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The film by Richard Linklater was released in 2014 and was shot over the course of 12 years to depict the physical changes that the actors experienced in their real lives. The actors’ ages correspond with the timeline of the movie. The plot begins in 2002; Mason is 6 years old and lives with his mother Olivia, and 8 year old sister Samantha in Texas. His parents are divorced, but his father takes him and his sister out occasionally. His relationship with Olivia is strained and characterized by constant arguments. The family moves to Houston in 2003.
In 2004, now 8 year old Mason’s life takes a dramatic when his mother marries her professor Bill who has 2 children from a previous relationship. The children get along but that marriage is soon dissolved when Bill turns into an alcoholic and becomes abusive. In 2008, Mason Sr. is shown to be bonding with his children and discussing their love lives; Samantha’s boyfriend and Mason’s developing of interest in girls. Olivia, Mason’s mother, gets married for a third time in 2009 to Jim but that marriage also ends in divorce in 2011 when Jim also becomes abusive and domineering.
By 2010, their dad has also remarried and has another son. Mason goes through some phases as a teenager, including experimenting with drugs, alcohol and sex. In the year 2011, Mason falls in love with a girl named Sheena who he meets at a party. We also see a discourse between Mason and his photography teacher, where his teacher expresses his disappointment at his lack of ambition despite his potential.In 2012, Mason and Sheena eventually break off the relationship which leaves him heartbroken. He is, however, able to a medal in a photography contest and gain scholarship into college.
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Olivia also decides to sell the house. Masons departure to college leaves his mother in tears at how quickly time has passed and she worries that her future will be lonely. When he arrives at college, Mason meets his roommate Dalton and his girlfriend Barb, and Nicole who is Barb’s roommate. This group influences him to take drugs, and the movie ends with them going on a hike.
There are many issues that are associated with transitioning from childhood to adulthood including the biopsychosocial challenges which refer to the biological, psychological and social challenges people go through at this stage.
Biological Aspects of Childhood to Adolescence Transition
At this stage the body experiences rapid physical change in the reproductive system, body weight, height and brain development (Hutchison, 2011). Children at this stage experience puberty which is the ‘period of life course in which the reproductive system matures’ (Hutchison, 2011).
Puberty typically begins earlier for girls than boys. For girls, it is outwardly characterized by the enlargement of breasts and hips and menstruation. For many boys, their transition will be marked by the growth of facial hair, deepening of the voice and the growth of the penis and scrotum. These physical changes can present some challenges for the individual. Sexuality has been deemed to be one of the most dramatic challenges with regards to puberty.
At this stage, the possibility of sexual reproduction begins. They become more attracted to the opposite sex. According to Freud, children begin to seek pelvic pleasure as early as 3 years old and they develop the Oedipal Crisis which refers to the physical attraction they may develop for the parent of the opposite sex. It is at this stage that child begins to experience what he refers to as psychosexual development, the where children are overwhelmed by their instinctual impulses and this results in a conflict between the ego and id (Freud’s Psychosexual Theory of Development, 2015).
As early as six years old, Mason finds himself going through some of the sexual changes associated with adolescence. He and his friend Tommy are seen checking out provocative pictures of women in magazines. As children grow, they are expected to go through the physical changes that are culturally accepted as differentiating them from the opposite. In the film, Mason is forced by his step father Bill to cut off his long hair because according to him it would make him ‘look like a man, instead of a little girl.’
Psychological Aspects
Along with the physical changes that children go through, there are some psychological changes as well. According to Hutchison (2011), most adolescents have psychological reactions, which are sometimes dramatic in nature, to the biological and social changes that they go through. They also experience ‘cognitive growth’ which allows them to conceptualize and form opinions about things in the society (Erikson, 1997).
‘In early adolescence, young people gradually begin to develop abstract thinking—that is, the ability to use internal symbols or images to represent reality’(Christie & Viner, 2005). Both Freud and Erikson agree that it is at this life stage that children begin to form their own sense of identity.
According to Freud, children at this stage begin to experiment romantic relationships. In Boyhood, Mason begins to develop a strong interest in girls at the age of 12. His father is shown in one of the scenes discussing this new interest and offering him advice on how to deal with it. He later starts a romantic relationship with Sheena. Erikson (1963) on the other hand, deemed this stage as time of storm and stress for the child because he is lacks identity and this results in an identity crisis. Erikson (1963) believes there is a conflict that arises from the child’s psychological needs and that of the society.
He calls this stage the ‘Identity vs. Role confusion’; where adolescents try to discover their sense of self and to develop a personal identity. They do this through experimentation and exploration of their personal beliefs and values. Mason in the movie goes through a phase where he experiments with marijuana, alcohol and sex. There is some sort of conflict between him and his parents and he’s seen disagreeing and arguing with them occasionally.
Social Aspects
The social environment plays an important role in the development of an adolescent. His relationships with his family and friends, in his community and at school all help the adolescent to develop his identity (Hutchison, 2011). Mason’s relationship with his family to a large extent has a negative effect on his views on life. His biological father divorced his mother early in his childhood and is practically absent except for when he takes Mason and Samantha out occasionally.
He has had to endure continues changes in family dynamics at least 3 times during after all of his mother’s failed relationships. His arguments with his parents are as a result of his growing need for independence which according to Hutchison (2011) is typical for adolescents. At this stage they begin to move away from the influences of their parents and gear toward that of their peers which may bring about conflict.
Another challenge that they may face at this stage may be role confusion. According to Erikson (1956), sometimes there may be confusion in choosing which identity best suits them and some adolescents may end up taking on negative identities. This role experimentation by adolescents in order to discover who they really are is what accounts for Mason getting involved with sex, drugs and alcohol, Within the various institutions that they find themselves, adolescents may face multiple challenges. Such as conflict with the parents as mentioned early on, sibling-rivalry, and sometimes even bullying at school as seen in the scene where Mason and his friends are bullied by some high schoolers.
The transactions among the environmental systems impact the development of an adolescent to a very large extent. The most immediate environment which is made up of their family, which forms part of what Bronfenbrenner (1979), calls the microsystem. According to him the relationships that a child forms within his immediate environment help shape his belief system and values. The presence or absence of system support can have a profound impact on the development of the adolescents. Their social support system is very important in the way they develop and deal with life’s issues (Hutchison, 2015). They need stable parenting to guide them through the issues they face especially with their identity crises.
And so for Mason, his development is greatly affected first by his parents’ divorce and the subsequent ones that his mother goes through. His mother’s decision to move from Texas to Houston has an impact on him because he is forced to leave an environment that is familiar to him and has to basically start his life afresh. Mason seems to be very much aware of the environment around him even from a very early age. He is constantly being advised by the adults in his life about what to do with his life even when they can’t seem to get it right them.
Socio-cultural Challenges Associated with Adolescents
There are so many socio-cultural issues that adolescents may face that can impact their development. One of such issues raised in Boyhood is divorce. It seems as though the experiences of his parents’ divorce as well as that of his mother and abusive stepfathers negatively impacted his view of life. We see this portrayed at the end of the movie where he smile in agreement when his new friend Nicole says she believes that instead of us ‘seizing the moments, it is rather the moments that seize us.
Divorce has the tendency to affect the psychology of the child. It not only changes the dynamics of the family but also modifies the roles that each of the members of the family has to play. In Mason’s case, he had to experience three divorces and the explosive tendencies of his stepfathers did not make matters any easier. He witnesses firsthand the ills of an abusive relationship when he finds his mother beaten and lying on the floor of the garage and personally being on the receiving end of violent fits from his drunken stepfather.
We see him easily drawn into the peer pressures of alcohol and drug use. Parental divorce alters the family microsystem and this in turn leads to changes in the macrosystem that ultimately affect adolescents (Crockett & Silbereisen, 2000). fights with siblings in the back of the car, the excitement of seeing the return of the absent father, the close friendships of boyhood — or more darkly — the threat of the bullies at school, seeing mother beaten up on the floor of the garage, and the real fear of violence from a drunk and out of control stepfather.Financial pressures may also affect the development of an adolescent. According to Crockett & Silbereisen (2000), financial pressures do not only alter the economic roles of adolescents in a family but also disrupts their relationships with their parents.
Mason’s single mother is forced to go back to school after divorce because her current job could not adequately cater for the needs of her family. His father, a struggling musician did not seem to be making any financial contribution to the wellbeing of the children either. These financial strains according to Crockett & Silbereisen (2000), lead marital disputes.
The Theoretical Framework of My Analysis
My analysis has been largely based on theories propelled by Erikson and Freud with regards to adolescents. Freud’s psychosexual theory of development outlines the stages of development that children go through according to their erogenous zones. According to him, it is the responsibility of the parents to manage the sexual drives of their children in order for them to develop properly. He breaks his analysis down into 5 stages; the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages.
Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development groups the stages of development into eight stages and my analysis was based on the fifth stage; identity vs. role confusion, which occurs during adolescence. Although they both holding conflicting views on the factors of development in a child, Erikson and Freud both agree that the development of the child into a fully functioning adult would depend on their ability to successfully pass through all the various stages of development and that the child might stay fixated on one stage if he does that not receive the proper nurturing he needs to be able to successfully move on to the next stage.
