sennett once interviewed a man named Enrico, a janitor, whilst writing a book. Twenty five years later, a chance encounter with Enrico's son, Rico at an airport led him to write The Corrosion of Character'. Rico had been able to make a good life for himself as a wealthy professional. Sennett talks about the generational changes within the workforce because of the importance of acknowledging the severe impacts it has had on the lives of some people. Whilst many have been able to adapt to the changes that the evolving economy has placed upon organisations, it is important to address what it is doing to people and their sense of identity within the workplace.
The movie ‘Philadelphia’ explores prejudice against having AIDS [also being homosexual]. In the film, Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) is a lawyer with a huge opportunity as a lawyer in front of him. When he finds out he had AIDS he chose not to tell his firm mentor about either his disease or his sexual orientation. Andrew is fired for, as his firm members claim, ‘incompetence’ however we can see it is more. Andrew was fired because he had AIDS and was assumed gay (at this time AIDS was know the ‘gay disease’). The movie shows Andrews struggle to be treated equally.
Erik Erikson, Karl Jung and Daniel Levinson are three prominent developmental theorists on human development on the journey of life. Erik Erikson theory surrounding middle adulthood is it a time of balancing everything in the person’s life. It is the time for a person to take stock of their accomplishments, the direction their life is going and the purpose of their life. Erik Erikson theorizes middle adulthood significant task is to transmit values and culture to their children and working to create a stable environment. Family and the work environment are first things listed as priorities in this stage of development. Erikson theory feels generativity is of great importance in this ...
With perseverance of stage six, I have now entered the seventh stage of life. The seventh stage focuses on generativity vs. stagnation. McAdams (2009) states, “To be generative is to generate a legacy of the self for the good of future generations,” (p. 382). There are four types of genera...
Generativity versus Stagnation is the stage where adults want to contribute to the world around them. During this stage, I will vounlentree and help out at my children and grandchildren’s schools, to try to leave my mark with my children and their peers I help. The world of tomorrow is left to the kids of today. During this stage, I strived to create and nurture things and others that will outlast me. In this stage, I developed Generativity.
In Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, I thought, “Who am I?” countless times like many other adolescents. I occupied much of my time trying to construct a firm identity of myself, which I now realized did more harm than good. Letting myself explore different interests would have helped me find my identity than me trying to fake some firm identity.