Early Adulthood in the Media

Instructions

In this unit, you learned about early adulthood in terms of physical, cognitive, and personality development, and major social life events. For this assignment, you will reflect on those topics and how they are portrayed in popular media. 

Think about a film or television show that features early adults as main characters. You can choose to watch one of the following films for this assignment (if you want to choose something else, email me first for approval):

• The Graduate (1967)
• She’s Having a Baby (1988)
• Young Adult (2011)
• Garden State (2004)
• Reality Bites (1994)
• Into the Wild (2007)
• Raising Helen (2004)
• Diner (1982)
• Knocked Up (2007)
• Life As We Know It (2010)

Take notes while watching the movie/tv show. Look for themes that were discussed in this unit. Some examples include:

• intimacy vs. isolation
• dialectical thought
• gender roles
• attachment
• marriage
• parenting

Select two themes that were present in the movie/tv show, and select two scenes from the movie/tv show that best portray those themes. Write a 2-3 page paper that follows this format (minimum 6 full paragraphs…remember, a full paragraph is at least 4 sentences long, beginning with a topic sentence):

• 1st Paragraph: Give the title of the film/tv show and a brief synopsis in your own words
• 2nd Paragraph: Explain Theme 1, in your own words as well as citing the course material and outside sources (you are NOT discussing the film in this paragraph – only the theme and what it means for early adults)
• 3rd Paragraph: Describe Scene 1 and explain how it portrays Theme 1
• 4th Paragraph: Explain Theme 2, in your own words as well as citing the course material and outside sources (you are NOT discussing the film in this paragraph – only the theme and what it means for early adults)
• 5th Paragraph: Describe Scene 2 and explain how it portrays Theme 2
• 6th Paragraph: Summarize your paper
• Include a reference page and in-text citations for all sources used (all in APA format