Film Activity

Marcos Alonso Rodrguez

Overview
In addition to entertaining us, movies oer detailed portrayals of life-span development. Your task in this
assignment is to analyze -- from a life-span development perspective -- the behaviors and events depicted
in one of the films listed below. You are not being asked to critique the film in terms of its value as a work of
art or as entertainment. Rather, you should think carefully about the human actions and events portrayed in
the film. Then, to make sense of this material, apply what you've learned regarding the factors that predict
and explain life-span development. This assignment is comprehensive: you need to bring any/all concepts
encountered in this course that relate to the issues, interactions, and behaviors portrayed.
Assignment
View the film you choose at least once. Then, after reviewing your notes and readings, identify at least two
life-span development topics that appear to be operating in the events or individuals depicted in the film
and which are relevant to the topics covered during the course.
For each principle that you identify:
a. Briefly describe the relevant scene or the characters evolution during the film (you may assume that
your reader has seen the film).

b. Describe in detail the life-span development topic you believe is relevant. Your job here is to
demonstrate that you understand the principle or theory, and that you can describe it in your own
words. An occasional quote from your text or another source is fine, but for the most part, you
should be conveying your knowledge without the aid of others words remember the rules about
avoiding plagiarism. Again, you need to show that you have a good understanding of the concept/
principle/theory.

c. Elaborate on how the selected scene illustrates the principle/theory you have identified. Its also
okay to write about how a scene might fails to follow predictions derived from a life-span
development principle or theory. Where possible, make reference to how your scene maps onto
specific research findings (for example, describe how the scene is similar to or dierent from
relevant experiments you've read or heard about). ) It's very important that you do more than simply
say something like this scene illustrates intellectual growth." You must be specific on precisely how
and in what form the scene illustrates intellectual growth, or how it fails to support what you learned
about intellectual growth in the class.

Remember, you must identify two life-span development topic that is relevant to your film. Your written
analysis should be succinct and well-written (5-6 pages). Be sure to include a short Introduction to orient
the reader, as well as a short discussion to tie things together.
Choosing your film
Possible films include:
Bend it like Beckham, The last king of Scotland, American History X, Crash, American Beauty, En el
estanque dorado (On golden pond), Todo lo que tu quieras, Barrio, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, Pequea
Miss Sunshine
No single film may be chosen by more than 2 students.
Submission date
End of year
Grading
Introduction (2 points)
Principle 1: Scene description (3 points); principle description (7 points), how scene maps onto principle (6
points)
Principle 2: Scene description (3 points), principle description (7 points), how scene maps onto principle (6
points)
Discussion (10 points) = 40 points possible
Presentation
You will also have the opportunity of presenting your paper during the last week of the course. The structure
and content of your presentation will be at your discretion bearing in mind that the time limit will be 8
minutes minutes.