DAY 16 Erikson and the film, "Shine"

We had a quick look at the rest of Erikson's stages of development today.  See yesterday's blog for the entire explanation - also, here is a link to the note and further explanations.  Erik Erikson's Theory of the Stages of Psychosocial Development.

Then we started to watch, "Shine" - an amazing and award-winning film about Australian pianist, David   Helfgott.  This is based on the actual life experiences of Helfgott and shows all of the stages indicated in Erik Erikson's theory.  The plot is basically this: a child prodigy pianist, the young Helfgott is tightly controlled by his demanding father and learns to play beautifully but is continually pushed in this or that direction by his father - eventually Helfgott wins a scholarship to be trained in the USA under Isaac Stern but his father does not allow him to leave home.  Again, he is offered a scholarship to study in Londaon, England but his father refuses to let him go.  Helfgott leaves anyway and suffers a nervous breakdown after relearning Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto # 3, a piece he learned as a chid to impress his father.  He spends years in mental institutions and undergoes electric shock therapy.  Eventually he meets his future wife and seems to recover to the point where he becomes a touring concert pianist again and he comes to terms with the death of his father.