Psychology

Movie Analysis #1

(Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn)(Mint)
ID: 5761103
Submission Date: 26/09/2016

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Analysis

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) revolves around a man named
Benjamin. Benjamin was born with weird condition. Benjamin had an appearance of an old
man, and he aged backwards. Benjamin is an interesting case study for developmental
psychology. Developmental Psychology studies about how and why humans develop or
change throughout their life course. Developmental Psychology covers from infancy to dying
phrase. Even though Benjamin was born with an appearance of an old man, his development
throughout his lifetime is the same as other people.
Benjamin was capable of sensing and responding like other infant. Benjamin had
babys capacity. Babys capacity is the ability of a newborn to see, hear, smell, and respond in
order to survive. Benjamin responded to pain by crying when Tizzy stepped on him. He also
cried when he was exposed to chaotic street and he felt scared and horrified by all
the people and sounds around him. When Queenie held Benjamin in her
arm, he relaxed, and remained calm. Benjamin cooed when Queenie first
called him. He responded to her sound. He also responded to the others
elders laugh by laughing and smiling back to them. According to Piagets
Stages of Cognitive Development, Benjamin is in the stage of
sensorimotor. The stage of sensorimotor is the stage when baby perceive
the world through direct senses. Benjamin perceived the world through his
senses of smell, sound, and touch, then respond accordingly to what did it
made him feel. If the situation scared him or made him feel insecure, he
would start to cry for help.
As Benjamin grew into a child, Benjamin learned to behave, read,
and develop object permanence and representational thought. Benjamin

Psychology
Movie Analysis #1

(Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn)(Mint)
ID: 5761103
Submission Date: 26/09/2016
was banging fork on table. He had schema of banging other objects
before, so he assimilated that schema with the fork. Then, Queenie
scolded him. Therefore, Benjamin accommodate his schema that fork
wasnt for banging, but eating. The same goes to his schema that he
could go anywhere in the nursing home with his wheelchair. He tried to go
out, and ended up getting scolded again. After that, Benjamin leant and
accommodated that he should not try to go outside without Queenies
permission. Benjamin had grown attached to Queenie. He loved her for
she had been a mother to him. Despite that he didnt mind being alone in
the house in the middle of the night, Benjamin was an avoidant kid as
categorized in Mary Ainworths Theory of Attachment. This would later
affect his adulthood. Later on, Benjamin learnt to read. Tizzy was helping
him to pronounce words correctly. This is related Vygtskys Zone of
Proximal Development. Vygtsky claimed that therere skills that children
could learn with the help or guidance of adult. Tizzy helped Benjamin read
the word that he could not read it correctly alone. One day, Benjamin
followed Oti to outside the nursing home for the first time. Then, Oti
abandoned him in the city. Benjamin struggled, but he made it home.
Being able to go home is a proof that Benjamin had developed object
permanence, and representational thought. He knew that his house
existed even when he couldnt see it, and he was able to recall the way
back home. One night, Benjamin and Daisy hid under the bed together,
and got scolded. He didnt understand the concept of gender difference.
He was still egocentric, and unable to understand other peoples view.

Psychology
Movie Analysis #1

(Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn)(Mint)
ID: 5761103
Submission Date: 26/09/2016
When Benjamin turned into teenager, he learned gender difference

and gender role, and started to develop autonomy. He started growing

hair. He felt stronger as he was in the age of building muscle. Queenie
allowed Benjamin to go out sometimes with accompany. He worked for the
first time on Captain Mikes tugboat. Benjamin followed him to a brothel.
Benjamin identified Captain Mike as what a man should be, and looked up
to him. Captain Mike became Benjamins role model. On that night,
Benjamin lost his virginity. He had now reach genital stage according to
Freuds Theory of Psychosexual Development. Benjamin found satisfactory
in sexual intercourse, and he learnt to deal with opposite sex. One night,
when Daisy came and stayed, he woke Daisy up to go see something. He
made sure to tell Daisy to keep it a secret. He had learn his gender role
that sneaking out with a girl is not an appropriate thing to do. Benjamin
also learnt that he should give Daisy a coat, and helped her get into a
tugboat, as a gentleman should do. During this period, Benjamin was
easily convinced. He was having apparent hypocrisy. At first, he thought
there was nothing wrong with old age, but after talking to one of his elder
friends, he reconsidered it. He worried that his love ones would pass away
before him. When Benjamin was about to turn eighteenth, he decided to
leave the nursing home. He was in the stage of transitioning to adulthood.
Levinsons Theory of Male Development mentioned the man at Benjamins
age would start to seek independency, and left home to be separated
from the family. He was starting to develop autonomy. His decision
involved having Captain Mike as his role model. Captain Mike was one of

Psychology
Movie Analysis #1

(Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn)(Mint)
ID: 5761103
Submission Date: 26/09/2016
the environmental factors that affected Benjamin in accordance with
Social Learning Theory.
Benjamin fully became autonomy, and went through the Stage of
Dying once he got older and older. Benjamin sailed to a lot of places with
Captain Mike. There was a time, all the crew stayed at The Winter Palace.
He met Elizabeth there. Benjamin fell in love with her. One night,
Benjamin got a chance to sit down and chat with Elizabeth. She
questioned Benjamins job satisfaction, but he was happy as it was. They
also talked about Elizabeths grandfather and his death, as adults were
when people started to be concerned about dying. They continued to
meet every night after. Eriksons Theory of Psychosocial Development
stated that young adults are to choose to be intimate with someone or
stay in isolation at some point. In this case, Benjamin chose to form
intimacy with Elizabeth. They started their secret affair. The affair came to
a sudden end with Elizabeths disappearance. After that, the crew became
part of the navy. It was peaceful until they encountered enemys
submarine. Captain Mike was shot, and he passed away. Benjamin
experienced the first stages of Bowlbys Stage of Grief. He couldnt believe
Captain Mike died. It seemed unnatural to him. Benjamin decided to return
home. He met Daisy again. They went out for dinner, and she invited him
to sleep with her. Benjamin refused because he thought he wasnt good
enough. He was in the third stage of Stages of Grief: depression. It took
time, but Benjamin moved on with his life. When Benjamin and Daisy
came back together, they were in love. They traveled around. Benjamin
decided to settle down in the new house with Daisy in his thirties as
4

Psychology
Movie Analysis #1

(Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn)(Mint)
ID: 5761103
Submission Date: 26/09/2016
stated in Levinsons Theory of Male Development. They enjoyed the days
together. It was peaceful. It was the payoff years mentioned in the Theory
of Male Development. When Benjamin knew Daisy was pregnant, he
started to worry all by himself because he was an avoidant kid. He grew
up to be dismissing. He tended to keep his worries from Daisy. If she didnt
ask, he wouldnt tell. After the baby was born, he was still constantly
worried. According to Ross, Benjamin was in the stage of depression in
Stages of Dying. He was sad that he wasnt capable to be a father. He
knew that death was following him since he was a child. He gave up being
a father, and left Daisy and Caroline. He accepted the truth. Benjamin
traveled around doing what he want before he couldnt. He was now in the
stage of acceptance. He came back to meet Daisy for the last time. He
was found again as a child having dementia. Later on, he had Alzheimers
disease. Daisy took care of him, and gave him hospice care until Benjamin
passed away one day as a baby.
Even with his special condition, Benjamin developed and aged like
normal people. Benjamin had babys capacity as an infant. He learnt how
to read, and behave. He started to understand the gender difference when
he turned into teenagers, and once Benjamin turned into adult, he
developed autonomy. He learnt to accept that he would die, and made the
best out of his life. When he was old and dying, he started to forget
everything until he passed away in peace. Many psychological theories
can be applied and used to explain Benjamins development. However,
some part of the theory cant be applied or seen in Benjamins case. The
reason is humans are unique individuals. Some may have things in
5

Psychology
Movie Analysis #1

(Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn)(Mint)
ID: 5761103
Submission Date: 26/09/2016
common, but parts of them are bound to be different. Therefore, it can be
conclude that psychology theories can be used to study people to a
certain point, but because of peoples uniqueness, individual study is
necessary to gain more understanding of each person.