The movie ‘Babies’ allows us to view different developmental emergences of motor, perceptual, and intellectual capacities of four different babies. A major milestone that is demonstrated is the motor movement of each baby. In the first few months of a baby’s life, they will prone, lift head to prone chest up and use arms for support (Church-Lang, Lecture 7). This was demonstrated in the movie by mostly Ponijao, Hattie, and Mari. Bayar was more swaddled laying on his back instead of resting on his stomach like the other babies (Thomas Balmes, 2010). Then around 3 to 6 months, the babies will begin to support some weight with their legs and eventually get to sitting without support (Church-Lang, Lecture 7). This is demonstrated throughout the second half of the film when the babies begin to gain motor control and strength in their limbs. Then they begin to walk and use objects to help get them to stand up for support. By knowing these different motor movement milestones helps us predict around what age the child in the film is. Also, the environment around each baby impacted how easy it was for the child in their development to walk. Ponijao was always in his mother’s lap or roaming freer. This allowed him to explore more and have more trial and error when it came to be standing and walking. On the other hand, Bayar was swaddled since birth, so he had a harder time balancing and standing up. Eventually they both walked, but this shows how the environment could impact the development.
In addition, we were able to see the four babies’ languages develop throughout the film. Ponijao Mari, and Hattie all began cooing and babbling before Bayar. The three babies that begin the utterances before Bayar have more interaction between them and their mothers or siblings, while Bayar was normally laying down by himself. This shows that mothers talking and singing to their babies helps work towards the production of sound (Church-Lang, Lecture 12). It also shows that the environment plays a factor on the language development of babies.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Furthermore, the movie allowed us to see the social emotional development of each baby. Mari and Hattie’s parents took them to different classes where they could interact and sing with other babies. They were both from an industrialized place allowing them to have resources and toys to play with. While Ponijao and Bayar were from place of low income and limited resources. They only had sticks, dirt, leaves, and rivers to play in. Ponijao also had the community to interact with and socialize with, but Bayar only had his brother. His brother would hit him with a cloth which causes him to cry. Then he shows aggression toward the cat when he was petting it by being rough with its fur. This aggression could stem from the lack of socialization and attention Bayar received from his mother.
After analyzing the emergences of motor, perceptual, and intellectual developments of the four babies in the movie, we can see that there are cultural and environmental impacts that play a role in the development of the baby. This helps strengthen the sociocultural approach of Lev Vygotsky stating that children are social beings that are surrounded by others trying to help them learn more.
References
- Billot, A., Chabat, A., Rouxel, C. (Producer), & Thomas, B. (Director). (2010). Babies [Motion picture]. United States: NBC Universal.
- Church-Lang, J. Lecture 7: “Motor Development”. PSY 333D, Fall 2019.
- Church-Lang, J. Lecture 10: “Infant Intellectuals: Big Theories”. PSY 333D, Fall 2019.
- Church-Lang, J. Lecture 12: “Baby Talk”. PSY 333D, Fall 2019.
Stuck on your essay?
