Fear (Foley, 1996)

In the film Fear (Foley, 1996), a young high-school girl, Nicole, becomes involved in an abusive relationship with a young man whose dangerous nature may attract her in some degree before it is revealed to be as violent and homicidal as it truly is. Such relationships are not uncommon--just as spousal abuse is a major problem for adults, so is that kind of abuse mirrored in adolescent relationships in which young males trying to develop their sense of power may do so in the wrong way, using their girl friends as targets for their anger and their ego. The girls for their part may be acting out social roles they have seen elsewhere, perhaps in their parents, perhaps in media depictions, and perhaps in others in their class. The film depicts the way this relationship develops in a context of adolescence that reflects the nature of that time of life and the vulnerabilities which can contribute to the development of this sort of abusive situation.

The relationship with David is Nicole's first experience of romantic love. It begins well from her point of view given that David is charming and handsome, but he is also manipulative and increasingly possessive. He also seems shy, but this is an overt insecurity that masks the distorted character within reflecting even greater insecurity. On the surface, David would also seem to be the ideal young man from a parental point of view, though Nicole's father instinctively does not trust him. The distance that often exists between

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t life. The first stage is basic trust versus mistrust as the infant must develop sufficient trust to let its mother out of sight without anxiety. The second stage is that of autonomy versus shame and doubt, and this sense is usually developed through bladder and bowel control and parallels the anal stage of traditional psychoanalytic theory. The third stage is that of initiative versus guilt, the last conflict experienced by the preschool child and occurring during what Freud called the phallic stage. The child now must learn to appropriately control feelings of rivalry for the mother's attention and develop a sense of moral responsibility. The fourth stage is industry versus inferiority, the conflict beginning with school life or the onset of formal socialization. The child must apply himself to his lesson, begin to feel some sense of competence relative to peers, and face his own limitations if he is to emerge as a healthy individual. The fifth stage is identity versus role confusion. Identity here refers to the confidence that others see us as we see ourselves, and if an identity is not formed, role confusion may occur, often characterized by an inability to select a career or to further educational goals. The sixth s

Category: Film - F