CFCS 210 – Media Review Assignment 1

CFCS 210
Media Review Assignment
Chris Jenkins
October 18, 2010
Jessica Kop
CFCS 210 – Media Review Assignment 2

1. I Am Sam has one character within the movie that has a disability. His name is
Sam Dawson. Sam has an unspecified developmental disability. A judge in the film
stated, “You have the mental capacity of a seven year old”. That is the closest the
movie ever came to giving an actual diagnosis of his condition. Sam works in a coffee
shop for a competitive wage busing tables, lives independently in a neat but lived in
apartment, and raises a bright, inquisitive six-year-old daughter, Lucy. Although
Sam provides a loving and caring environment for Lucy, she soon surpasses her
father's mental capacity. Questions arise about Sam’s ability to care for Lucy and a
custody case is brought to court. His neighbor Annie, a piano player befriends him
and takes care of Lucy when Sam cannot.

2. “I Am Sam” is about a man named Sam Dawson who has a mental disability. He
has the mental capacity of a seven year old. He is also very obsessed with the band,
The Beatles. Sam has sex with a homeless woman and when it was time for the baby
to arrive, the mother gave birth then got discharged and ran away. Sam was then left
to take care of Lucy on his own. He names his daughter Lucy Diamond, after the
Beatles song, and raises her on his own with the odd help from the neighbor. As
Lucy reaches age seven, she realizes she is becoming smarter then her own father.
Sam's limitations start to become a problem at school; she's intentionally holds back
to avoid looking smarter than her father. She knows he's different, "not like other
dads", but that's all right with her because he is caring. Taking her to the park and to
International House of Pancakes every Wednesday, because "Wednesday is IHOP
night". When they decide to go to Big Boy for a change, Sam causes a disturbance
because he cannot get the kind of French pancakes he is accustomed to. At the
school Halloween party, he dresses as one of the Beatles but embarrasses his
daughter by drawing undue attention. Other kids tease her, calling her dad a
"retard". She tells one boy that she is adopted; this causes a crisis at her birthday
party, which results in an unexpected visit from a social worker who takes Lucy
away. This doesn’t stop Sam, he shames high-priced lawyer Rita Harrison into taking
his case pro bono. This will help him get custody of Lucy back. During the trial,
however, Sam breaks down, after being convinced that he is not capable of taking
CFCS 210 – Media Review Assignment 3

care of Lucy. Meanwhile, Lucy is placed with a foster family who plans to adopt her.
Lucy often runs away from her foster parents in the middle of the night to go see
Sam, who moved into a larger apartment closer to her. In the end, the foster family
who planned on adopting Lucy lets Sam have custody of her. Sam says that Lucy still
needs a mother and asks if the foster mother would like to help raise Lucy. In the
process of trying to win custody back, Sam teaches Rita a great deal about love, and
whether it's really all you need in life and family. He shows everyone around him
how hard he is willing to work for something he wants no matter how big the
obstacles are.

3. I definitely felt that the portrayal they were giving the person with disabilities
was negative and positive more towards the end. All throughout the movie people
were doubting Sam’s parenting abilities because of his disability, like it was
stopping him. Right when the authorities stepped in there had to be all these
guidelines followed to be a parent and being disabled wasn’t one of them. He hadn’t
done anything to harm Lucy. There was no form of abuse or neglect but this didn’t
stop the judge from only allowing Sam two supervised, 2-hour visits per week. It
seemed like he was being punished for being himself. He was able to learn to live
with a disability and so did Lucy but they still took her away. People with disabilities
are often viewed as different from the rest of society as a result of their
impairments; they can be portrayed negatively as a bother to society. That said; they
could also be positively visualized as heroes’ triumphing over obstacles like Sam
was trying to do throughout the movie. In conclusion, I think that in the movie I Am
Sam, Sam is portrayed both positive and negatively. You could tell the feelings
turned at the end when Sam was showing everyone that all we need is love to help
get by hard times.

4. This portrayal definitely tells me that society is changing at how they look at
people with disabilities. But right now were in the middle. Society is accepting
people with differences but with limitations, which isn’t right. Still today in much of
our popular culture, disabled individuals are seen as “tragic” or “broken”. We are
CFCS 210 – Media Review Assignment 4

taught to feel sorry for them and look away or just not be talked about at all. In
society people are scared of different. Lately it seems like society watches movies
dealing with handicapped people for laughs. So it was nice to see I Am Sam revolve a
real life scenario instead of comedy but at the same time, they were still making it
seem like people with disabilities aren’t able to do everyday tasks.

5. I would most definitely recommend I Am Sam. It is the most thought-provoking

movie I have ever seen. It tore me right down the middle; on one hand you have this
man, Sam. Sam is a loving father fighting to be with his daughter, Lucy. However, on
the other hand, the problems that Sam runs into are much bigger than the film can
contain—The authorities do not see it that way. They believe Sam isn’t competent
because his disability restricts him from giving Lucy the proper parenting that is
needed at her age. So it is the heart-wrenching story about a father fighting for what
he believes in, this movie is truly inspiring and a family favorite that will bring
plenty of tears to your movie night.