Film & Character Garden State is coming-of-age comedic drama that attempts to capture the multifaceted transitions often experienced by young adults. This film, released in 2004, was directed by Zach Braff, who also stars in the movie as the main character and focus of this paper, Andrew Largeman. This paper will attempt to more deeply explore Andrew’s development using the postulates of Object Relations and Psychosocial theories (Braff, Sher, Shamberg, & DeVito, 2004). This film portrays a few days in the life of Andrew, a twenty-six-year-old struggling actor in Los Angeles who returns to his native New Jersey for his mother’s funeral. Andrew is nothing if not alienated; he feels numb and despondent, and is extremely disconnected from
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According to Winnicott, the emergence of the false self can often result in one being compliant and/or rage full as a reaction to external impingements. In Andrew’s case, his mother’s depression triggered him to act aggressively towards her, ultimately leading to the accident that caused her paralysis. After this mishap, Andrew was almost immediately placed on psychiatric medication, and removed from the situation at the hands of his critical father. Being placed on psychiatric medication not only hindered Andrew’s ability to properly process and grieve, but also contributed to the further development of his false self through medically prohibiting emotions, making human connections that much more difficult. Furthermore, being medicated by his father reinforced the message that he is somehow “bad.” According a study done on the loss of a primary caregiver’s influence on the child, if the surviving parent is able to balance the loss of the other parent by providing a supportive holding environment, it could potentially help the child from feeling even more fragmented. Individuals who are fragmented tend to develop a compensatory self-structure, which attempts to repair the faded aspects of the self (Shane & Shane, 1990). In Andrew’s …show more content…
The milestones depicted in the movie helped to facilitate healthy psychological development for Andrew - unparalleled by any other time in his life. Andrew’s interpersonal growth and connection was also made possible by stopping his medication (for the first time in sixteen years), which allowed him to feel. The impetus for stopping his medication was when he had an almost alarming sense of emotional indifference after hearing of his mother’s death. The film encapsulates Andrew’s transition out of his medication-induced “emotional coma”, and into the world from which he has been
According to Winnicott, the emergence of the false self can often result in one being compliant and/or rage full as a reaction to external impingements. In Andrew’s case, his mother’s depression triggered him to act aggressively towards her, ultimately leading to the accident that caused her paralysis. After this mishap, Andrew was almost immediately placed on psychiatric medication, and removed from the situation at the hands of his critical father. Being placed on psychiatric medication not only hindered Andrew’s ability to properly process and grieve, but also contributed to the further development of his false self through medically prohibiting emotions, making human connections that much more difficult. Furthermore, being medicated by his father reinforced the message that he is somehow “bad.” According a study done on the loss of a primary caregiver’s influence on the child, if the surviving parent is able to balance the loss of the other parent by providing a supportive holding environment, it could potentially help the child from feeling even more fragmented. Individuals who are fragmented tend to develop a compensatory self-structure, which attempts to repair the faded aspects of the self (Shane & Shane, 1990). In Andrew’s …show more content…
The milestones depicted in the movie helped to facilitate healthy psychological development for Andrew - unparalleled by any other time in his life. Andrew’s interpersonal growth and connection was also made possible by stopping his medication (for the first time in sixteen years), which allowed him to feel. The impetus for stopping his medication was when he had an almost alarming sense of emotional indifference after hearing of his mother’s death. The film encapsulates Andrew’s transition out of his medication-induced “emotional coma”, and into the world from which he has been