What distinguishes a teen from a child or an adult? Sometimes it is hard to tell. Adolescents need supervision, guidance, and structure just as children do. But they also need independence as do adults. So what makes a teen a teen? There are many qualities adolescents have that distinguishes them from both childhood and adulthood. The film The Spectacular Now can be used as a case study to explore five such characteristics. These characteristics are physical development, risk-taking over decision-making, moral growth, resistance culture, and finally the search for a personal identity. Each of the characteristics is displayed by the leads Sutter and Aimee over the course of the film.
In The Spectacular Now the main character, Sutter Keely, displays …show more content…
But the cognitive development is important to take into consideration. According to Woolfolk (2013), for teens, the pre-frontal lobe of the brain that governs judgment and decision-making is not finished developing, which allows the risk-taking and reward-seeking limbic system to reign in controlling behavior (p. 36). This causes teens to be more impulsive and make decisions that an adult would stop and think about before doing. Sutter shows this phenomenon throughout the film, with a variety of impulsive decisions that may or may not result in unwanted experiences. His first encounter with Aimee, for example, is the result of choosing to drive while intoxicated. He regularly chooses to reward himself with alcohol rather than to deal with his problems sober. Aimee also displays this behavior. She makes Sutter the central focus of her life despite her good reputation and achievement. She puts her possible future at risk by associating with Sutter. When he rejects her, she says, “You’re all that matters to me,” which shows her limbic system is at play. Both continuously make decisions that could be construed as unwise. But with the limbic system in control, it can be argued that they cannot help themselves. The cognitive development of Sutter and Aimee influence the other areas of their development, especially the moral …show more content…
He begs and pesters his mother constantly to allow him to see his father, and when he finally gets his way, he becomes completely shaken by his father’s irresponsible and immature behavior. He takes his father’s faults as his own, claiming that he is a loser just like his dad. He builds his partying reputation around the fact that people claim he is a joke, like his father. The avoidance of schoolwork and poor performance on testing all ties in with his belief that he does not need college and is going to be a drunk the way his father is. Sutter’s idea of identity revolves around his father. Woolfolk (2013), writes that “adolescence marks the first time that a conscious effort is made to answer the now-pressing question: ‘Who am I’?” (p.90). Sutter’s answer to this important question developed over years of the confusion he had from remembering his father’s antics and then realizing that those antics were more than just being a silly, funny guy. Now he cannot figure out who he wants to be. Does he want to make something of himself, or will he become a joke like his dad? Aimee also seeks an identity throughout the film, though she is more concerned with separating herself from her family than Sutter is. She wants popularity and status, and more importantly, to be Sutter 's girlfriend. All of this comes into question when she realizes Sutter is not going to give her those identity
In The Spectacular Now the main character, Sutter Keely, displays …show more content…
But the cognitive development is important to take into consideration. According to Woolfolk (2013), for teens, the pre-frontal lobe of the brain that governs judgment and decision-making is not finished developing, which allows the risk-taking and reward-seeking limbic system to reign in controlling behavior (p. 36). This causes teens to be more impulsive and make decisions that an adult would stop and think about before doing. Sutter shows this phenomenon throughout the film, with a variety of impulsive decisions that may or may not result in unwanted experiences. His first encounter with Aimee, for example, is the result of choosing to drive while intoxicated. He regularly chooses to reward himself with alcohol rather than to deal with his problems sober. Aimee also displays this behavior. She makes Sutter the central focus of her life despite her good reputation and achievement. She puts her possible future at risk by associating with Sutter. When he rejects her, she says, “You’re all that matters to me,” which shows her limbic system is at play. Both continuously make decisions that could be construed as unwise. But with the limbic system in control, it can be argued that they cannot help themselves. The cognitive development of Sutter and Aimee influence the other areas of their development, especially the moral …show more content…
He begs and pesters his mother constantly to allow him to see his father, and when he finally gets his way, he becomes completely shaken by his father’s irresponsible and immature behavior. He takes his father’s faults as his own, claiming that he is a loser just like his dad. He builds his partying reputation around the fact that people claim he is a joke, like his father. The avoidance of schoolwork and poor performance on testing all ties in with his belief that he does not need college and is going to be a drunk the way his father is. Sutter’s idea of identity revolves around his father. Woolfolk (2013), writes that “adolescence marks the first time that a conscious effort is made to answer the now-pressing question: ‘Who am I’?” (p.90). Sutter’s answer to this important question developed over years of the confusion he had from remembering his father’s antics and then realizing that those antics were more than just being a silly, funny guy. Now he cannot figure out who he wants to be. Does he want to make something of himself, or will he become a joke like his dad? Aimee also seeks an identity throughout the film, though she is more concerned with separating herself from her family than Sutter is. She wants popularity and status, and more importantly, to be Sutter 's girlfriend. All of this comes into question when she realizes Sutter is not going to give her those identity