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The movie “Tarzan” follows a boy who was raised by gorillas in the jungles of West Africa after his biological human parents were killed by the vicious leopard, Sabor. In the beginning of the movie, Tarzan constantly felt like an outcast as he contemplates why he looks so different from his gorilla family. The creators of the movie effectively illustrate how many human adolescents face an identity crisis in today's society. Toward the middle of the movie these feelings of loneliness and unhappiness subside when Tarzan encounters English people, Jane, her father Professor Porter, and Clayton. Jane and her father wanted to visit Africa to expand their research on gorillas, while Clayton had an ulterior motive to hunt the gorillas and sell them, illustrating the flaws of human nature as it relates to greed, selfishness and deception. This encounter began with Jane, when Tarzan rescued her from a stampede of baboons. From there, Tarzan started to notice how he and Jane were so similar. Jane later introduces Tarzan to Clayton and Professor Porter and they teach him English and life as a human. As Jane’s trip comes to an end, Tarzan realizes that he is in love and does not want her to leave. Desperate to be with Jane forever, Clayton tricks Tarzan into giving up the gorillas’ nesting grounds. Kerchak, the leader of the gorilla family, is angered with Tarzan and forces the humans to escape. Kerchak accuses Tarzan of betraying the gorilla family. Tarzan has no choice but to flee with Jane and the others to England. The next morning while on the ship, Tarzan, Jane and Professor Porter are ambushed by Clayton and his gang and are imprisoned at the bottom of the ship. Clayton reveals to Tarzan that now that he’s gotten the location to the gorilla’s nesting grounds, he will kill them. With the help of Tarzan’s friends, Terk and Tantor, Tarzan manages to escape and runs to the jungle to save his family. In the end, Clayton puts the gorillas in cages, and kills Kerchak. When Tarzan arrives, he and Clayton fight in the trees but ultimately leads to Clayton falling off and getting hung by a vine. After Clayton’s defeat, Tarzan is named the new leader of the gorilla family, indicating that family doesn’t always have to be those with shared blood. The movie closes with Tarzan and Jane living happily together as they coexist among the gorillas.

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Erik Erikson born in 1902, was a German psychologist who came up with his theory of development. Erikson was the first person who coined the term “identity crisis”. Despite not obtaining a university degree, Erikson was a professor at many highly ranked universities such as Yale and Harvard. Erikson is now known as one of the most prominent psychologists of the 20th century.

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Erikson’s Stage One: Infancy — Trust vs Mistrust

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Erikson’s Stage One: Infancy — Trust vs Mistrust

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During this stage, babies have to rely on many individuals to fulfill every need for survival. During this stage, babies develop the virtue of hope that everything is going to be okay once they have someone to depend on.

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Erikson’s Stage Two: Early Childhood — Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt

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Erikson’s Stage Two: Early Childhood — Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt

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In this stage of development, children gain a greater sense of personal control and they start to gain some independence. This is the stage where children go through potty training, which teaches them how to go to the bathroom by themselves.

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Erikson’s Stage Three: Preschool — Initiative vs Guilt

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Erikson’s Stage Three: Preschool — Initiative vs Guilt

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Children begin to become assertive with others and learn how their actions can have an impact on what others do. Overcoming this conflict can lead to a sense of purpose while being unsuccessful in overcoming this conflict can lead to a sense of guilt when children become overly assertive.

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Erikson’s Stage Four: Elementary School — Industry vs Inferiority 

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Erikson’s Stage Four: Elementary School — Industry vs Inferiority 

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Children start to demonstrate capability of accomplishing social and academic standards. Those who are encouraged and commended develop a sense of competency.

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Erikson’s Stage Five: Adolescence — Identity vs Role Confusion

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Erikson’s Stage Five: Adolescence — Identity vs Role Confusion

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During this stage, children start to explore their independence and experiment with who they think they are. Individuals in this stage develop a sense of self which is significantly important in today's society.

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Erikson’s Stage Six: Young Adulthood — Intimacy vs Isolation 

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Erikson’s Stage Six: Young Adulthood — Intimacy vs Isolation 

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In this stage, young adults desire to form meaningful relationships with other people. Those who are successful form secure relationships that can last a lifetime. The key theme that is associated with this stage is love.

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Erikson’s Stage Seven: Middle Adulthood — Generativity vs Stagnation

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Erikson’s Stage Seven: Middle Adulthood — Generativity vs Stagnation

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In this stage, most people have already started families as it is important for individuals to create and nurture something that will outlive them. Individuals also continue to build their relationships and careers. Those who succeed in this stage feel productive and involved with society.

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Erikson’s Stage Eight: Older Adulthood — Integrity vs Despair 

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Erikson’s Stage Eight: Older Adulthood — Integrity vs Despair 

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This stage is associated with old age and it is essentially a reflection point in these individuals' lives. People gain wisdom as they’ve gone through many experiences in their life. Those who look back at their life and are satisfied have ultimately achieved fulfillment.

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One criticism is that Erikson fails to explain what experiences individuals in each stage need to go through in order to achieve success in that stage. Furthermore, critics say that the theory needs to be more elaborated on.

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After the killing of his parents by Sabor, infant Tarzan is alone in his parents' tree house. Kala, a female gorilla, stumbles upon the tree house, discovers Tarzan and escapes with him before Sabor can kill him. At this moment, Tarzan begins to have trust in Kala and relies on her for his basic needs. Although they aren’t the same animals, Tarzan sees Kala as his mother because she provides food and protection.

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As Tarzan becomes a little older he takes part in activities that usually gorillas do such as climbing trees and swinging on vines even though he doesn’t have the physical features to do them well. While with his friend Terk and other gorillas at a nearby waterfall, Tarzan decides that he will prank a group of elephants by taking a piece of hair from their tails to prove that he is competent. The elephants think that Tarzan is a piranha in the water and chaos ensues. He is later scolded by Kerchak.

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In the middle of the movie, Tarzan finally meets someone that looks like him. Tarzan encounters Jane after saving her from being ambushed by monkeys. After being rescued, Jane is fascinated with Tarzan and Tarzan is likewise fascinated with her. Consequently, Jane teaches Tarzan about England. As they spend more time together, the pair start to fall in love.

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As Tarzan becomes the new leader of his gorilla family, he continues to protect and lead them with Jane by his side. At the end of the movie, Tarzan does his gorilla call, showing his dominance, and indicating that he is their leader.

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Tarzan kills Sabor and becomes more popular among the gorilla family. Tarzan also gains some slight acknowledgement from Kerchak. This event made Tarzan more confident in his abilities to lead and protect.

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Tarzan encounters humans for the first time. This encounter was enlightening for Tarzan because he realizes that there are individuals in the world that look like him.

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Kerchak dies and names Tarzan as his rightful son and the new leader. Tarzan now has to take on Kerchak’s responsibility for the rest of his life and rule his people.

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The movie "Tarzan" can be applied to Erikson's Theory of Development.

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The theory did well in explaining my character’s development. The theory encapsulated what Tarzan has gone through from infant to adult. One drawback is that Tarzan in the adolescent stage was left out, but the movie portrayed Tarzan having an identity crisis from childhood all the way to adulthood. Erikson describes how individuals experience identity crises during their adolescent years. However, I still think that the theory is a good fit for Tarzan’s character development because it does effectively highlight Tarzan’s conflict in his childhood years of learning how to socialize with his gorilla family and showing his competence to Kerchak. The theory also highlights Tarzan’s conflict with love, when he was so desperate to be with her that he almost harmed his family. The movie doesn’t give much information on Tarzan’s identity other than the fact that he’s a male, but I still think that Erikson’s theory is valid to use for Tarzan. Although he acts like a gorilla, he is still ultimately a human and the movie did a great job in portraying Tarzan’s conflicts which can be relatable to many people such as having an identity crisis, or the need to fit in.

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Cherry, K. (2022, August 3). Erikson's Stages of Development. VeryWellMind.

"Erik Erikson". (n.d.). From Wikipedia.

Pomerantz, A.M. (2019, October 29). My Psychology. Chapter 9. Macmillan Learning.