Identity In The Film Charlie

The film shows multiple adolescents struggling to find their identity as they are going through a challenging time in their lives. At the beginning of the film Charlie writes to his pen pal and he discusses how he is happy that he can talk to this person because he was worried people would see him as a weird kid that had to go to the hospital. That says a lot about Charlie’s self-conceptions about himself (p. 255). It seems Charlie believes that he is the weird kid that went to the hospital and he is shocked if anyone thinks anything different about him. Charlie writes to his pen pal later in the movie with a sense of agency as he tells his pen pal that he has not been writing, as he has been trying to participate in his own life. Thus, showing

However, Charlie’s self-consciousness becomes evident on the first day of school when he knows the answers to the teachers question but does not raise his hand (p. 260). He later told his teacher that he was worried people would view him as a “teacher’s pet.” When watching the film, it is evident that Charlie sees one of his possible selves as being a successful writer. Charlie receives a lot of encouragement from his friends and his teacher to become a writer. Since Charlie sees that as a potential identity for himself, his friends bought him a typewriter and a writer’s outfit to help him become his possible self (p. 255). Out of all the characters in the movie Charlie seems to have the least self-image stability as his self-image changes a lot from day to day. Charlie’s self-image stability is dependent on how people view him, which is constantly fluctuating as he is a bullied freshman whose friends are seniors, so they are not always there to support him (p. 260). Charlie’s future orientations became visible when he decides to call his sister before he tries to kill himself, as he knew the potential consequences of his decision would negatively affect his family (p.

268; Glebe & Pratt, 2017, Lesson 8). Throughout the film, it is discussed that Sam has a history of bad relationships with boys that do not treat her well. Patrick and the rest of Sam’s friends tell Charlie they think it is because of her low self-esteem. Charlie asks his teach why people date people that are bad for them and his teacher says, “we accept the love we think we deserve” (Chbosky, 2012). Thus, implying that Sam’s low self-esteem causes her to think she deserves someone that will not treat her well (p. 255). The gender intensification hypothesis takes place in many of the characters however it is very prevalent with the character of Brad. Brad is a homosexual teenager who is not ready to come out to the public. Therefore, he chooses to overcompensate for his sexuality by acting as a straight hyper-masculine football player to conform to sex-appropriate behaviour (p. 281). Patrick is Brad’s opposite as he has a better sense of identity. Patrick is a homosexual teenager that is secure with himself enough to be open about his sexuality to everyone he knows (p.