60th Annual Meeting

October 19 - 27, 2013

Media Theatre 6 (open)

Ted: A Look at Child Development and Perpetual Adolescence

At its core, Ted is a coming-of-age story. It tells the story of a sentient teddy bear and the now adult that wished him to life. It became a box office success because it taps into universal themes of transitional objects, identity formation, and fantasy. This movie highlights key aspects of child development through the use of immature humor. Popular culture is a powerful educational tool that can demonstrate themes in child development. Child and adolescent psychiatrists need to make sense of the unexpected popularity of seemingly “low-brow” cinema, and better understand how to use such a comedy to explore themes of child development…come explore and maybe have some fun, too!