Posted by Josh Lipovetsky in Welcome back to FilmInsight!
It is not enough to simply ‘Be’, which is having an existence without the need of company. Joshua is an extremely exaggerated example of our need to be loved. Joshua felt that he did not receive adequate love from either of his parents, and he took out his anger in an extremely violent fashion. This could have been avoided if his parents recognized Joshua’s needs. He consistently asked questions, constantly wondering how much his parents loved him. It is extremely rare for a 9 year-old to be as intelligent as Joshua, but the movie teaches a lesson about the importance of showing your love and appreciation for others.
The simple fact the Joshua was given too much freedom to roam around, made him believe that his parents did not care what happened to him. This is almost entirely the parents fault. Parents should always supervise their children, until they reach a specified level of maturity and age. The kids may be upset at a lack of freedom, but would otherwise start to question the love of his/her parents. It is a Catch 22. It is most important to express love, and to slightly monitor a child until a certain level is reached. This is the best way to avoid a situation similar to the one of Joshua’s parents.
As previously mentioned, Joshua was a genius. He judged the love of his parents by his own strict standards. Normal kids his age, do not have a loving threshold like Joshua’s, so they are usually looking for completely different things.
Although his parents were guilty of improperly raising a child, Joshua was guilty of being too smart for his own good. He still had the absorbent mind of a young child, so the violent books he read sand in too deeply. In this Catch 22 situation, Joshua and his parents are both guilty. It was a combined effort of being born under the wrong circumstances, and a lack of love from his parents, that provoked such an intense psychological response from Joshua. Although in real life, a 9-year old will not react in such a horrible way, it is important to always express positive feelings for towards all whom you love.
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