Wild Child, Movie Review Essay, Research Paper

Wild Child

Communication is a large part of human interaction. In the movie, “Wild Child” Victor is taught how to communicate with others. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Victor attempts at meeting his lower level to higher level needs.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs, the lowest level of need is physiological. Victor attained this need by using the wild to the fullest. When the woman was in the wood collecting berries, she saw him, and he fled. Later when the hunters were trying to find Victor, he used his brain and his knowing of the woods to try to escape. He was essentially an animal when the hunters found him. When he felt his safety was threatened, he ran and hid in a hole in the ground. The only thing that got him out of the hole was when one of the hunters lit some branches and stuck it in the hole. Victor came out because he couldn’t breath.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs says that safety is the next step up from psychological needs. Victor shows this a couple of times. The first, of coarse is when the dogs and hunters are after him, and he tries to escape by running, and then going down the hole.

Another time Victor shows that he needs to feel safe is whenever he is resists going somewhere and has to be picked up and carried.

Victor shows that he needs to be loved many times throughout the movie. While watching the movie, the viewer get the feeling that Victor can understand the housekeeper and the doctor when they tell him he has done something good, or bad. The housekeeper shows love to victor almost from the very beginning. Many times throughout the movie she gives him hugs and kisses. When she does this, she brings him close to her and he doesn’t put up a struggle. With almost every other person that came in contact with him, he has thrashed about (with the exception of the doctor). Victor shows the doctor and the housekeeper, indirectly, that it is necessary for them to treat him with love and kindness.

As Victor lived with the doctor and the housekeeper his self-esteem grew. The boy did not understand the spoken word so it was hard for him to communicate with the doctor. At the end of the movie, while the doctor is giving Victor a lesson, he decides to see if Victor understands the difference between if he does right, or wrong. The doctor tests him multiple times if he knows the word for scissors, and during the last test, he decides to punish Victor if he gets it right or wrong. Victor’s punishment is he has to stand in a closed in the dark with the door closed. When the doctor tries to put Victor in the closet, Victor fights and squirms, and the doctor finally realizes that Victor has esteem. He finds out that if Victor thinks he is right, he is not going to accept the punishment, if he feels it’s justified.

The top tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is self-actualization. This means that a human has reached the place where he’s met his potential. Victor did not reach his potential by the end of the film, but the doctor said that he and the housekeeper were going to be able to take care or Victor, and continue the teachings they started almost a year earlier. This leads the viewer to believe that Victor reaches a level of communication where he can interact with everyone, and not just specific people that he has grown accustomed to.