For this assignment, you will be watching the “Age 21 in America” documentary (see link below), and choose 4 of the characters in the movie to reflect on their trajectories. Make the character names bold in your first paragraph where you are telling me who you will be talking about in the paper. Character names should not be in bold in the rest of the paper. In the body of your paper, dedicate at least one paragraph to each character. For each character, you should integrate one concept/theory from the lecture to explain what happened to him/her. E.g. what did we learn in class that could explain why person X ended up in such great/bad place? The concepts/theories must come from adolescent or early adulthood chapters, NOT the earlier chapters. Even things like parenting styles are not okay to include. Also, needless to say that the theories should be different from each other (e.g. you can’t talk about two characters’ identity statuses and count this as two concepts). Theories and concepts must be in bold text. To be clear, your paper should include a total of four theories/concepts (one for each character).
For each theory/concept, elaborate enough to show me you’ve got a good grasp of the concept/theory. Also, note that I’m asking you to apply class concepts to behaviors and saying that person x was “lacking” something (e.g. pragmatic thought) is not the same as applying a class concept to the person’s behavior. In other words, tell me what the person is showing, not what she/he is not showing. Also, at the end, be sure to discuss what your take away point is having watched the two movies (Age 7 and 21 in America).
Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V00K_lR9lXY&t=6s
Frequently asked questions regarding this assignment:
Should we choose four concepts/theories and apply the four to all the four characters we choose? No, that would be impossible. Each character should have their own concept/theory and you should not apply that theory to the other three characters. For each character use the concept/theory that best explains his/her behavior.
Can two or more of the concepts/theories be about one of the characters? No, one concept/theory per character.
Can we include more concept/theories? I would prefer you choose four good ones than flooding the paper with concepts/theories, many of which may not be correctly applied. So choose the top 4 that you’re most confident about and use those.
Formatting guidelines: 1-2 pages, Times New Roman font, 12 point. Double-spaced. While a few lines into the third page is fine, you will lose 2-5 points if your paper goes beyond the page limit. Class concepts/theories must be in bold text. Grammar will be checked as well as organization and content. No need to cite lecture material. No need to use outside sources, but if you do, you must cite it following APA style guidelines.
List of characters in age 21 in America:
Luis (was working in the navy at 21), Lucy (the NYC girl who had a job at a publishing company. She was quite an eloquent speaker! ) Alexis (the swimmer), and Kate (the girl who decided to drive across the country to help areas hit with hurricane Katrina). Ashtyn (lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. Was already married at 21), LeRoy & Kennisha (the African American boy and girl who used to live in Robert Taylor housing project), Doughlas (worked at the cemetery and a pet shop), Vicky (the lawyer) and Mike (was into music and film making). Eric (the CEO and doctor!), Brandon (the one who had ADHD at age 14), Julio (spoke Spanish and came from El Salvador), Michael (the Japanese-American boy).