I Am Sam Disorder

Hollywood, amazingly out of this world, and when I say out of this world, I mean it. Whether we realize it or not, Hollywood can sometimes be seen as an artificial way of life and in the movie I Am Sam, Hollywood is extremely helpful in the way we portray individuals with an intellectual disorder. To begin, I Am Sam is a 2001 movie that portrays Sam Dawson, a Starbucks worker with the mental capacity of a seven year old. In the beginning of the movie, he has a daughter with a homeless woman whom he is left to take care of lonesome after she abandons them right outside the hospital. Named after the Beatles Song, Lucy Diamond is raised by her father until trouble arises. Since her father has the mental capacity of a seven year old, she intentionally hold backs in school in order to not look smarter than him. Difficulty also occurs when their living situation comes to the attention of the authorities and Lucy is taken away. Sam does everything he can to get her back, specifically hiring an expensive lawyer, whom he unintentionally teaches valuable lessons and values to during the course of the retrieval process. To continue, I Am Sam does provide an
For example, I think that Sam should have a larger, more serious support group. At the end of the movie, he does reunite with Lucy Diamond but I think it misleads the audience into thinking he will do it all on his own. Instead, I Am Sam should have taken into account that Sam does need extreme help in parenting Lucy Diamond and as previously mentioned, this is more than acceptable. Another aspect of the movie that seemed quite harmless but to me seemed quite odd is when Sam’s friends ask for balloons after helping Sam buy Lucy a pair of shoes. I found this to be quite condescending and too cute thus leading me to believe Sam needs a more serious support group in addition to