Introduction
It is critical to assert that psychology has always emerged as a popular topic in contemporary movies and films. Conversely, concerns exist within the discipline that its general portrayal alongside psychological disorders and psychologists needs to be more accurate. Nevertheless, Room 2015 is an essential film with psychological aspects linked to the lifespan development theory. According to Spielman et al. (2021), the lifespan development theory strives to describe the human development process that spans from birth to death, whereby growth gets experienced across the cognitive, emotional, social, and psychological realms. The movie was written by Emma Donoghue, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, and released in November 2015. It strives to raise concerns associated with the importance of the lifespan development theory. This essay seeks to investigate the film with respect to the developmental theme.
Background and Overview
Room is a film revolving around Jack, a young boy, and the mother named Joy, that are held hostage in a shed they call the ‘Room’ by a man that kidnapped Joy during her teenage years. Jack is therefore conceived and born in captivity. At the beginning of the movie, he is shown celebrating his fifth birthday, whereby he has never experienced the outside world. According to Jack, Room is the only piece of reality that exists. Notably, Room possesses a T.V. set that Jack watches every day. In this light, anything outside the confined environment exists in the T.V.’s reality. The reason is that Jack and Joy can only glimpse the external world through the skylight on the shed’s roof. The entire reality gets challenged when Jack and the mother escape, and the former gets to experience a multifaceted globe and reality he never expected, but everyone else seems to take it for granted. Room offers a unique glimpse of life on the other side of traumatic experiences-the long yet exhausting journey towards emotional and psychological recovery. Jack and Joy face confusion, doubt, and anger and do not have a clear path to adapting to the unfamiliar world as a new reality. At other times, after escaping, they seem to long for the familiarity and safety that Room gave them (Robb, 2016). Overall, Jack becomes accustomed to the new world and starts to make friends and thrive. Joy realizes that she must adapt to foster a strong presence that the developing son obliges.
The Film and Lifespan Development
Numerous life events impact Jack, and varying developmental issues arise. The earliest impact when it comes to Jack’s development revolves around the infancy and early childhood stage. He gets born into captivity, and it emerges as the only life he is familiar with. He accepts this life until later when he is told it was all a lie. The event links to developmental domains, including the physical, cognitive, physical, and psychosocial. However, the physical and psychosocial domains are the domains that impact the event. According to Berk (2022), physical development revolves around changes and growth in the brain, body, sense, motor skills, and even health. On the other hand, psychosocial development entails personality, emotions, memory, social linkages, language, attention, learning, reasoning, and creativity. In this regard, the period between a child’s second and sixth birthday is crucial for rich development, where they grow rapidly across the social, cognitive, and physical aspects. For instance, they develop language skills that assist them in navigating their world.
Focusing on the film, Jack is bound to struggle, for instance, when it comes to communicating with other kids initially. The reason is that he is only accustomed to hearing the mother. Berk (2022) asserts that peers play a significant role in language acquisition by children. The biggest challenge, in this case, would be around pragmatics which revolves around where social communication intersects with language. Jack cannot navigate the social dynamics most kids observe and participate in as he learns about the world from a single source. He, therefore, could be frightened of the outside world, and as depicted, he is uncommunicative. Besides, isolation makes him prone to psychiatric issues like depression. The unique thing is that Jack does not realize that he is socially isolated until later on.
According to the lifespan development theory, physical development revolves around changes in aspects like nutrition, body, health, and growth changes. In this light, children should grow up in a healthy environment where they feed and receive excellent care. The standards ensure that the child develops physically. Jack spends his first five years in what can get stated to be a healthy context. Despite being confined, physical development proves to be hard to assess. The reason is that Joy strives hard to ensure that Jack engages in physical activity within the confines of the shed. For instance, she encourages jack to run from one wall to another, practicing yoga and varying calisthenics forms. However, these efforts could be fruitless, given that their place is small. As Jack grows, it does not make sense to continue engaging in physical activity in the small area, and therefore physical development is bound to get stunted. Consequently, it would foster underdevelopment in other domains and increase the mental disorder risk.
There is also the cognitive aspect of development. Jack has numerous negative experiences that could stunt his cognitive growth. For instance, he gets forced to witness the suffering of the mother. While Joy strives to shield Jack from the physical and sexual violence she experiences from Old Nick, Jack sometimes witnesses the abuse. Such experiences can be damaging to a child as being a direct victim. It means that Jack gets exposed to significant stress levels, doubling the risk of developing issues like depression, anxiety, or even post-traumatic stress disorder. At another time, Jack gets prompted to play dead inside a rug. Condon et al. (2019) assert that children that witness or experience chronic stressors are bound to be vulnerable to physical and emotional health issues across their lifespan.
Another event for the protagonist revolves around watching his mum evolve. Jack’s life is consumed by that of the mother in the Room. On the other hand, Joy’s life gets consumed by Jack’s, and her mental health is in shambles. In this light, Joy strives to care for Jack at the confinement to the detriment of her mental well-being. It is visible after they manage to escape. For instance, Jack finds that Joy has overdosed, and she gets hospitalized. For the first time, Jack has to manage without the mother in his psychosocial development. Psychosocial development is linked to interpersonal skills, personality, friendships, and relationship building. Jack lacks in these, but Joy’s worries over this are unwarranted. The reason is that Jack starts to adapt after an initial shyness period. Notably, he depicts resilience and even links closely with his grandfather’s dog, the grandmother, and a boy his age (Robb, 2016). Jack also gains confidence and joy in minor aspects, like walking down the staircase. While the development across the psychosocial domain could initially be lacking, he can make significant strides quickly. Conversely, excellent yet attentive parenting is beneficial when it comes to the lifespan development of children. In this regard, Jack has a meaningful relationship with his mother, which could insulate him from potential psychological issues. During the captivity, for instance, Joy strives to stimulate Jack’s mind by singing lullabies, telling him stories, and even playing with him. This form of maternal care could serve as a buffer against the deleterious impact of the initial isolation.
At the film’s end, it is evident that Jack and Joy are hopeful. They even strive to achieve closure by re-visiting Room and saying final goodbyes. It marks the start of Jack and Joy’s ideal psychosocial, cognitive, and physical development. The implication is that Jack will enter middle childhood with minimal impairment, especially if his earlier issues can get resolved. Conversely, there are still risks linked to jack’s development. Nusslock & Miller (2016) support this by asserting that children that get exposed to adversity earlier on in life become prone to health issues like substance misuse, depression, anxiety, and rheumatic, metabolic, allergic, and neoplastic ailments. In this light, Jack should engage in professional psychotherapy alongside his mother.
References
Berk, L. E. (2022). Development through the lifespan. Sage Publications. https://www.academia.edu/download/40994077/laura_berk.pdf
Condon, E. M., Holland, M. L., Slade, A., Redeker, N. S., Mayes, L. C., & Sadler, L. S. (2019). Maternal adverse childhood experiences, family strengths, and chronic stress in children. Nursing research, 68(3), 189. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6488406/
https://ww1.goojara.to/mvp0dE
Nusslock, R., & Miller, G. E. (2016). Early-life adversity and physical and emotional health across the lifespan: A neuroimmune network hypothesis. Biological psychiatry, 80(1), 23-32. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4670279/
Robb, A. (2016, January 20). How would the ordeal in the room affect a kid in real life? Slate Magazine. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://slate.com/culture/2016/01/how-the-ordeal-in-room-would-affect-a-real-life-kid.html
Spielman, R. M., Dumper, K., Jenkins, W., Lacombe, A., Lovett, M., & Perlmutter, M. (2021). What Is Lifespan Development?. Psychology-H5P Edition. https://opentextbc.ca/h5ppsychology/chapter/what-is-lifespan-development/
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