Teen Developmental Stages in Save the Last Dance

Psychological Analysis: Save the Last Dance (2001)

Save the Last Dance (2001) delineates the complex relationships of two adolescents who are negotiating an interracial romance. Adolescence is a time of self-definition for young people. According to the developmental theorist Erik Erikson, "During adolescence (age 12 to 18 yrs), the transition from childhood to adulthood is most important. Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing, etc. The individual wants to belong to a society and fit in" (McLeod 2013). The central protagonist of the film, a high school girl named Sara, is attempting to redefine her identity as a dancer. She simultaneously seeks a sense of security, due to the fact her mother recently passed away, while fashioning an independent identity from her surviving family. Sara begins the film uncertain of who she is and what her purpose in life is and gradually gains a more secure sense of self over the course of the film's progression.

Sara is filled with guilt because of her belief that she indirectly caused her mother's death. Sara is a classically-trained dancer who wanted to go to Julliard but her mother died in a car crash when she was rushing to see Sara's audition because Sara begged her to be there. The fact that Sara's audition was not successful further intensifies her guilt and sense of unworthiness. Sara feels that if she is not a dancer, she has no identity. Ballet is an extremely regimented style of dance as well and Sara's life has almost been completely structured by the need to train and compete.

After her mother's death, Sara goes to live at her father's house where she quickly finds herself to be one of the few white students in a largely African-American urban high school. However, Sara is able to negotiate a new identity and friendship with Derek, who helps her find a new sense of purpose through hip-hop dancing. Ultimately, this frees up Sara's dancing and gives her a new perspective on her art, resulting in her eventually being accepted into Julliard.

Derek faces his own identity struggles during the film. As a brilliant African-American student, he often is ostracized by his fellow classmates because of his focus on school. Derek aspires to be a doctor and wishes to go to Georgetown Medical School but nearly throws this opportunity away when he is tempted to get involved in gang violence, more due to a misplaced sense of loyalty to his old friends than because of any genuine desire to get involved. African-American students frequently have an identity conflict, forcing them in a perceived choice between academic success and staying true to their roots. "The identity issues facing middle-class black and Latino teenagers might be a clue as to why they don't do as well academically ... The teens often live in dual worlds: the suburban one they live in, and the rougher street life they see glorified in the media" (Solomon 2009).

Derek clearly feels a need to make a choice between the professional world, which is characterized as white in his high school, and the world which would allow him to realize his dreams. Studies of how African-American children perceive themselves, even in relatively affluent areas, indicate that they have internalized stereotypes regarding their professional and personal potential. "Racial stereotypes are so powerful that black children are much more limited in how they see themselves," and students like Derek who have the potential to succeed do not, unlike white children, "get to pick from this huge array of personality types, behaviors, authentic selves that they can put on and take off," rather black children have a much more limited array of choices they can select and still be considered "authentically black" (Solomon 2009).

Even simply associating with Sara taints the identity of both Derek and his sister Chenille. Chenille acts as a kind of mentor to Sara when the white girl moves to her new environment, as Chenille teaches Sara how to dress and dance. Chenille is criticized for associating with a white girl and Derek in particular is ostracized given that it is assumed he only likes Sara because she is white. The film makes it clear that Sara and Derek have a special emotional connection that transcends cliques and racial divisions but initially most of the other students are unable to see this. Cliques are a very important part of most adolescent's sense of identity and in the divided urban high school of the film, this is particularly true. One recent Stanford University study indicated that large, urban high schools of the type depicted in the film are far more likely to have students that associate with highly-defined cliques than smaller schools with more of a family feel and a focus on academics. "Larger schools that offer more choice and variety are the most likely to form hierarchies and cliques and self-segregation...In smaller schools, and in smaller classrooms, you force people to interact, and they are less hierarchical, less cliquish, and less self-segregated" (Thompson 2014).

The school depicted in the film is a large, urban high school. Although there are clearly good teachers (Sara and Derek 'meet cute' in an argument over Truman Capote in English class), the majority of students are not focused on academics but rather their lives outside of the high school. But Sara is forced out of her comfort zone and what might be her traditional clique of friends simply by virtue of going to a high school where she is an outsider. She takes on a new identity and assumes a more nuanced and expansive view of herself because of the fact she is the only white student who has grown up in an affluent background.