I Am Sam Psychoanalysis

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I Am Sam Alex Arnold Abnormal Psychology Judy Vadasz 11/25/2014 The film I Am Sam is a heartbreaking film about the struggles of a man suffering from multiple psychological disorders. This man is a father who enlists the help of an attorney to help him regain custody of his daughter. Sam and his lawyer try to demonstrate that his caretaker capacity has not been hindered by his developmental delays. Sam Dawson is portrayed to suffer from mental retardation, with the mental capacity of a seven year old. His daughter, Lucy, is also seven, and as she ages, starts to hold herself back in school, afraid to look smarter than her father. The court takes Lucy away, stating that she needs to be in an environment with mentally capable parents. In the film, it is only said once what Sam suffers from. A scene that speaks to Sam’s intellectual functioning occurs in the courtroom when the lead prosecutor states “Sam’s records indicate that he is retarded with autistic tendencies”. Mental retardation means significantly dulled intellectual functioning paired with deficits in adaptive function such as self-care or occupational activities, appearing before age 18. People with disabilities are often seen as different from the collective society as a result of their impairments. They can be portrayed negatively as a nuisance to society, or they can be positively viewed as heroes overcoming their complications. I Am Sam shows both positive and negative constructs. Sam, and his friends, are aware of negative stigmatizations given to them as a result of their psychological disabilities. At one point in the film, they painstakingly try to mask their disabilities. When Sam attempts to set up his new answering machine, he wants to try and sounds like he is a “good father”. With the help of his friends, Sam decides that in order to sound like a good father he must sound like he has

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