“The Fault with our Stars” Movie Analysis
The Movie, “The Fault with our Stars”, narrates the romance between two teenagers diagnosed with cancer. The relationship between the children and their parents and among each other shows the different developmental milestones of teenagers. In the film, Hazel Grace, diagnosed with thyroid cancer, meets Augustus Waters at a support center, and they fall in love. They get the opportunity to visit Amsterdam to meet the author of a book, Counter-insurgence, that has left Hazel with disappointment due to its sudden ending. The reactions of the teenagers are aligned by the psychosocial theory, as proposed by Sigmund Freud. The teenagers achieve significant growth milestones in the movie and demonstrate that individuals at teenage desire a high degree of independence from their parents.
Hazel and Augustine “Gus” fall in love after meeting at the support center. Their relation grows more profound from the exchange of novels and text messages to engage in sex for the first time while in Amsterdam. The relationship they enjoy aligns with Freud’s psychosexual theory that proposes that children go through several growth states defined by pleasure-seeking behavior. Freud averred that the genital stage takes place between puberty and death, characterized by an attraction to the opposite sex. The romantic relationship between Hazel and “Gus” reflects the attainment of the final stage in psychosexual development postulated by Freud (Cherry, 2014). The two lovebirds develop the idea of traveling to Amsterdam and show that they have achieved the milestone of independence from parents. They depict the physical components of attraction through the exchange of books as an expression of care for each other. The lovebirds reveal that they have matured and need independence from parents.
Haze experience confusion when he reads the book “An Imperfect Affliction” and is disturbed by its abrupt ending. She is concerned that she will die of cancer and leave her parents with sorrow. While at the hospital, she notices the reaction of her mother, and this pains her. She believes that she is the “alpha and Omega” of their troubles (Godfrey and Boone, 2014). Her journey, alongside “Gus” to Amsterdam, is an attempt to solve the confusion in her mind. Eric Ericson defined growth in different stages, including the fifth stage of identity and confusion. At this stage, Erikson opined that individuals explore independence to achieve meaning in life (Chávez, 2016). Hazel’s quest for meaning after her impending death illustrates her struggles at the identity and confusion stage. The two lovers spend considerable time with each other away from their parents as a sign that they have achieved the developmental milestone of independence from parents. Hazel seeks a cognitive understanding of events around her by contacting the author of the book to find meaning. In the journey that the lovebirds take to Amsterdam, they fail to obtain satisfactory answers. Nevertheless, Hazel realizes that the novel was about a real-life person and finds the answers to her dilemmas during “Gus’s” funeral. Hazel goes through the process of searching for answers in the movie and demonstrates her quest to find meaning in her life based on Erikson’s theory.
The movie illustrates how adolescents think about an uncertain future through the character of Hazel. After reading the book “An Imperfect Affliction,” embarks on a journey to find the author to find answers to what happened to the main character. She envisions herself in Anna’s personality and is worries about what will happen to her Parents when she dies (Godfrey and Boone, 2014). Her quest for understanding reflects her realization of the formal realization stage, as proposed by Piaget. At this stage, adolescents think about abstract relations and things in life (Babakr, Mohamedamin, and Kakamad, 2019). Hazel thinks deeply about death and the misery she has caused her parents after reading the inconclusive book. She sees her life as incomplete until she realizes that her mother is taking classes to enable her to offer support to teenagers who have cancer. Anna experiences socioemotional development when, at “Gus’s” funeral, the two families give significant support to his burial. It is at the funeral that she obtains answers; she realizes that Anna, the main character in the book, was a real character. Contrary to what the author had said, Hazel is satisfied that there was life after the death of Anna. Hazel is happy to learn that her mother has planned for life after her death by taking care of children affected by cancer (Godfrey and Boone, 2014). The experience creates a perfect closure to the movie by answering the lingering questions in Hazel’s mind about what will happen to her parents after her demise.
“The Fault with our Stars is an emotional movie” that depicts the struggles of teenagers to find meaning in life. Hazen and Augustine experience love and exercise independence from their parents by spending considerable time together. Hazel seeks meaning after identifying with Anna, the main character in the book, “An Imperfect Affliction.” The movie shows how the characters experience physical, cognitive, and socioemotional growth through their actions and experiences. Hazel and Augustine depict the stages of growth as postulated by Sigmund Freud, Eric Erikson, and Piaget. The movie is a perfect representation of the experiences and developmental milestones of teenage life.
References
Babakr, Z. H., Mohamedamin, P., & Kakamad, K. (2019). Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory: Critical Review. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(3).
Chávez, R. (2016). Psychosocial development factors associated with occupational and vocational identity between infancy and adolescence. Adolescent Research Review, 1(4), 307-327.
Cherry, K. (2014). Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development. Very Well Mind. Accessed 2nd May 2020 from https://www.verywellmind.com/freuds-stages-of-psychosexual-development-2795962
Godferey, W. and Boone, J. (2014). The Fault in Our Stars (Motion Picture). United States; 20th Century Fox