Beginning Of The Movie Their Self Concept example essay topic
Allyson, she wears all black, never talks and has no friends so she is a basket case. Brian, an A+ student, nerd that is part of the physics club and gets locked in his own locker. Bender, a loser that has nothing better to do then smoke pot, get into trouble and be a jerk. And Andy, a hot shot jock that doesn't care about anything but his sports.
All of the categories that these kids put eachother in don't even relate to who they are. They automatically judge eachother and assume there places in society by they way the look and who their friends are. Throughout the day all of them become closer and get to know eachother. Finally they start to realize that their first impressions of eachother were wrong. They were all misunderstood by one another and themselves. In the movie all of the individuals's elf concept is based on what the people around them tell them.
They are constantly being reminded of what and who they are. There are often social comparisons. They will compare themselves to other people to get a feel of who they are. In the beginning of the movie their self concept wasn't too deep. They believe they were what society named them, a princess, a jock, a brain, a nut case, and a delinquent. They didn't have much room to elaborate on themselves because people would remind them "who they were".
Bender, for example, thinks he is worthless and has no future for himself. His father is constantly telling him he's worthless and doesn't have potential to do anything. As well as school, the teachers constantly tell him he is a loser and will never amount to anything. Allyson also has the similar situation, her parents don't pay any attention to her, and everyone else thinks she is weird so they don't pay attention to her either. Then she begins to think no one wants to talk to her and she never talks, when she does she makes up lies so people will want to talk to her.
Both of them has negative self fulfilling prophecies. Their self worth has been brought down by social comparisons and reflected appraisals. They were all strangers at the beginning of the day, but as they go throughout the day they engage in self disclosure. I think they shared some personal information because there was no influence from the outside to reinforce their 'image'.
Soon enough they all let their guard down and opened up. At first they were skeptical about sharing themselves but they ended up engaging in self disclosure. I believe that it was a little easier for them to open up to strangers because they didn't know anything about each other, and it helped each person realize certain things about themselves they would have never known. Such as Claire, she admitted being a virgin.
Allyson, admitting she was a compulsive liar, Andy sharing with them about the pressures from his father, Brian explaining why he tried to commit suicide, and Bender sharing the pains of him family life. All five of them shared very deep information about each other, trying to get a self concept of themselves. While they are engaging in such high levels of self closure they build a strong foundation for relationships. Sharing is the most intimate thing you can do with another person, it opens yourself to someone else and helps you grow as a person. Due to the high levels of self disclosure they all become uniquely linked to each other. They have a special bond that they have never shared with any others, that's what makes it special.
I believe that they honestly like each other, and it would be hard for them to completely ignore each other at school.