Gilcy Lovely P.

Grande BSA 2-1 REACTION PAPER IN PSYCHOLOGY

Submitted to: Maam Hayalee Joy C. Vicente

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button There is no way to deny that the film is indeed strange yet classic. But what really amazed me was the extraordinary life of the lead character, Benjamin Button, who was born old and eventually grew younger and younger until he reached infancy as his stage of death. Though there are some who are saying that this movie was based on a true story, I certainly dont believe it. Its irrational to think that a person can actually be born old and eventually age in reverse. It could only be depicted in fiction stories or movies. In the case of Benjamin Button, he was born old with the physicality of an eighty-year old man but his mind or way of thinking was the same with that of the normal infant. His view of the world was also limited just like a child despite his old appearance. But as he grew younger, his outlook of the world developed and synthesized. Benjamin also seemed to have undergone the several steps of human development in the same order like the normal ones only that his physical characteristics had shifted the normal sequence.

During the early days of Benjamin, we clearly saw that he is just like any other child who depends on his mother or parents for his basic needs. Similar to toddlers, he also learned how to walk and wanted to explore the things around. Just like a curious child, he also grew curious for the people around him. He also played with child toys. Its funny when those people who didnt know about his condition used to call him grandpa or grandfather when in fact hes still a child. I can say that he was also raised normally despite his old appearance because his development also characterized some of the themes in human development. His cognition, personality, emotional and social aspect integrated throughout his life. The normative influences on him might have been the elderly people whom he lived with. He was used to interacting with old people because he lived in a nursing home for the aged. Benjamin learned lessons through his fleeting interactions with elderly residents, as well as middle-aged guests and young visitors. He might have been locked on the world of the elderly and he was not exposed to a much colorful environment as what the usual kids are being exposed to. His microsystem is also effective and supportive to him despite his appearance. He was lucky because he was carefully taken care by Queenie, the one who raised him as her own. However, I didnt clearly observe his interaction with other children or with his mesosystem because he rarely went out of their house. His aged appearance caused social difficulties and isolation to him, especially when he wished to interact with people of his own age. The way Benjamin was treated at the beginning of the movie had a great impact on his development later on. If he were exposed to a more active environment, he might have grown more vocal and lively.

Benjamin Buttons life has been truly extraordinary. His experiences provided him with ample amounts of purpose, joy and sorrow. I was surprised about his development during his age of adolescence. Because of his deceiving appearance, he was able to try things that are supposedly for adults only, like drinking liquor. But I think its also good that he developed the sense of independence just like what other teenagers exhibit. His education was also not mentioned in the film. His life seemed to have circulated more on love and pleasures of love. As Benjamin is accepted in society and had an intimate relationship with Daisy, he reached the love or belonging phase. When both of them were already at the same age or stage, Benjamin and Daisy had all the time to enjoy life together. I consider them a really happy couple at that time because theyre like free birds that can fly anywhere. At that stage, Benjamins mentality has completely matured. I just noticed that he didnt even have any ambition or goal in his life. He seemed to be preoccupied that he might not be able to do all the things that he can while he is at a particular stage. When Benjamin and Daisy had a child, I was expecting that their child will have the same case with Benjamin. In my opinion, Benjamins morality is hard to distinguish. He might have just stayed in the conventional level where he based his morality in social setting or he probably have reached the postconventional level where he came to a point that he realized that he cannot be a father to his child when hes continuing to become younger, so he left his wife and child. At that time, he didnt care about his own sake because what matters to him more are his wife and daughter. Actually, I felt sad about it. Above all, Benjamins experiences provided shape to his life. Typically, an older person would be somewhere near the top of the pyramid, which is about esteem and self-actualization phase. I can say that he also surpassed this phase. As he grew younger, he saw more acutely than anyone else the passage of time. Everyone else is just aging together, not noticing day-to-day changes, but Benjamins observation is keen. His hardship plugged him right into the sadness of the universe and put him at a distance from the rest of humanity. I was more surprised when he reached the age of 12 when his memory weakened due to aging in mentality, like what the elderly experiences. It looks like his memory or mentality gradually slowed down in opposite to his younger body. His mentality is normal, notwithstanding his physicality. Because of that, I understand more of his extraordinary development and made me think if that condition is really possible in real life. I think his situation may just be compared to progeria syndrome which is an extremely rare genetic condition wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age. Over-all, this movie is a great depiction of many aspects of human development. I liked analyzing it because the stages and theories of human development may not be in the same order but they are still apparent. Benjamin's backwards life is entirely just like our own. As one of the characters said, we're all going the same place; we just take different paths to get there." What we have to realize is that weve got to start living, now.