Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1/ 3
Juliana Bracho
Prof. Christensen
November 05,2024.
Matilda
Matilda a beloved film adapted from Roald Dahl’s novel, offers various of themes related
to child development making it an excellent choice for analyzing psychological and educational
theories. This essay will explore three specific issues: attachment and bonding, socialization and
peer relationships and parenting styles. Matilda tells us the story of a young girl, Matilda
wormwood, a gifted girl forced to put up with a crude, distant father and mother. Worse Agatha
Trunchbull, the evil principal at Matilda’s school, is a terrifyingly strict bully. However, when
Matilda realizes she has the power of telekinesis, she begins to defend her friends from
Trunchbull’s wrath and fight back against her unkind parents. Matilda’s love for learning and her
innate sense of justice driver her to overcome her circumstances. The film highlights her journey
as she forms meaningful relationships with her kind heart teacher miss honey.
Attach and bonding socialization refers to the development of close and emotional
connections, and supportive relationships in Matilda this theme is scene with her teacher’s name
Miss Honey. They both grow a strong bond together, when Matilda was finally able to attend
school, miss honey was the teacher assigned to her. On her first day of class miss honey notices
how bright Matilda is, her reading, writing, and mathematics was beyond advanced from
everyone else’s. honey requested Matilda to be advanced to a higher-level class, but the principal refuses, because she just thinks Matilda is troublesome and that miss honey is just trying to get
rid of her. After class miss honey and Matilda were able to socialize more one on one, she
realizes how alike her and Matilda are. One of those similarities is an author they both loved to
read, that author being Moby dick. Miss honey ends up going to Matilda’s house to drop off a
book she knew Matilda would like, when she’s there she realizes what she must go through at
home with her parents. Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development suggest that
children learn best when they are supported by more knowledgeable individuals. Miss Honey’s
support and beliefs in Matilda exemplifies this principle. The film reinforces the progressive
power of education and cognitive and emotional growth. “Both identify the most important force
of cognition as the child himself-a busy, self -motivated explorer who forms ideas and test them
against the world” (Laura E. Berk 266). Vygotsky's "more knowledgeable other" is a person who
has greater knowledge and skills than the learner. Often, this is an adult such as a parent or
teacher who provides educational opportunities, such as guided instruction, within a child's zone
of proximal development. Teachers can leverage this tendency by pairing less skilled children
with more knowledgeable classmates to observe and imitate. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive
development describes how children's thinking and reasoning change as they grow from infancy
through adulthood. Piaget's theory is based on the idea that children actively learn about the
world through experimentation, observation, and building on their existing knowledge. Piaget’s
theory relates to Matilda who often found herself experimenting due to the lack of attention she
got from her parents. As well as observing the actions of those closes to her and built her
knowledge to a higher level due to those things. As for Vygotsky’s theory Matilda “more
knowledgeable other” were the books she read by well known and advanced authors. It helped
her engaged in verbalized self-observation, reflection on, revising, and controlling her own thought process and visual process. This is also the reason why she was able to learn to control
her powers. By connecting these two theories of class readings, we gain a deeper understanding
