Self-Concept In The Film Wild

In the movie Wild, Cheryl Strayed hikes the Pacific Crest Trail trying to find closure and discover her self worth. To me it seems like she is running from a troubled and psychologically damaged past. The trail is rough and she has a hard time getting through it on her own. The people she meets on the trail almost always help her in one way or another, whether they intended to or not. She ends up going through different stages of self-concept, self-esteem, and self efficacy.
Self concept is the relatively stable set of perceptions you hold of yourself, as defined by Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal Communication(70). To me, the self-concept is how we see ourselves. When Cheryl went to grief counseling, she didn’t see how her serious her problems were and saw herself as well adjusted and in no danger of hurting herself. She didn’t feel like she needed to be saved from that life when Paul showed up. when they get divorced and she changes her last name, she sees herself as someone very different than what she used to be, someone who has strayed off the path. When she makes it to the Bridge of Gods, she sees herself as someone who has overcome the obstacles and as someone who will get her life back on track. The voice over of her talks about how …show more content…
To me, self esteem is how we feel about ourselves and how good we feel about it. Cheryl acts like she feels good about herself in grief counseling, but she makes it obviously clear that she feels like she doesn’t matter when she rants about the galaxy poster. She lies and says that she has always felt like she has mattered, but she doesn’t and it is painfully clear. She says she felt good when she was having sex with anyone who asked, and she believed that. She felt like she mattered and that someone cared about her. It boosted her ego and made her feel