Power In I Am Sam

The society depicted in the film I Am Sam (2001), has very clear hierarchal levels and we see how it effects disabled people as opposed to abled people and their families. Due to the fact that Lucy’s father Sam has a disability, he is placed at a lower level in the hierarchy and ultimately his daughter Lucy is there with him. The Dawson family being so low in the hierarchy of society has some negative impacts on Lucy and their family. I also do not think that the society in this film is very a child-friendly society. I feel as though there is many situations where Lucy is not treated fairly simply due to the fact that she is a child. An example of this from the film is when Lucy gets taken away from her father and although Lucy tries to say

First I will be discussing the issue of power, or in this case, powerlessness. I believe that in general, children do not hold a lot of power in this society. Most children in the film are restricted to what they are allowed to do. They have rules they must follow and punishments when they are broken. Which can be seen at Lucy’s 7th birthday party. Although I believe that overall most children do not have much power in this society, I think Rita’s son Willy holds a lot of power. Maybe not so much in society but he definitely holds a lot of power in his family and at home. Due to his parents’ busy work lives, Willy does not have very many rules to follow and does not have many consequences for the little rules he does have. For example when Rita brings Sam to her house to prepare for court, Rita tells Willy multiple times that he has to go to bed now. But Willy ignores his mother and continues to scooter around the house. Now, instead of punishing Willy and making him go to bed, Rita lets him stay up later than he should and do whatever he wants, while she focuses on her work. This shows how much power Willy has over his mother. When it comes to Lucy I do not think

The discourse that Lucy represents is an innocent, knowing child. Lucy has a very good understanding of the situation. I believe she knows that her father is disabled and how severe it is and that social services believes that because of his disability he is not fit to raise his daughter. I think she also understands that although being raised by her father will come with some challenges she understands how important it is for her to stay with him and that despite his disability he is still able to provide for her and give her unconditional love, which Sam says is all you need to be a good parent. All of Lucy’s actions are also done in a very innocent manner. For example, when she tells her dad that she was told by the social worker that they were allowed to leave social services and spend the day together, she was not doing this to try to get him or herself in trouble. She only lied to her father because she just wanted to spend some time with him without all the social workers around and supervising them. She knows her father is of no harm to her and did not think lying to spend the day with him would be looked at as such a bad thing on his part. Also, part of Lucy’s discourse is also something that contributes to the power she has. Raby (2002), states that “Discourses are also linked to relations of power” (p. 430). Due to the discourse Lucy represents, it has a correlation to her being powerless, because of