Proposal Example of Film Analysis

The Grinch from Ron Howard's film,
 How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

The film How the Grinch Stole Christmas inspires me the most to write my film analysis on. There are several scenes that I have looked at for the shame theory, but there is one scene in particular that stands out. It’s the scene where the Grinch is a child and he is in class with other students his age. The Grinch knows he is different than the rest of the children due to his appearance. This causes him to be guarded and defensive in nature. When the Grinch lets his guard down for the first time in his life it back fires and is his left with immense shame. It starts when he wants to impress his female friend that he is developing feelings for. He gets in the Christmas spirit and makes her a gift that he hand crafts himself. The same night he looks in the mirror and feels self-conscious about his appearance because he remembers one of the rude comments his classmate made while at school. His classmate made a comment about his beard, which is uncommon for a child of only eight years old. The Grinch’s inner, critical voice judges himself making him feel worthless and inferior due to being ostracized by his classmates. He feels immense embarrassment when he remembers this memory because all of the children laughed at him including his female friend he has a crush on. He is extremely overwhelmed by this memory that he decides to take action and shave off his beard.  This action to avoid shame leaves marks all over his face and actually heightens his feelings of humiliation. The next day at school the Grinch tries to hide his face, but evidently the other children saw what he had done. He is now feeling flawed and exposed, which are common feelings of shame. The Grinch reacts to his insecurities and unconsciously takes his anger out on the other children. He uses the script attack-other as a defense mechanism because the shame he experiences is thrown upon his classmates. He does this by creating fear in his classmates when he throws the Christmas tree across the room. This is his attempt to soothe the pain of humiliation, embarrassment, and mortification he is experiencing. He follows the withdrawal-script when he isolates himself from the rest of the town in hopes of avoiding another shameful experience like he had as a child.