Napoleon Dynamite

SVR

1. To what extent is the character playing a particular role and how do you know? In what ways are they buying into cultural expectations and in what way are they resisting them?

I believe that Kip is playing the role of a person that is searching for true love. One big expectation of our culture is to find love and get married. Kip plays into that role by searching for the love of his life. By the end of the movie he falls in love with Lafawnda. When he meets her, he decides that he wants to marry her. Kip is a short, dorky white guy and Lafawnda is a tall, African American women. There are people in the world that would not expect a guy like Kip to fall and love and marry a woman like Lafawnda. That is how he is resisting his role, because he is looking past skin color and marrying the woman he loves for who she is. That is something that is not a cultural expectation for many people in this world.

2. Who is the most self-actualized character in the movie? Why?

I believe that Pedro is the most self-actualized character in the movie. In the movie he had just enrolled in a new school, yet he had enough confidence to run for class president against a very popular girl. Most people that have just moved to a new town would probably not feel confident enough to do that. When the school dance came along, Pedro decided that he wanted to have a date and he believed in himself enough to be able to ask Summer, the most popular girl in school, and Deb. Even when Summer turned him down, he didn't let that get to him. He knows his full potential, knows what he wants out of life and knows how to get it.