Happiness Theme in “I Am Sam”
Sam loves his daughter Lucy very much and tries very hard to keep her with him. Although, he is mentally-challenged and the court argues whether or not he should keep Lucy. They say he only has the ability of “a 7-year old” and doesn’t have enough money. He looks for a lawyer to help him get Lucy back, which she offers for free under the pressure of being seen by these women who gossip about her at work. She is super annoyed with him at first but eventually starts to understand and be nicer to him, so she helps him what to say at court.
Lucy is with a foster family who eventually gives her back to Sam because they don’t think they can promise to give her the love she’s never had. They decide to be on Sam’s side in court & promise not to tell that Sam can’t take care of her alone. They win the argument and Sam and Lucy live together again. Main Character Description Sam: He is a mentally-challenged father who loves his daughter very much. He’s very caring, happy, and loves Ihop. He enjoys making paper cranes and other different shapes too.
His job was working at Starbucks, and then he quits and works at Pizza Hut. Sam can also lose his temper quite easily as shown in the scene where he and Lucy eat at a different breakfast place and he throws a fit when she tells him they don’t have French pancakes with fruit toppings on the side. Lucy: She is a very smart and sneaky young girl. Even though her dad isn’t normal, she still loves him unconditionally and wants to see him as much as possible. She is also very understanding towards her father and cares about him a lot.
Rita: Rita is Sam’s lawyer to help him with getting Lucy back. She lives a very stressful life with people who dislike her, with hundreds of things she needs to do, and then she has to deal with this case she brought herself into. She never loses, so she tries very hard to win this case. She becomes very caring and understanding towards Sam as she helps him through getting Lucy back. Psychological Illness Autism is portrayed in this movie with Sam who struggles to keep his daughter to live with him.
In the beginning, Lucy’s friend asks her, “What is wrong with your dad? Is he retarded? ” and replies with a yes. Her friend judges Sam very negatively because he is not “normal. ” On the day of Lucy’s birthday party, Sam tries to calm everyone down so they can surprise Lucy; he touches one of the kids to hide and the child says, “get off me! I have cooties! ” The child doesn’t even want to be touched or handled by him because of the way he is.
The father also pushes him down away from his child right when Lucy walks in and sees that. She loves her father no matter what because he has always been there for her and will always love her like no one else can. Her peers would look at him like he is a weirdo and laugh at him. Whenever he would talk to people, they would just keep nodding their heads like they’re listening because they don’t care what they have to say. But Sam has some friends just like him who all like to hang out just like a regular group of friends.
They would compliment each other a lot, encourage each other, support each other, and talk about their same interests. The court officials thought it was best for Lucy to not live with Sam because they don’t think he has the ability to support her. Especially since he has a mental illness, they don’t think he would be able to take care of her properly. But he pointed out that all she needs from him is love, support, patience, to listen to her, and happiness.
