Detailed Analysis of Drama Elements in the Movie 'I Am Sam'

This report provides a detailed analysis of the 2001 American drama film 'I Am Sam', directed by Jessie Nelson. It explores the movie's themes, including empathy, parenthood, and determination, and examines the plot involving a father with an intellectual disability fighting for custody of his daughter. The report delves into character analysis, highlighting key figures like Sam Dawson, Rita Harrison, and Lucy Diamond Dawson, and presents notable dialogue excerpts. Furthermore, it discusses the soundtrack, composed by John Powell and featuring covers of Beatles songs. References include books, journals and online sources that support the analysis of the film's dramatic elements.

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA

TABLE OF CONTENTS
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

MAIN BODY
Theme
The movie I am Sam is 2001 American drama film which was directed by Jessie Nelson.
This movie was written by Christine Johnson and Jessie Nelson. The movie was released on
December 28, 2001 within United States and in other countries on January 25, 2002. The running
time of the movie is 132 minutes and is made in English language and the budget was dollar 22
million and box office collection was 97.8 million. The theme of the movie included starting
Sean Penn as a father who is having an intellectual disability, Dakota fanning who is his
daughter and Michael Pfeiffer as his lawyer (Sen, 2021). The major theme of the movie is that
the film plays with the emotion of the viewer and left them with confusion, happy and sad
emotion at the single time. In addition to this it also involve different emotion like empathy,
parenthood, determination, love and many other themes at the same time.
Plot
The plot of the movie was like a man Sam Dawson was having intellectual disability who
is a single father of Lucy who is 6 to 7 years old abundant by a mother. Sam has a supportive
group of friends with disabilities and agoraphobic neighbour any who takes care of Lucy when
Sam cannot take care of her. In addition to this Sam provides a living place to Lucy surpassing
his mental ability. In addition to this other children bully her for having an intellectually disabled
father and because of this she gets embarrassed. In danger of losing the custody Sam is advised
by his friends to hire a lawyer Rita Harrison. Rita because of her work is neglecting her son who
is also handicapped as Sam. While working on the case with some it assisted Rita in having a
new life. This included the fact that I was encouraged to leave her philandering husband and
make his relationship with his son proper. At the trial Sam cried and after that leaves seen resides
at the foster home with Randy carpenter but tries to convince him to help her and the wave. She
is kept in the middle of the night and went to Sam's house. However the foster parents decided
not to talk to her as they have planned and returned her to Sam for stop in addition to this Randy
assured him that she will tell the judge that some is better parent for Lucy (Kangogo, 2020).
After that some asked Randy to help him in raising Lucy as he felt that she also needs a mother
for stop in the final scene a soccer game was depicted where in Sam referees and Lucy

participated as a player. In the list of the attendants there was Lucy's foster family friend group
off Sam and newly single Rita with her son.
Characters
Name Character
Sean Penn Samuel John “Sam” Dawson
Michelle Pfeiffer Rita Harrison Williams
Dakota Fanning Lucy Diamond Dawson
Dianne Wiest Annie Cassell
Loretta Devine Margaret Calgrove
Richard Schiff Mr Turner
Laura Dern Randy carpenter
Marin Hinkle Patricia
Stanley DeSantis Robert
Ken Jenkins Judge Philip McNeily
Wendy Phillips Miss Wright
Dialogue
At time talking to Rita- “People like you don't know what is like to get hurted. Because you don't
have feelings. People like you don't feel anything!”
At time when Sam was talking about Lucy’s future- “I worry if they take Lucy away from her
father they will take away an enormous piece of her, and I worry that she will spend the rest of
her life trying to fill that hole.”
Conversation between Lucy and Sam
“- Lucy: Why are men bald?
- Sam Dawson: Sometimes they're bald because their head is shiny and they don't have hair on it.
So their head is just more of their face.” (“I Am Sam” quotes (2001), 2021).
Sound tracks effect
The music within the film was provided by John Powell. The Grammy award nominated the
soundtrack of this movie and in addition to this John Powell also had a cover version of the song
by the Beatles. In addition to this Penn commissioned different tortoise in order to cover the
soundtrack of the song. In addition to this Penn's brother Michael Penn has also been featured on

a duet with his wife Aimee Mann (Tailby, 2020). Along with this the movie was produced in
shot over the original Beatles and due to this the artist also had to record their voice with the
same tempo (musical timing) as the Beatles original piece had.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Sen, A., 2021. Autism and Parenthood: A Comparative Analysis of I Am Sam and Main Aisa Hi
Hoon.
Kangogo, J.J., 2020. The Elements of Drama in Koito a Traditional Wedding Ceremony Among
the Tugen People of Baringo Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi).
Tailby, J.E., 2020. Arthurian elements in drama and Meisterlieder. The Arthur of the Germans:
The Arthurian Legend in Medieval German and Dutch Literature, pp.243-247.
Online
“I Am Sam” quotes (2001). 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.moviequotes.com/s-movie/i-am-sam/>