Character Analysis of Sam Dawson from the Film, 'I Am Sam'

In the movie, Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks plays an intellectually handicapped man named Forrest Gump from Greenbow, Alabama. The majority of the movie took place through his recounting of his memories from early childhood all the way up to his current age. This paper looks at Forrest’s ability to communicate, his diligence in a relationship, ability to cope, and his self-perception.

The movie Rudy is about the life of Daniel E. “Rudy” Ruettiger, the protagonist or hero (page 59) and his journey (page 60) to pursue his dream of attending the University of Notre Dame and playing football for the Fighting Irish. Act I begins in the late 1960’s in a small town south of Chicago, Illinois, where Rudy grew up (ordinary world page 61). The antagonists or villains (page 59) of the story are his father, brothers, girlfriend and teachers. Throughout his life, they (the antagonists) have always told him what he could and couldn’t do. Repeatedly, they said that he wasn’t smart enough to go to college at Notre Dame and that he wasn’t big enough, fast enough or athletic enough to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. Rudy’s only ally was his childhood best friend Pete, who always believed and supported him in pursuing his dreams. Because Pete believed so much in Rudy, he bought him a Notre Dame football jersey from a thrift store for his birthday. Pete’s father used to say, “having dreams is what makes life tolerable”. After the unfortunate work-related death of his dear friend, Pete, Rudy faces the decision whether to continue a life working in the steel mill with his father and brothers or pursue his lifelong dream to attend college at Notre Dame and play for the Fighting Irish football team. As Act I closes, Rudy buys a bus ticket to South Bend, Indiana.

My first subject is Forrest Gump, in analyzing Forrest we understand how he correlates toward the psychoanalytic theory (p. 35-38). Since Forrest has an IQ of 75, which is reflected as intellectually disabled or formerly called mental retarded. Forrest is incapable of preserving the necessary abilities that require language, comprehension, mathematics, and social communication. Forrest has overcome the actuality that he’s distinguished and classified as intellectually disabled, with the encouragement of his mother, Forrest has developed a sense of self (p. 335-336 & 339-340).

I Am Sam is a touching movie that demonstrates, despite any impairment – anyone is capable of love. Sam Dawson, a forty-year-old man, has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. The movie begins with Sam having a child with a homeless woman, whom abandons him shortly after they leave the hospital. His daughter, Lucy, becomes the love of his life. He raises her alone, with the assistance of a great support system. As she ages, his limitations began to be stunt her educational growth. She begins to hold herself back because she doesn’t want to surpass her father’s educational level. The authorities end up taking Lucy away due to the assumption that Sam isn’t capable of giving her the life she deserves. He then hires a lawyer to manage his case pro bono. The movie is spent with Sam fighting for his rights to his daughter. In the end, love wins and Lucy is back where she belongs, with Sam. He proves to everyone that if you have the capacity to love, you have the ability to fight for it.

“Only as I age have I begun to realize that I have spent all my life among the non-disabled trying to measure up.” – Narrator

seeing herself as a lesser being due to her handicap, to a blossoming young woman who

War is when two or more nation groups have an armed conflict. In April 1775, an armed conflict began. The war was known as, the American Revolution. The American Revolution was a war of principles fought between the Loyalists and Patriots. The Loyalist were men who chose to be loyal to their king and who feared and did not want any chaos; Patriots were the opposite. Hankering, the Patriots believed in having principles for their freedom and nothing could stop them from achieving what they wanted. Although, the main groups in the war was between the Loyalists and Patriots there was numerous people who chose not to become a Loyalist nor to become a Patriot. For example, Tim in the novel, My Brother Sam Is Dead, struggles to make a decision to become a Patriot or a Loyalist .

As Sam and Rita are preparing for the trial, Sam states that he feels he is smarter than Lucy in some ways. He then tells Rita he is in some ways smarter than her, too. Here, Sam is displaying the confident side of himself. On the other hand, Sam seemed to parallel my assumption that disabled people can be fragile in ways that are not related to their disability. We see this after Sam loses hope of winning his case as he says to Rita, “You don't know what it’s like when you try and you try and you don't ever get there! Because you were born perfect and I was born like this. People like you don't know what it’s like to get hurted, because you don't have feelings. People like you don't feel anything!” Many people tend to perceive disabled people lacking emotion or feeling, or that their emotion is just part of their disability. It seems that Sam thinks that feeling sad is part of his disability, but what he doesn’t know is that everyone experiences intense emotions. He lacks the realization that anybody getting their child taken away from them would have feelings similar to his. His statement raised questions in my mind about how all disabled people perceive able bodied people. Sam also displayed one of my assumptions that “disabled people are more comfortable around each other compared to being with abled people”. Sam’s best friends in the movie all happen to be disabled in some way as

As the story started we were introduced to a character named Gregor Samsa we didn't find out about much of his past but we did learn lots about him as the story went on. In the beginning of the story, Gregor woke up and he suddenly was a bug. He was not sure how this happened but somehow it did. He noticed he had a rounded back and had short stubby arms and legs. He also noticed he had more features that a bug would have.

Peter Singer, claims that “people with very severe disabilities are likely to live lives that are not as good” this blanket statement has raised a lot of questions, whereby, Singer defends his argument by claiming that people with disabilities do not have the same prospects as those born without disabilities. Singer’s claim is based on his assumption that disabled people are not able to achieve a decent level of wellbeing. He argues that people innately believe that disabled individuals are not capable of achieving a normal level of wellbeing due to, his idea, that mothers would not knowingly harm (disable) their children.

Riley reports that disabled celebrities are seen as the object of pity, ultimately depriving them of feelings of normality. As well as pointing

Disability has appeared frequently in recent films (Byrd & Elliot, 1988), a reflection of society’s interest in the subject. These films often misrepresent disability using stereotypes. These stereotypes reinforce negative and incorrect social perceptions of, and attitudes towards,

A few years ago, my sister introduced me to the film ‘Benny and Joon,’ a story about a woman in her twenties with a disability that is more or less undefined throughout the film. She lives with her brother who works full-time but hires several “housekeepers” that he has watch over her at home. She comes off quite content, mainly painting all day and going about her everyday routines. At first, she may just come off as a “stereotypical temperamental artist”(Tibbets) but her painting at a rapid rate, extreme pickiness of food (eating mainly captain crunch and peanut butter smoothies), unique mannerisms, and outbursts suggest that she may be on the spectrum. There are scenes where she puts on a scuba mask and attempts to direct traffic in the middle of the street with a Ping-Pong paddle; an episode that the article ‘The Patronizing “adorable” side of Schizophrenia in Benny and Joon’ addressed could be an indication of schizophrenia or bipolar disorders. The most recent “housekeeper” quits after one of Joon’s “outbursts.” After reading critiques by people with disabilities themselves and other sources, I have begun seeing this movie a new light, introducing a sadly patronizing and demeaning representation of disability and her family/societies inappropriate response to her condition.

I Am Sam is the compelling story of Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) with the help of an extraordinary group of friends. As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their situation comes under the scrutiny of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care.

The movie, I Am Sam is about a single father who has a developmental disability and who has an IQ of a seven-year-old who wants and tries to take care of his baby daughter. He had his daughter, Lucy with a homeless woman and she left Sam just after she had her. There are some complications and then he loses her through court because people convince him he could not give her the love she deserved. The article online and the movie were the same. In many people’s opinion, books are better than the movies but I feel the opposite way. I like to watch the movies and see all the emotion and drama visually and not comprehensively.