Secrets of the Wild Child - Movie Review Example

Secrets of the Wild Child The 1970 movie, Secrets of The Wild Child, is a story about a 13-year old girl who was found to have been locked up in herhome. Social workers who rescued her explained that they found out that the girl had been locked up for a decade in one of the rooms in her home and was always tied to her potty chair. At the time of discovery, the girl had virtually no human contact and as a result, she had no beneficial tactile interaction. In this position, she had no semblance to the normal human life.

For example, she was underdeveloped, lacked communication, had many unusual behaviors and could barely work. After her rescue, the girl later named Genie by doctors, was taken to a children’s hospital where the doctors and experts conducted several medical examinations on her. At first, Genie had little recognition of people and her environment hence she had her place of residence constantly changed. Her life revolved around different foster homes where she faced abuses in some of them. Genie was assigned to Susan Curtiss, a linguistic student to teach her language.

During this time, Genie only managed to learn words, label objects but could not organize the learned words into meaningful sentences. The main issues in this movie that relate to our course are social facts, social imagination, social actions, language and its functions and social Darwinism. These are basically issues that are concerned with language development in man and its functions in social interactions, the role of individual’s biology in determining the destiny of the person and human characters that are heritable.

One of the fundamental issues in this courses that this film presents is the theory of social Darwinism. According to this theory, everything to do with an individual’s destiny is dictated by their biological state. In this case, civilization is a result of individuals struggling to survive in the society (All About Science). This means only those who are more biologically advanced are able to attain civilization. In the case of Genie, she was socially backward and totally uncivilized. This is directly attributed to the fact that she was biologically underdeveloped.

Because of this and the long-term lock up, she had not developed any beneficial tactile interaction. This is very important in survival in the normal human society and most importantly, their attainment of civilization. Social Darwinists also believed that all intellectual, behavioral, physical and even moral traits are heritable. They also believe that all traits that are genetically inherited are linked. This means knowing one of them could provide an understanding into the total identity and abilities of an individual (All About Science).

This is true in relation to the movie considering the fact that Genie was a product of a dysfunctional set of parents. As a result, her levels of intellectual, behavioral, physical and moral well being were also low. This is evidenced in her ability to learn language and develop perfect social interactions as other people. The other issue that is reflected in this movie is the issue of language and human behavior as explained by George Herbert. Herbert states that as humans beings learn to communicate through language, they also acquire behaviors that teach them to anticipate the actions of others and to empathize (Cook 103).

This is true concerning Genie. Initially, she had not form of communication hence she did not know how to respond to people and the environment in general but after language acquisition, she was able to enhance this level of interaction. This is evidenced by the fact that she was able to go to school and live with other people successfully. Herbert also suggests that our ability to anticipate the actions of others in more complex and abstract situations is normally enhanced by experience. This interactions shape behavior and consequently, all levels of social relationships.

As Genie continued to stay with other people and live in freedom, she was able to acquire new behavior patterns as opposed to the unusual behavior patterns she exhibited in the room she was locked in. Herbert drew his explanation on behaviorist theory. Using the above theory, Herbert argues that behavior is normally based on a certain pattern of stimulus and response (Cook 145). This is provable in this movie. For example, for 13 years, Genie lacked adequate exposure to proper patterns of stimulus and response.

As a result, she was behaviorally backward and her tactile development was poor. The opposite of this is seen when she interacted with people in a free environment leading to acquisition of better behavior patterns. Her tactile and motility life also improved greatly. My attitude towards the role of heredity in determining the life and destiny of a person, and the role of communication in enhancing the levels of human behavior has been reinforced through the materials. I now understand that language has a big role in determining the type of behavior we develop and consequently, the quality of social interactions we make.

Despite the role of external factors like learning and experience, hereditary has a big role in determining the destiny of man. Works cited All About Science. What is Social Darwinism? Nd. Web. http://www.allaboutscience.org/what-is-social-darwinism-faq.htm Viewed 12 July, 2011 Cook Gary (1993).. “G. H. Mead: The Making of a Social Pragmatist.” University of Illinois Press. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/George_Herbert_Mead .Viewed 12 July, 2011