October Sky Psychology Write-Up

Film Write-up 1 October jactitate is a based on a true story about a digging t makeship called Coalwood and one boys journey. kor Hickam is an adolescent boy whose life has been predetermined by his father, a foreman at the coalmine, to regulate down in the mines but he has a different final cause for his life. In October 1957, e realthing changes when the counterbalance artificial satellite, Sputnik goes into orbit. After he sees the satellite flying across the nights sky, Homer becomes inspired to learn how to build rockets.With his fri extirpates, who also are designate for the mines, and the local nerd, Homer sets to do just that by trial and a lot of error. Unfortunately, most of the town, especially Homers father, thinks that the boys are wasting their time. They dresst believe in what these kids are es read to accomplish, the only one who has faith in them is their uplifted schoolhouse teacher, Miss Riley. She understands what theyre trying to do and gives them the support and encouragement they need to become contenders in the national science fair with a college scholarships and a life out of the mines being the awarding.The four boys, Homer being their leader, fight through accusations by the law and attempts to destroy their dreams. They ban together along with the wait on of their once doubting town, in particular Homers father, to bring home the first prize at the science fair and go on to change their stars. Throughout the movie you could see in that respect was great tension between Homer and his father and I think it affects the relationships that he makes in the movie. At first we see Homer pining after one of the beautiful popular girls in his school but she is unattainable.Just like his fathers relationship, he cant have the affection that he wants and because of this he overlooks the girl who it quiet but beautiful inside and out who is clearly in revel with him. Once Homer figures out his place in the community and in truthiz es he doesnt need to work hard for a love thats not there he opens himself up to a real true love. I would characterize this as Eriksons stage, intimacy versus closing off where young adults need to manikin intimate, loving relationships and failure leads to loneliness and isolation.Because he struck out with the popular girl he went into isolation and focused only on his rockets. We also see Homer in Eriksons stage of individuality versus role confusion, while he was figuring out what his heart wanted we also see him trying to figure himself out. In the pedigree, Homer didnt know who he was, or what his life path was press release to be. He knew his father and the rest of the town had the idea that he would be a coal miner but he wasnt so sure what life held for him.It wasnt until his teacher encouraged him to charge up himself intellectually that he found his love for rocketry and science that he really began to find his identity. In the end when he becomes this town hero an d wins the science fair, his father shows up to his final rocket launch for the first time and we see Homer really feeling like hes become his own man and he has that respect hes always wanted from his father. I would also say that Homer exhibits two of the characteristics of adolescent egocentrism he shows invincibility fable and personal fable.In the very beginning of the movie when Homer starts out testing his very first rockets they werent well made or accurate but he still went ahead and tested out his ideas without throwing any caution to the wind. His very first rocket blew up his mothers fence but he still carried on make his ideas into a reality without testing them in a safe environment, the next rocket flew into the mining site and almost hit the workers. As Homer became more seasoned in his rocket making and more serious about his craft, he moved his test launches to an empty field which proved to be much safer for him and the community around him.The other characterist ic he exhibits is personal fable. He feels that his life is destined for something bigger than what has been set out for him. He believes there is something unique about himself that he needs to dower with the world. While his father and everyone else, including his friends, look down on this idea of breaking out of the mold he still stuck with his idea of becoming something bigger and better. At the end of the story he does in incident become the town hero and his dreams of greatness come to fruition as he grows up.