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Snowfall

The series follows budding drug-dealer Franklin Saint as he navigates a way to sell crack cocaine during the 1980s crack epidemic in South Central L.A.

"I TRIED TO DO SHIT THE RIGHT WAY, WENT TO THE OTHER SIDE. KNOW WHAT I LEARNED? THE GAME'S RIGGED. IT AIN'T MADE FOR PEOPLE LIKE US, SO YOU KNOW WHAT? I'M REWRITING THE RULES."

Franklin Saint is one of the three protagonists in the FX original series, Snowfall. He is a 19-year-old convenience store clerk who rose to become South Central LA's notorious drug kingpin and the patriarch of the Family.

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Erik Erikson and his theory of psychosocial development

Erik Erikson was a german- American psychologist who was inspired by the work of Sigmund and Anna Freud. He was the one who first coined the term “identity crisis” He worked as a professor at Yale and Harvard even without his bachelor's degree.

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The major components of the theory

There are 8 stages that make up the components of Erikson's theory

The foundational beliefs/assumptions that underlie the theory are

“A healthy individual should experience these stages from birth to death. At each stage we encounter different needs, ask new questions and meet new people who influence us.”

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Critiques of the theory

According to "pressbooks.pub" major critiques of Erikson's theory are "focusing so heavily on stages and assuming that the completion of one stage is prerequisite for the next crisis of development." I can say that I agree with these critiques. While doing this assignment I found that Erikson's theory doesn't really fit with a lot of my character's life. While my character is fictional he is based on real-life people and his situation is one that has been seen throughout the black community. When you do everything you can to succeed, still fail and watch those around collapse from the weight of their lives, to what lengths will you go to survive?

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How would your theorist evaluate or assess the character?:

My theorist would evaluate my character’s development as unhealthy. His life is experiencing stages out of order and at a rushed pace. There are things in his life that he is worrying about that no one should have to deal with. He has gone through much trauma and has caused much trauma himself. He should currently be focused on his wife and kid but his business is his main priority. It takes precedence for him.

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Stage 1: Trust vs. mistrust Birth to 12–18 months old - Stage 2: Autonomy vs. shame and doubt 18 months to 3 years old

The show doesn't delve much into these years for Franklin but it is assumed it was a normal and pleasant time in Franklin's history.

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Stage 3: Initiative vs. guilt 3 to 5 years old

This is where we see some unique events. In 1968 franklin’s father Alton took advantage of his son's growing intelligence and decided to radicalize him by bringing him to black panther meetings, where Fred Hampton would speak.

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Stage 4: Industry vs. inferiority 5 to 12 years old

During this stage, Franklin’s father moved him to a better school. But unfortunately, franklin would lose his relationship with his father due to the latter having committed the murder of his cousin who was an informant spying on the Black Panthers in Oakland which drove a wedge between his family and fueled his alcohol problem. Luckily Franklin was brought up with his uncle and aunt nearby to help raise him with his mother.

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Stage 5: Identity vs. confusion 12 to 18 years old

During this stage, Franklin started to become a man. He was looking for his place in society. He was very intelligent and decided he wanted to go to college. So he worked his butt off to get there.

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evolution or devolution?

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Skipped Stage 6: Intimacy vs. isolation: 18 to 40 years old, Currently Stage 7: Generativity vs stagnation

This is the stage where we get the biggest deviation. This is the stage where franklin’s first priority is supposed to be finding love and settling down. Unfortunately, he is a black man in America so he has other problems and worries plaguing his mind. While he still had a girlfriend and the occasional hookup, his mind was laser focused on securing life for his family. Usually, this occurs in the next stage, but franklin knew that it was now or never for him. The lifespan for black men at that time was a decade less than their white counterparts, so he had to work on an accelerated timeline. After dropping out of college Franklin enters the world of drug dealing. From there it's a rollercoaster. He goes through betrayal, and he kills for the first of many times in his life. He goes through police brutality and starts selling highly addictive crack to his community. On his conquest for more money he gets entangled with the C.I.A.  Sees friends get shot and even shoots his own friend to stop a gang war. Goes to jail and many other traumatic events. I can’t spoil the whole show but the moral of the story is Franklin's path into adulthood was laced and paved with loss, bloodshed, and death. The person he was at the beginning of his adult life is a far cry from the person he is now. His want for a legacy for his family may just be the reason he loses them.

According to Erikson's theory, this is the time that Franklin should be focused on relationships and partners, but the reality the only relationships and partners he is interested in are the bidness kind. He currently is in the seventh stage of Generativity vs stagnation. He is solely worried about capital and generating wealth for himself and his family.

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Validity of theory

Erikson's theory doesn't explain Franklin's development well. Franklin's life isn't the normal standard. He is a man that has gone through life-changing experiences that Erikson could not predict. Murder, loss, and crime aren't accounted for. The first 3 stages of his theory work to explain Franklin's life but his adulthood is where we see deviation.

Franklin Saint is a young cisgender heterosexual black man in America. What the majority finds as normal in life often isn't his reality. He is under a different set of rules. Even if he does everything right and follows the rules it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work out for him.

Sources;

Snowfall wiki: https://snowfall.fandom.com/wiki/Franklin_Saint