Analysis of the Movie Gifted: Depiction of Struggles of a Child Prodigy

Mary is a child prodigy. She is able to solve differential equations in a millisecond and functions way over her classmates. Her mother was also a genius in mathematics, and her mother exploited her. When her mother passes away, Mary goes to live with her uncle who tries to deal with her uniqueness and protect her from the life her mother led due to her talents. Her grandmother finds out about the child’s abilities and it becomes a tug-of-war between them.

She eventually had her taken from the uncle and placed in “foster” care to people who would help develop her talent and help her to work on her mother’s mathematical algorithm that she had finished before passing away, Mary, however, just wanted to live with her uncle, and eventually she went back to her uncle’s house.

The child had an extreme ability to learn at a faster pace and more in-depth for a 7-year-old. Her uncle had the chance to enroll her in a gifted and talented class also known as enrichment classes, however, he wanted her to stay in regular education classes.

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The topic of putting her in enrichment classes was discussed throughout the movie.

Mary’s life was not an easy one, however she able to succeed through her trials. Today the topic of whether children should be placed in Gifted and Talented classes is a hot topic and there are no easy answers. Some think that if you are a put in a special class it limits peer socializing, and socializing with your friends helps in the development process.

Child prodigies, however, can experience positive social development when their family praises them and is involved in their life like Mary’s uncle. She was self-confident and handled herself well in other social environments. One example of this in the movie was when the mathematician made a mistake and she would not tell him of the mistake and when she was asked why she did not say anything her reply was “Nobody likes a smart ass”.

I believe Mary is very talented and is a child prodigy. She was treated like an adult by her uncle. Mary had an interest in numbers. Mary expresses to her family and teacher that children her age bore her, and she feels alienated. She is sad, also. Mary receives a “full scholarship” at a school for Gifted students, however, her uncle refuses to accept it. Therefore, this movie was more about how a child should be raised that is a child prodigy.

Just like John Nash, some people took advantage of Mary. Her teacher believed in her as well as her grandmother and uncle. Her grandmother attempted to help her granddaughter because successful but allowed her to go back to her Uncle’s to live. They all believed in her.

I have been teaching for 20 years and I believe that when I first started teaching there were several students that I came in contact with that were talented or gifted but nobody to the point of Mary is in this movie. One student I had this past year tested into gifted/talented but not to this extinct. I do believe that some of my class management problems occur because students are bored and start acting out. I think if I had a student that had Mary’s intellect, I would reinforce her skills and also try to get her into a special class to help her build on her skills socially and academically.