Splendor in the Grass – Phycological Analysis
SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS – PHYCOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
“Splendor In The Grass”
Psychological Analysis
Author Note
This paper was prepared for Psychology 1, The film, Splendor in the Grass, presents us the argument between respectable behavior and human desire pushing both lovers to physical and psychological collapse. The relationship between Deanie and Bud as a love struck couple begins in a 1920’s small Kansas town which features the unbearable beauty of Wilma Dean “Deanie” Loomis played by Natalie Wood. Tormented by her mother not to give in her love and passion for handsome Bud Stamper played by Warren Beatty, who is the son of the town’s wealthiest man, offers his son to find “a different kind of girl” to help with his sexual needs. They are lovers who dream living happily ever after with another. Because their social and economic backgrounds are different from one another, their dreams are doomed to be denied. The ruthless determination of Bud’s father to prevent them from becoming happy with each other causes more friction for the two of them. Bud resists his father’s message that she is beneath him, that he is going to Yale. Bud becomes unfaithful because Deanie is saving her virginity and represses all her desires from him. She is a good girl who eagerly wants to become Bud’s wife. Her mother is happy that she is attracted to a wealthy young man but wants to make sure there is no sex before a church wedding. Deanie is willing, but Bud does not want to take advantage of her, instead gives into his own urges with his high school hussy. When he sees no future with her, Bud leaves for Yale as his family had anticipated for him. He tells her that they should stop seeing each other for a while. This makes Deanie utterly mad, and she loses her mind. She attempts suicide and is thus sent to a sanitarium to recover for several years. As she spends years in the sanitary trying to forget Bud, she meets a young man like her. After years of recovery, Deanie
“Splendor In The Grass”
Psychological Analysis
Author Note
This paper was prepared for Psychology 1, The film, Splendor in the Grass, presents us the argument between respectable behavior and human desire pushing both lovers to physical and psychological collapse. The relationship between Deanie and Bud as a love struck couple begins in a 1920’s small Kansas town which features the unbearable beauty of Wilma Dean “Deanie” Loomis played by Natalie Wood. Tormented by her mother not to give in her love and passion for handsome Bud Stamper played by Warren Beatty, who is the son of the town’s wealthiest man, offers his son to find “a different kind of girl” to help with his sexual needs. They are lovers who dream living happily ever after with another. Because their social and economic backgrounds are different from one another, their dreams are doomed to be denied. The ruthless determination of Bud’s father to prevent them from becoming happy with each other causes more friction for the two of them. Bud resists his father’s message that she is beneath him, that he is going to Yale. Bud becomes unfaithful because Deanie is saving her virginity and represses all her desires from him. She is a good girl who eagerly wants to become Bud’s wife. Her mother is happy that she is attracted to a wealthy young man but wants to make sure there is no sex before a church wedding. Deanie is willing, but Bud does not want to take advantage of her, instead gives into his own urges with his high school hussy. When he sees no future with her, Bud leaves for Yale as his family had anticipated for him. He tells her that they should stop seeing each other for a while. This makes Deanie utterly mad, and she loses her mind. She attempts suicide and is thus sent to a sanitarium to recover for several years. As she spends years in the sanitary trying to forget Bud, she meets a young man like her. After years of recovery, Deanie
Citations: 1. Splendor In The Grass: A Semiotic Outlook on Genious Anatolian Film Director Elia Kazan’s Dramatic Work of Art, M.Nurdan Oncel Taskiran, Assis.Prof. PhD, Internet - http://akademikpersonel.kocaeli.edu.tr/nurdan/bildiri/nurdan08.12.2010_19.03.09bildiri.pdf 2. Jump Cut - A Review Of Contemporary Media, Sexual innocence & film: a look at scholarship on virginity, by Susan Ericsson – Internet http://www.ejumpcut.org/trialsite/EricssonTeen/index.html 3. The Reporter, Volume 25 Reporter Magazine, Company, 1961, Page 43 4. Development of the psychedelic individual: a psychological analysis of the psychedelic state and its attendant psychic powers, The Psychedelic Individual, Page 114, John Curtis Gowan, Creative Education Foundation 5. Drug Therapy: The Medical Management of Depression, October 27, 2005, Mann J.J. The New England Journal of Medicine 2005; 353:1819-1834 6. American Psychiatric Association - Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). 7. Mental Depression - The Silent Killer - Page 26, By Sibnath Deb, Anjana Bhattacharjee