He needed more than a shrink, that kid was mentally disturbed. I've never in my life seen a kid flip out and start cryin
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Jane2005 — 16 years ago(January 01, 2010 05:35 PM)
I've never in my life seen a kid flip out and start crying because kids his age don't like him.
WOW - you haven't been around many kids. Children display frustration and lack of self confidence in many different ways. Some emote openly, like Kevin. Others keep it inside but suffer from depression, eating disorders, cutting themselves, etc.
(Kevin) needed to be put away in a mental hospital. That scene where he starts crying because he lost his retainer is ridiculous! Life goes on, get over it.
I have to agree with the other MuchToBeGratefulFor that Kevin's meltdown about his retainer was not indicative of serious mental issue. Kids get like that because they're tired, over-extended, frustrated by other events in their lives, etc.
Yes, you hope by adulthood someone like Kevin would've figured things out how to cope with frustrations in life, how to handle peer pressure, etc. But kids have to have the opportunity to do that as kids without adults judging them from the adult perspective (which creates a more stressful environment).
Kids are just growing humans trying to figure out how it all works. It's easy to be an adult and judge them for their "rookie" mistakes, but that only makes things worse for the kids. Thank goodness Kevin had a parent like Steve Martin in his corner. I'm sure he ended up okay.
Rarely are kids born with complete self confidence and lack of concern about what others think of them. Kids like that end up being poor team players at work, or (worse case scenario) end up being serial killers. No joke - they lack any concern over what others think of them and have no empathy for others as part of their physiological/psychological make up.
-Jane -
stevenackerman69 — 16 years ago(January 02, 2010 07:58 PM)
Well, some kids are very sensitive about things and cannot understand the way other kids react to them. I think Kevin felt that he couldn't do anything right, like with the baseball game where he drops the fly ball. The kids sort of made him feel that way, like when he is told he stinks. Some kids can just ignore that and others can't.
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ZeoRangerFive — 16 years ago(February 22, 2010 05:48 PM)
Yes, because anyone who comes on the internet to share a view on something that people disagree on is automatically "immature" or "ignorant". Those 2 words usually come up often because said person can't come up with any other discussion especially when it involves something that person disagrees with. Thanks for that discussion jumping off point!
Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus! -
Nearvana — 16 years ago(February 22, 2010 07:32 PM)
in a way you are right. saying you are more disturbed would be implying the kid was severely disturbed. apathy, as you've shown, is an equally paralleled 'symptom'. you're not deciphering the difference or recognizing the similarities, shows the inexperience or ignorance. that isn't mean to sound anymore or less patronizing, i'm sure. & !
serva me, serva bote -
trf100 — 16 years ago(March 29, 2010 06:09 AM)
Losing his retainer was the straw-that-broke-the-donkey's-back event
Don't forget that Kevin (who is an extremely sensitive child) had just been threatened and bullied out of money in public; in front of his family and his school mates.
The retainer incident was a culmination to a rotten high-pressured day that his birthday turned out to be. -
Kuato_and_George — 12 years ago(April 20, 2013 08:20 PM)
That's not even remotely funny, nor does it make any sense.
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ZeoRangerFive — 15 years ago(June 25, 2010 06:13 PM)
I usually can't, I just conceal it to myself, I don't flip out over dumb stuff. People just need to calm down.
Oh, no. I LOST MY RETAINER! OH MY GOD.
Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus! -
fiatlux-1 — 14 years ago(May 07, 2011 01:55 PM)
I know he's a kid and troubled, but he really overreacted to so many things. Like when the lights go out at Susan's he totally panicked! Come on kid, you're not 4!
The lights went out, it was still daytime.relax!
The retainer I could see screaming about, as they are expensive and he likely thought his parents would be very angry. Plus, like another poster said, he was already pissed off to begin with.
That said, I still felt Kevin almost needed a smack a couple times there, and NOT such mollycoddling by his parents! If that were me, my mom would have said "All right all right! Calm down already! Its not the end of the world!"
Some of his problem I thought was his parents. He needed to toughen up a bit, even for a kid.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush." -
furienna — 12 years ago(April 19, 2013 06:24 PM)
I know he's a kid and troubled, but he really overreacted to so many things. Like when the lights go out at Susan's he totally panicked! Come on kid, you're not 4!
The lights went out, it was still daytime.relax!
But it was dark enough for Gil to go looking for a flash light, and mistaking his sister's vibrator for one! So I guess it was dark enough for Kevin to panic.
Intelligence and purity. -
JustAnotherWhedonite — 13 years ago(November 20, 2012 01:23 AM)
I took note of the fact that the "Kevin character" on the TV show (Max) has Aspergers.
If this film was released today, I think they'd say Kevin was on the spectrum, for sure. He had many red flags. Being the 80s, though, he was essentially labeled a "mental case." -
furienna — 12 years ago(April 19, 2013 06:29 PM)
I took note of the fact that the "Kevin character" on the TV show (Max) has Aspergers.
I just hated how Max's parents reacted to their son having Asperger's. It was like it was the end of the world for them. And then, we have one of his aunts worrying that her daughter has Asperger's too, but no, thank God, she's only really intelligent! As if we aspies can't be that too! Bleh I love this movie, but hated that show.
Intelligence and purity. -
EightiesKid — 13 years ago(December 27, 2012 06:27 PM)
Kevin was a very nice kid, I think he just his self confidence wasn't very good sometimes, so you tend to take small things far harder than others, such as not having enough friends, acceptance, or feeling like you're "no good" at something. That's something the OP and others even today can't always understand. The jerk kid on the baseball team telling him he stunk had problems, not him!
He clearly got some of this from Gil (who was high strung and worried alot himself). I think Gil tried so hard to be a perfect dad, since Frank wasn't.
The arcade scene wasn't the best example. Kev already got bullied by another kid for his money, and being already sensitive and having low self confidence on top of that, is what made him so upset when he lost his retainer. $200 in 1989 money is about $500 now with inflation, so it's not cheap, and he probably worried his parents would be mad at him for losing it.
Things like this really make this movie way ahead of its time. In 1989 almost nobody was talking about things like Autism (which he might've had a milder form of), and just relegated him to needing Special Ed or therapy.
