User:Ashleyledesma/sandbox

Themes

Maturation
 * In the beginning of the film, Ben Spektor is completely dedicated to his hockey team. He refuses

to miss hockey practice despite the fact that his friends are going to a party and that they invited Cayla, the sister of one of Ben's teammates, who he has a crush on. Yuri Spektor, Ben's father, is enthusiatic about his sons pursuit of hockey and encourages the boy to watch Wayne Gretzky's games. At times, it seems that it is Yuri's goal to have a member of his family be a great hockey player rather than his son's. Nonetheless Ben continues to play to avoid disappointing Yuri.


 * Also, Ben and his two friends, Noah and Sammy, engage in reckless and immature behaviour such as

buying fireworks from a strange man who is selling them on the side of the road and aiming them at peple, while lit, outside the window of a moving car despite the obvious dangers of doing so. Ben shows an additional lack of maturity when he gives a fellow teammate, Jordan Chapman, five dollars to buy drugs with the intent of getting Chapman to leave him alone.


 * As the story progresses, Ben is able to realize that he had made the wrong decision by providing

Chapman with the money he needed for the drugs. As a form of attonement, he volunteers to join the search parties looking for Cayla's brother. Eventually, Spektor confesses to Chapman's father that he gave Jordan the money giving Ben the confidence to confront his own father about how he doesn't feel right playing hockey while a member of the team is missing. At the end of the film, Spektor's maturity is witnessed when he is able do decline Cayla's advances despite his ability to take advantage of her emotional vulnerability.