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Our exploration is set in the great state of Maryland during the wonderful season of Fall. The movie chosen for the topic centers around a young girl, Gilly Hopkins. We're introduced to her foster mother, Maime Trotter, foster brother, W.E., her elderly neighbor, Mr.Rudolph, her long-lost mother, Courtney, and her biological grandmother, Nonnie. Here we will discuss Gilly's wanting to belong and find a forever home in her unforgiving life.

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"Life ain't supposed to be nothing, 'cept maybe tough"

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"Life ain't supposed to be nothing, 'cept maybe tough"

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The film, “The Great Gilly Hopkins,” tells a touching story of a young girl, Gilly Hopkins and her journey to find love, family, and a sense of belonging.  Gilly is a resilient, troubled foster child with one dream: to reunite with her long-lost mother, Courtney. But as she finds herself bouncing from one foster home to another, Gilly becomes resentful, feeling powerless over her own life.  Finding herself in yet another foster home, Gilly is placed with Maime Trotter, a kind-hearted and patient foster mother.  Upon meeting her new foster parent, she meets the Trotter “family,” her foster brother, W.E., a timid young boy, and Mr. Randolph, their black elderly, poetry-loving neighbor.  She initially resists her new family, expecting yet another temporary stop in her life, leading her to continue to devise plans to escape and live with her biological mom, even going as far as attempting to run away.  Despite Gilly's efforts to push them away, she slowly forms a bond with this unusual family, finding moments of joy and acceptance she hadn’t anticipated.  The longer she finds herself staying at the Trotter household, the deeper her connections with her newly found family grow, and her longing for her biological mother starts to wane.  Just as she grows closer to her new “family,” her grandmother, Nonnie, arrives, offering her a chance to reconnect with her biological family. Unfortunately for Gilly, she has to live with her grandmother by law.  Gilly reluctantly leaves Trotter’s loving care, holding onto the hope of finally meeting her mother.  Gilly reverts back to the quiet girl she once was, as she didn’t know her grandmother and her grandmother didn’t know her.  Eventually, Gilly is told her dream of reconnecting with her mother is coming true.  Gilly is riddled with anticipation as she soon meets her mother.  But everything is not what she expected.  Upon meeting her mother, she faces a harsh reality: her mother’s interest in her is more about obligation than love.  This crushes Gilly.  Realizing how foolish she has been, she realizes her true family is the one she left behind.  She runs away to Trotter’s house and pleads to stay, but Trotter gently encourages her to build a life with her grandmother. The film closes with Gilly and Nonnie visiting Trotter for the holidays, showing that while Gilly may not live with Trotter, she has found a way to stay connected to the people she loves, reflecting Gilly’s newfound understanding of family.

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Little Sneak Peak on Bronfenbrenner's Life

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Little Sneak Peak on Bronfenbrenner's Life

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Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian-American psychologist known for developing the Ecological Systems Theory.  He was born in Moscow, Russia in 1917, and later moved to the United States as a young child and grew up in New York.  There he earned his bachelor’s degree at Cornell University, class of 1938, in both Psychology and Music.  He then completed his master’s degree in education from Harvard in 1940, which he followed by earning a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1942.  Soon after earning his doctorate, he was introduced to the Army and served as a psychologist in various case assignments (Cornell Human Ecology). In 1948, Bronfenbrenner became a professor at Cornell University in Human Development, Family Studies, and Psychology.  There he began to develop the Ecological Systems Theory (Jones, Study.com). The Ecological Systems Theory develops the idea that human development is influenced by our environment; there are layers and reasons to human behavior and mindset.  There are 5 “layers” to Bronfenbrenner’s theory 

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First, we start with individual in the middle: their sex, age, height, biological disposition, etc.  Then we get into the layers.

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This layer is the first one in the ecological system theory.  These are the things that a growing human has the most contact with (Tannenbaum, 2018). This includes the child’s immediate environment and relationships, where the person has the most human interactions. Who do they interact with? What is their relationship with this person? Relationships and environments in this first layer have the most influence on a child, it can change their beliefs and actions (Guy-Evans, 2024).

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The mesosystem layer is the relationship between the individual’s microsystems (Goodson, 2017).  i.e., for a child, we might consider the relationship between their school and parents.  Maybe a more involved parent creates a more academically inclined child (Pomerantz, 2024).  Or we might even consider the relationship between an individual’s friends and their family; the individual sees that their friends value their academics or family, and it can reflect in that individual’s relationship with their own family or academics.  In this layer, the relationship between the different microsystems influences one another and directly impacts the child’s development (Guy-Evans, 2024).

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The third layer of the theory, the exosystem, is the link between two settings.  One setting is an environment directly related to the individual and the other is a setting where the individual does not have an active role or is not directly related to the individual (Tannenbaum, 2018).  These settings may not include the individual but may still affect them.  A common example used to imagine this layer is a parent’s workplace.  If the parent/s work somewhere with flexible hours and an understanding boss, they would have more time to spend with their child, positively impacting the child’s development and their relationship with family (Guy-Evans, 2024).

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This layer includes the individual’s social and cultural context.  The macrosystem focuses on the already established beliefs, cultural norms, and society conditions that influence the individual’s thinking (Guy-Evans, 2024). Here the individual conforms their beliefs about gender roles, societal issues, religious beliefs, family structures, and individualism.  The cultural context in which the individual is brought up in, doesn’t refer to the specific environment, but how the individual develops from these preconceived concepts.  A real-life example that we see this in, is China.  The society has strong values  of academia and individual achievement, as a result, the children are more competitive.

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The chronosystem, the last layer of the theory, relates to the application of timing.  The timing of certain life events and how they affect that individual (Tannenbaum, 2018).  It relates to the transitions of a child’s development.  How that a certain event affects that individual or their environment, can lead to belief changes, attitude changes, or even an entire environment shift.  An example of this can be COVID.  It was a major historical event, that still affects everyone to this day, but at its peak, we had to adjust to the shift in environment.  Children went from in-person to online classes, (some) parents went from working in an office to the house, and we had limited social interactions, all of which can have long-lasting effects on development.

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Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory 

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Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory 

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In this story, Gilly’s microsystem primarily involves her current foster family and her school environment.  By deductive thinking, we can conclude that Gilly has been in the foster system her entire life.  So, her interactions with her past foster families and her current foster family, heavily influenced Gilly’s attitude and behavior.  Initially, Gilly is shown to resist Trotter’s hospitality and gives everyone she meets the cold shoulder, but over time, Trotter’s loving nature begins to break down Gilly’s emotional barriers.  Even at school, her stubborn, yet good-willed teacher, Miss.Harris, challenges Gilly’s belief about people and life, resulting in Gilly changing some of her behaviors and attitude.

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Over time, we can see Gilly’s attitude and behavior begin to change.  Gilly’s environment in her foster home begins impacting how she acts at school.  From the beginning, Gilly had some preconceived notions about her teacher and school, but as she grew with Trotter’s love, so did her outlook on life.  She became more friendly to people at school, more protective of W.E., and letting go some biases she had about Miss.Harris and Mr.Randolph.  Gilly starts to gradually feel the care the people around her have, and slowly becomes a happier child.

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The most prominent factor the viewer can see in Gilly’s life is the foster care system.  It’s a key part of her life and the reason she feels powerless.  From the beginning, decisions were made for Gilly; where she would live for however long, which family wanted her, and which school she would go to.  Gilly never had a say, she’s never had a chance to grow with a loving family.  She used to think of things as temporary, and people let her down.  We can see her frustration and resentment stemming from the foster care system, depicted through her harsh nature and childish antics.  Additionally, her mother’s life choices, which led her into foster care, create a lonely life for Gilly, as she longs for a family.

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Gilly’s life experiences are influenced by her upbringing in the foster care system.  In the beginning, she has a close mindset, shaped by societal views on identity, family, and race.  Growing up in a society that values family, impacts her perception of foster care and creates an emotional gap between her and the people she meets.  Her belief in family is based on societal views on biological family, which in turn, increases her desire to live with her mom and be “one big happy family.”  Her initial prejudices and racist attitude stem from her limited experiences, which the viewer can deduce are primarily with white families or in white-dominated environments. In Chapter 9, Erikson believes, “those still in a state of role confusion are most likely to struggle” (Pomerantz, 2023).  As a result of Gilly’s temporary experiences and being in the foster care system, we see she has trouble with identifying herself.  She doesn’t know who she is, she has trouble removing herself from her absent mother and sees them as one, she’s very bitter with her life.  Over time, even though she becomes softer, she is confused as to why she loves Trotter, it’s not her biological mom, how could she feel these emotions?

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The chronosystem in Gilly’s life is the sequence of her foster placements from a young age and the impact of time on her development.  Her environment is constantly being altered due to her time in the foster care system. Moving around from house to house, she is barely able to adjust to the families. With each move, she goes to a new school, just to be replaced by another one shortly after.  Gilly is used to the temporary, she grows frustrated and tired of never having a say in her life.  Over time, this instability shapes her into someone with a narrow view of the world, always expecting the worst and embracing for disappointment. However, when Gilly is placed with Trotter, she experiences a caring and stable relationship.  As her character evolves, she becomes more open, loving, and kind.

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"All that stuff about happy endings are just lies. "

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"All that stuff about happy endings are just lies. "

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Guy-Evans, Oliva (2024).  Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/bronfenbrenner.html

Cornell Human Ecology: Urie Bronfenbrenner

Kate Goodson: Urie Bronfenbrenner Ecological Systems Theory

Pomerantz, Andrew. M. (2023). My Psychology: Third Edition. Worth Publishers

Rachelle Tannenbaum: Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner | Biography & Theory: Study.com

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Stream The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015) Online Free Watch Full Now HD - HydraHD

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"Thanks for pretending to be my friend."

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"Thanks for pretending to be my friend."

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We can see how Gilly's experiences and lifestyle shape her behavior and attitudes.  Much of Bronfenbrenner’s layers, can be used to explain Gilly’s development, and how each of those layers are influential factors in Gilly’s life.  Her microsystem, mostly comprised of school and her foster home, reflects her direct interactions which influenced some of her views and behavior.  The mesosystem in Gilly’s life, which again, is comprised of school and her foster home, all of which, heavily influenced her attitude.  The longer she was with Trotter, the more growth we saw from Gilly, which in turn, positively impacted her in school.  Gilly’s exosystem, that being the foster care system and her mother, highlights why Gilly is the way she is.  Being in foster care most of her life and not being with her mother, develops Gilly into a very independent individual with a poor outlook on life.  The macrosystem, which is the impact of societal and cultural views, all influenced Gilly’s small-minded way of thinking.  In the beginning, we see she has racial biases, and believes family is only real when biological relatives are attached.  Her chronosystem can be viewed as the impact of foster placements over time on Gilly.  The constant movement at a young age creates an unstable lifestyle and prompts Gilly to build emotional barriers.

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"If life's so bad, how come you're so happy?"

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"If life's so bad, how come you're so happy?"

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Each layer of Gilly’s life, from her microsystem to the macrosystem and chronosystem, plays a role in Gilly’s self-discovery and development.  We can see the importance of environmental factors, with the use of Gilly as an example.  The theory may not focus completely on Gilly’s personal choices or personality, but we can deduce that her environment contributes to it.  Growing up in a harsh environment, with no power of life choices, we can see Gilly become resentful, tough, and resilient.  Being moved from foster house to house, we can understand why Gilly only sees things as temporary.  Constantly being let down, either by not being with her mother or not finding her perfect fit, the viewer can understand why Gilly has a very cynical view of life.

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"You can do anything you want to me, just please don't hurt my family!"

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"You can do anything you want to me, just please don't hurt my family!"

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Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory is a suitable fit when making a psycho-developmental assessment of Gilly.  When breaking down her environmental factors, the theory conveys a layered understanding of how the systems and environment Gilly is exposed to influence her development.

Given Gilly’s primary identity as a foster child growing up, in what the viewer can believe, primarily white-dominated environments, the Ecological Systems Theory is a valid theory to apply to this case.  The macrosystem, which is developed from the influence of societal values and cultural norms, we can see that the cultural context Gilly grew up in heavily influenced her identity. Reflecting on how primarily white societies view race and families, we can see that in her ideologies.  Starting from a very racially biased girl from the beginning of the movie, we can see that her exposure to the “unusual” caused Gilly to open her views.  Her beliefs on family were changed once she met her mother and realized that family doesn’t have to be biological.

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"You're not losing a family, you're getting another one." 

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"You're not losing a family, you're getting another one." 

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Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory is a very effective belief that explains Gilly’s development.  When we take into consideration the environment an individual is placed in, we can understand the layers and the impact it has on their life.  Environmental and societal factors influence and can emphasize an individual’s beliefs, which can be seen in Gilly’s life. It is a suitable framework for an assessment of, not only Gilly but even other diverse realities and contemporary persons.