i am sam
love is all you need
Logan Taylor
&
Uyen Do
i am sam preview
Uyen & Logan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H9Yh5z2hAI
Uyen & Logan
 Choose someone sitting close to you and discuss this
question:
Table of Contents
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Basic Plot
Characters
Major Points
Point of view
Scenes & Clips
Issues
Relating to Anthropology
Relating to Psychology
Relating to Sociology
Impact of the movie
Recommendation
Understanding of Human Condition
Just a heads-up
Uyen Do
Quote
Rita: I just don't know what to call you: retarded,
mentally retarded, mentally handicapped, mentally
disabled, intellectually handicapped, intellectually
disabled, developmentally disabled...
Sam: You can call me Sam.
Uyen Do
Quote
Lucy: Daddy, did God made for you to be like this or was it an accident?
Sam: Ok, what do you mean?
Lucy: I mean you're different.
Sam: But what do you mean?
Lucy: You're not like other daddies.
Sam: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry.
Lucy: It's ok, daddy. It's ok. Don't be sorry. I'm lucky. Nobody else's
daddy ever comes to the park.
Sam: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah, we are lucky. Aren't we lucky? Yeah!
Basic Plot
Logan Taylor
• Sam Dawson is a mentally disabled man
fighting for custody of his daughter
• Mind capacity of a 7 year old
• Raises Lucy until she is 7, then school becomes
an issue and she intentionally holds herself
back
• Court and Child Services get involved, entire
custody trial begins
• Rita Harrison agrees to do probono as Sam’s
lawyer
• In the end Sam receives custody of Lucy with
assistance of foster parents
Characters
Sam Dawson
Rita Harrison Williams
Lucy Diamond Dawson
Annie Cassell
Margaret Calgrove
Mr.Turner
Randy Carpenter
Sam’s friends
Logan Taylor
Sam Dawson
Logan Taylor
• Loves the Beatles
• Mentally disable man fighting for
custody of his daughter Lucy
Logan Taylor
Sam is recording a message for his answering
machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06dzdp7cQLU&feature=related
Rita Harrison
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Lawyer for Lucy and Sam
Offers pro bono
Grow close with Sam
Has a difficult family life,
learns with Sam how
challenging life can be
Logan Taylor
Logan Taylor
Rita breaks down and tells Sam about
her personal struggles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTfyWI7_A9U
Lucy Diamond Dawson
Logan Taylor
• Sam Dawson’s daughter, intentionally holding
herself back to protect her father
• 7 years old
• Intellectually more intelligent than Sam
• Taken from her father
• Eventually re-united with Sam
• Very mature and advanced all around
Logan Taylor
Sam is telling Lucy
how he is going to get
an answering machine.
Lucy is saying how she only
wants Sam as her father, no
one else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f56PQamiR_A
Annie Cassell
Logan Taylor
• Lucy’s god mother & piano teacher
• Helps Sam take care of Lucy
sometimes
• Phobia of leaving her home
(agoraphobia)
Margaret Calgrove
• Child services
• Takes Lucy from Sam
Logan Taylor
Mr.Turner
Logan Taylor
• Opposing Lawyer
• Does not believe Sam has the
capacity to look after Lucy
Randy Carpenter
Logan Taylor
• Foster mother for Lucy; assigned by
Child Services
• At first does not believe Sam can take
care of Lucy later realizes she is wrong
• Assists Sam in raising Lucy after trial is
over
Sam’s friends
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Brad, Joe, Robert and Lfty
Sam’s best friends
All have mental disabilities
Support Sam through out
courtroom and life
Logan Taylor
Logan Taylor
Sam and his friends go
out to buy Lucy a pair of
shoes for school.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g92fueqZi48
Major Points in film
Logan Taylor
• Mother abandons Lucy and Sam
• Sam raises Lucy on his own until she is
7
• Plans surprise birthday party for Lucy,
accidentally hurts little boy
• Lucy brought to child services
• Trial begins
• Lucy and Sam have visit where Lucy
explains he is the only daddy she wants
• Lucy and Sam run away
Major Points in film
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Logan Taylor
Lucy takes the stand
Lucy put into care of Randy and husband
Annie takes the stand
Sam takes the stand
Sam stops visiting Lucy at new home, feels no
hope
Sam moves closer to Lucy
Lucy begins sneaking over to his house
Final trial takes place
Same wins custody with the exception of
Randy’s assistance
Point of view
Uyen Do
Third person perspective
Can tell the characters’ emotions
Allow viewers to feel like they are in the
scene
One flashback
-When Mr. Turner questioned Sam
whether or not he wants the best for Lucy
Scene 1
Sam taking care of the newborn
Uyen Do
Scene 2
Uyen Do
Lucy growing up and questions about her dad’s mental
problem and the absence of her mother.
Scene 3
Lucy’s friend, Connor, makes fun of her dad
Sam has trouble reading a children’s book.
Uyen Do
Scene 4
Uyen Do
The arrest
Sam finds out he has the intellectual capacity of a 7 year
old.
Issues
Uyen Do
• Sam has to overcome many issues
but the strongest one is having his
daughter taken away from him. He
had to find a lawyer who could get
her back for him.
Issues
Uyen Do
• Central theme of the movie being
expressed by Rita, “that every parent
has felt disabled in some way regarding
the rearing of their children and the
decisions they have to make.”
• Every parent including normal ones
have trouble raising their kids.
• Sam has disability so therefore people
think he can’t raise his own child.
Relating to Anthropology
Uyen Do
• Scientific Method
• Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature-Lucy is born to become a
strong and independent girl. She is
smarter than kids her age.
• Nurture-Lucy draws a picture of her
family, she draws herself bigger
than her dad because she feels
that she is the one taking care of
him.
Annie thinks that if Lucy is taken away
from her father, a piece of her will be
taken away also.
Uyen Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0WrsQbIqI4&feature=related
1:10 – 2:15
Relating to Psychology
• Sam has a form of down syndrome
and obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD).
• Psychosexual Development Theory
(Freud)
• Phallic (3-6 years)-Lucy develops a
close tie with her dad.
Uyen & Logan
Relating to Psychology
Perception
• How the court and outsiders see
Sam
• They think Sam is incapable of
raising his own daughter and
decide that it is best for her to live
with foster parents.
Uyen & Logan
Uyen Do
Lucy suggests running away and start a new
life. She doesn’t want to be taken away from
her father.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7eVV_gVnGY&feature=related
4:06 – 5:09
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
• Id-When Rita tells Sam to lie to Mr.
Turner.
• When Sam’s friend told him to lie
when he was recording a message
for his answering machine.
• Superego-He refuses to because
he doesn’t believe in lies.
• Ego-When Sam was in court, he
did not lie nor sugar coated his
words, he spoke from the heart.
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
Denial
• Lucy lies when she was under
oath.
• Lucy was being teased for having a
retard as a father, she has become
too embarrassed to accept that she
is more intellectual advanced than
Sam.
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
The Psychosocial Development
Theory (Erikson)
Trust vs. Mistrust
• Sam took care of Lucy when she
was a baby, and Annie plays a
small role as a mother although
later on, Sam said that Lucy needs
a mother for Annie is agoraphobic
and doesn’t leave her house.
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
Initiative vs. Guilt
• Lucy goes to school and falls
behind her class, Sam does not
have the knowledge to read her a
simple book. When Lucy couldn’t
read the word “difficult”, she gives
up and it was Sam who
encouraged her to read it.
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
Industry vs. Inferiority
• The Child and Family Department
worries that when Lucy grows older
and hit puberty, Sam will not be
able to provide her with all the
information she will be asking for.
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
The Moral Development Theory
(Kohllberg)
Preconventional Stage
• Since Sam thinks like a 7 year-old, he is
still going through the Preconventional
stage where he thinks that if he lies, he
will get punished and when he was
sitting in the school office with two other
students, he was very anxious because
he thought he was in trouble.
Relating to Psychology
Uyen Do
Only child
• When Sam took Lucy out to buy a pair
of shoes for school, she was allowed to
buy whichever pair she wants even if it
costs him a lot of money, he just wants
her to be happy.
• She is the center of interest, Sam cares
about her a lot.
• We can see that she has a high
achievement drive, she is good at
soccer and a very good painter.
Relating to Sociology
• Sam has a habit of eating at IHOP
and when he goes to Bob’s Big Boy
where they don’t have French
pancakes he begins to feel like his
routine is messed up.
Uyen & Logan
Relating to Sociology
• When Sam and Lucy run away, Sam
tells Lucy it is wrong- relates to values
• Margret takes Lucy away from Sam
because she does not believe he has the
capacity to take care of her- relates to
laws
• Lucy is upset she is taken away from
her father- relates to socialization “The
Family”
Uyen & Logan
Relating to Sociology
The Family
• Lucy has been raised by her father
and the absence of mother affects
how she socialize with other kids.
• She realizes that her dad is
different from other daddies.
• Unintentional and Intentional
Uyen & Logan
Relating to Sociology
The Peer Group
• Lucy tells her friends that she was
adopted so they would not think
that she is different and befriend
her.
• She wants to fit in with the other
kids.
• More concerned about making
friends.
Uyen & Logan
Relating to Sociology
Conformity
• Lucy conform to her friends
because she wants to avoid being
outcast, and wants to feel the
sense of belonging like other kids
do.
Uyen & Logan
Scene
Uyen Do
• Lucy told her friends she was
adopted and was taken away from
her father.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJV1SBT4v04&feature=related
2:04 – 2:11
Lucy told her friends she was
adopted.
Uyen Do
Some important symbols
• Paper crane
• Music with clapping sound
Uyen Do
Impact
Logan Taylor
• I am Sam is a phenomenal movie
• Mental disability doesn’t mean you cannot love
• Shows the emotional state of people with
disabilities
• Touching
• One can determine one’s life
Future Watchers
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Emotional
Understanding
Compassion
Depth
Logan Taylor
Things we learned
Logan Taylor
• Everyone is different but capable of
loving
• “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”
Recommendation
Logan Taylor
• Watch this movie, opens doors of
understanding
• Have an open mind when watching
• Take the entire movie seriously to grasp
true meaning
• Hands down WATCH THIS MOVIE !
Discussion Time!
• If you were in Lucy’s shoes do you
think it would be difficult to live with
a father to which you were more
advanced then?
• Do you agree or disagree with
Child Services taking Lucy away?
Uyen & Logan