Devil's Playground Film Analysis

Working out conflicts face to face can and cannot make a difference in resolving the problem.“These face-to-face interactions build trust, understanding, and a real sense of a shared mission, and this has made all the difference in the world.” This direct quote from Forbes.com explains how this specific way can improve how the world communicates to each other. Many people will disagree with the previous statement, but it is just one of the basic elements of the social system. Admittedly, not everyone believes in face to face interaction. People can choose whichever side they want to, but people can solve their problems by talking to somebody.

The division of labor is a complex phenomenon that is characterized by varying aspects of an individual’s social connection to the society in which they reside. The Division of labor is a broad process that affects and influences many aspects of life such as political, judicial, and administrative functions (Bratton & Denham, 2014). Two of the main sociological theorists, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, had different understandings of the notion about the division of labor. This topic has been contested and debated by many theorists but this paper is going to focus on how Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx views this topic. Karl Marx views the division of labor as a process that alienates the individual from their work (Llorente, 2006). Marx also views the division of labor as a way for the capitalist bourgeoisie to take advantage of the wage labor of the proletariat. Emile Durkheim identifies with Marx in the economic sense that the division of labor furthers the rationalization and bureaucratization of labor, but differs in that the division of labor provides individuals in society with social solidarity and ensures their connection to society. This paper is going to reflect on some of the aspects in which Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx view the division of labor, while showing some of the similarities and differences between the two theorists conception of the topic.

2. Durkheim: What term does Durkheim associate with social solidarity? How do societies achieve it organically and mechanically? What did he think threatened social solidarity?

After watching the film, Ride with the Devil, I had mixed emotion about the story. I thought the young men were hooligans, outlaws, or bandits. I also think some of them were mentally disturbed juvenile delinquents. Moreover, the movie reminded me of the movie, Young Guns. I thought there were similarities between the two movies because the characters were young men.

“Treat social facts as things” is an expression that epitomises the works of Emile Durkheim. This essay focuses on four main sociological concepts proposed by the functionalist Emile Durkheim; the division of labour; mechanical and organic solidarity; anomie and suicide, and examines their relevance in contemporary society.

From Durkheim’s perspective, society creates the individuals but also individuals create the society. For Durkheim, the desires and egocentricity of people are only held in check by influences that are created outside of the individual. Division of labor produces solidarity, which leads to a general cohesion of society. Plus, the economy and division of labor have positive effects on society that allows to social unity. On the other hand, Weber sees the religion influences, Protestant ethic is individuals’ being predestined. Everyone has to work hard and demonstrate their ability to reinvest money in their enterprises and maintain poverty as immortal and view the place of work as an improvement. Consequently, the change in ideals and customs are what contributed to the rise of modern

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) were sociologists who both existed throughout similar time periods of the 19th and early 20th centuries, resulting in both Marx, and Durkheim to be concerned about similar effects and impacts among society (Appelrouth and Edles: 20, 77). Marx’s main focus was on class distinctions among the bourgeoisie and proletariat, forces and relations of production, capital, surplus value, alienation, labour theory of value, exploitation and class consciousness (Appelrouth and Edles: 20). Whereas Durkheim’s main focus was on social facts, social solidarity – mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity, anomie, collective conscience, ritual, symbol, and collective representations

Genocide is rightfully seen as one of the most emotionally heavy words in the English language. When many people think of genocide, they might correlate the word to the attempted, and nearly successful, extermination of the Jewish people during World War II. To stand by and watch fellow human beings killing each other because of their race, religion, sexuality, etc., leads many to conclude those who stand by are just as guilty as those who commit the act. Unfortunately, countless horrendous acts are kept silent from the global eye, as the film The Devil Came on Horseback intends to show us. Anne Sundeburg’s 2007 documentary, The Devil Came on Horseback, creatively uses persuasion techniques, which include: the credibility of Marine Brian

''The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!!! ...'' Father Merrin&Father Damien Karras from the movie -The Exorcist-

Where Marx saw the modern industrial world as a necessary step to freedom, Durkheim saw it as a development with specific social phenomenon which he refers to as “social facts” that needed to be studied scientifically as explained in The Division of Labor in Society. These social facts were outside the individual and were capable of exercising power over the individual and influencing behaviour.

Durkheim, Emile. 1964. The Division of Labor in Society. Translated by George Simpson. New York: Free Press. Originally published in 1893. Durkheim had in mind the idea that society needed deviance to continually reaffirm its boundaries of propriety. Functional arguments for the importance of deviance are rather intriguing. They provide a novel way of showing how certain institutions in a society, if not the society itself, continue to operate. Durkheim points out, for example, that without the existence of sinners, a church could not exist. Their very existence provides the opportunity for believers to reaffirm the faith that has been offended by the sinner. Thus, the worst thing that could happen to a church is to completely eliminate

With modernization and industrialization, labour became increasingly specialized. Before this in the pre- modern societies, all workers did almost the same work in order to sustain themselves. These workers shared social cohesion base on similarity and commonality among themselves. This ‘mechanical solidarity’ was soon replaced by ‘organic solidarity’. With organic solidarity social cohesion was based on each individual’s dependence on every other in the society for survival. (The Emile Durkheim Archive, Solidarity)

The film that I have chosen as a case study for my final paper is: Pan’s labyrinth (2006) by director Guillermo del Toro, and it is a case of real-fantastic cinema. Here I present my essay entitled “ The narrative power of sound in Pan’s labyrinth “of Guillermo Del Toro . It will analyze the sound design , the identification of its elements, the ways in which they are presented and their interrelations, to understand and explain how these elements work together in conjunction with the visual image, to support the narration of the story. Consequently, this research seeks to answer the question: How does the sound in the film ‘Pans Labyrinth' relates to

The essay will begin by providing a brief introduction into the two perspectives of Functionalism and Marxism, focusing on the theories of the French Sociologist Emile Durkheim and the German philosopher Karl Marx. Then it will give a brief discussion showing the transformation that took place from feudalism to capitalism, providing the reader with an insight into the dramatic change that took place during a time of revolution and revolt. Finally the essay will compare and contrast Marx’s idea of class and class conflict with Durkheim’s theory on the Division of labour.

Durkheim was one of the most influential sociologists in relation to the functionalist theories which stated society consisted of a structural consensus with a collective conscience of shared norms and values. He argued in order to establish the meaning of society one must understand the structures and social facts. He highlights changes in society from traditional societies which were linked with mechanical solidarity consisting of small scale ties with little division of labour. This in turn created a strong collective conscience of unity in comparison to modern society where differences amongst groups are promoted in turn weakening social solidarity. This is due to rapid changes within society in which Durkheim emphasises is due to a complex division of labour. Durkheim then argues that due to the combination of enlightenment notions and a capitalist society a collective conscience of individualism and greed is created. (Jones, Bradbury and Boutillier, 2011, pp.62-64)