Mentally ill and psychologically disturbed characters are more and more often the focus of Hollywood films. Portrayals of psychological aspects in real life in such films range in accuracy of the illness and concepts they relate to. While screenwriters can sometimes be very perspective about human psychology, most of the time it seems they are wrong about what might actually be happening in a teenagers’ turbulent world. However, that is not the case with the movie Thirteen. In this coming-of-age drama, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and co-written by 13-year-old Nikki Reed, we follow the life of Tracy as she spurs through a transformation from an innocent young girl to a deviant teenager. At the edge of adolescence, Tracy is a smart, reserved
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Adolescent egocentrism, a term coined by David Elkind, is an emerging pattern of thought that is noted to also occur in early childhood. It refers to adolescents’ exaggeration of the importance, uniqueness, and severity of their experiences. Tracy and her mother’s relationship are most affected by this sudden change in Tracy’s attitude, because Tracy believes her interests and wants are of extreme importance. She exemplifies this through her relations with her mother. Her mother, Mel, is a hairdresser running a small business from within their home. Often times, Mel’s clients were friends and acquaintances that abused their stay by leaving behind children to be babysat by Tracy and unwelcomely crashing on couches and inside bedrooms. Tracy at first openly offers to help her mother when asked, but as her egocentric attitude becomes more evident Tracy begins to hinder her mother’s business by interrupting her work with vile arguments and running clients out of the house. There are two components that complete adolescent egocentrism: imaginary audience and personal fable. Imaginary audience would be an adolescent’s feeling of being the center of scrutiny and can account for some of the mood swings experienced in adolescence. For example, Tracy experienced this imaginary audience at school like most teens, but when Evie pointed out Tracy’s socks in front of her friends Tracy went home and threw away all of
Adolescent egocentrism, a term coined by David Elkind, is an emerging pattern of thought that is noted to also occur in early childhood. It refers to adolescents’ exaggeration of the importance, uniqueness, and severity of their experiences. Tracy and her mother’s relationship are most affected by this sudden change in Tracy’s attitude, because Tracy believes her interests and wants are of extreme importance. She exemplifies this through her relations with her mother. Her mother, Mel, is a hairdresser running a small business from within their home. Often times, Mel’s clients were friends and acquaintances that abused their stay by leaving behind children to be babysat by Tracy and unwelcomely crashing on couches and inside bedrooms. Tracy at first openly offers to help her mother when asked, but as her egocentric attitude becomes more evident Tracy begins to hinder her mother’s business by interrupting her work with vile arguments and running clients out of the house. There are two components that complete adolescent egocentrism: imaginary audience and personal fable. Imaginary audience would be an adolescent’s feeling of being the center of scrutiny and can account for some of the mood swings experienced in adolescence. For example, Tracy experienced this imaginary audience at school like most teens, but when Evie pointed out Tracy’s socks in front of her friends Tracy went home and threw away all of