Sociological Movie Review: Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Sociologists concern themselves with social relations among individuals and groups within a particular society (Luton, 2015), so a sociologist would find this movie interesting because when analyzed through a sociological point of view it provides various examples of socialization,

Furthermore, Gender construction is an observable aspect of this movie, especially the message that it shows about gender. Throughout the movie, Baby is constantly fighting for something, whether it be a relationship with Johnny or a friend that she just made, or even with her own father. This movie depicts what it may have been like for a young woman in the 1960s. In the early 1960s, the woman’s movement began to become more evident than previous years. There were sit-ins and “the Pill” became an actual contraceptive. The movie is reflective of the Feminine Mystique, which was one of the more prominent pieces of the women’s movement was published (Sawhney, n.d.). The gender message for females in this movie is apparent, which is to fight for what you want. Baby wanted a relationship with Johnny, she wanted her

There are a number of societal concepts that have changed over time, these changes are clearly exhibited when comparing the culture of Puberty Blues to my own. One of these concepts is gender roles. In the film, gender roles are clearly defined, masculinity and femininity are two completely different sociatel constructs that must be followed. Gender roles provide the basis for the status quo, where boys are in charge and served by girls who are used and policed by boys.

The adults in the story expect the children to grow into the gender role that their sex has assigned to them. This is seen in several places throughout the story, such as when the narrator hears her mother

The iconic coming-of-age movie The Breakfast Club, focuses on the development of five, seemingly very different high school students. In the movie we are presented with the five main characters all with stereotypes that they identify with. Claire is the princess or the beauty queen, John, often referred to by his last name “Bender,” is the criminal, Brian is the brain or the nerd, Andrew, is the athlete, a wrestler , and finally Allison is the basket case or the weirdo. The story is set in saturday detention where they are forced to spend eight hours with people from other cliques that they would normally never interact with. The day progresses and the characters interact with one another, smoke, dance, break rules, and reveal very personal parts of themselves with the others. The story ends with some of the characters making an attempt to change their identity with the realization that even with the boxes they have been put into they are not that different from one another.

Each of the following excerpts, Act 2, Scene 2 from Siegfried by Richard Wagner, “Habanera” from Carmen (Act I, Scene 5) by Georges Bizet, and “Non So Piu Cosa Son” from The Marriage of Figaro (Act I, scene 4) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, present many different reflections of gender and gender stereotypes. In this short essay, I will address how each piece uniquely reflects gender, by discussing elements such as character dress, orchestral accompaniment, timbre, and body language.

The movie I chose for my Sociological movie analysis was “Step Brothers”. The main plot line of the movie was about two families; one with a mother named Nancy at about retirement age with a thirty-nine-year-old son named Brennan who had never left home and hadn’t had many jobs, and the other family was a father named Robert of about the same age with a forty-year-old son named Dale who attended college until his junior year, but then dropped out moving back in with his dad having occasional jobs as well. Nancy attended a conference where Robert gave a speech which caused them to meet, fall in love, and get married. Nancy and Brennan moved into Robert’s home where Brennan and Dale do not “connect” and cause lots of problems. Eventually, they

In the 1991 drama “Boyz in the Hood”, Written and Directed by John Singleton. He successfully attempts to portray what life was like and in some areas in America still is for African Americans living in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood. It displays a portrait of the harsh realities that plagues the black community and by displaying uninviting living conditions that is South Central L.A, Singleton aims to share to the world the self-destructive deviant behavior that is to this day, destroying the African American community. Some of the self-destructive deviant behaviors include gang life, selling drugs, and gun violence. Various issues are displayed in this movie involving the black community including deviance, poverty, gentrification, the importance of a father in a young man’s life and black on black crime. Singleton displays a tale of three friends growing up in the “hood”, plagued by drugs and violence and layers textures over rough and compelling visuals of black culture that shows us what it means to come to maturity, or die trying, as a black male. In this essay, I will be giving a thorough analysis of the film, as well as covering certain points from the movie from a sociological perspective to explain why singleton chose to write this film.

Omer Bartov’s book Hitler’s Army takes an interesting look into the social constructs of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Bartov proposes a question of was the Wehrmacht Hitler’s Army. By that they mean did the soldiers of the Wehrmacht believe in Nazi ideology and what they were told they were fighting for, or were they simply soldiers fighting because they were told too. Bartov’s ultimate answer is yes they are loyal to Hitler and his ideology, and he is eventually correct. After training a generation mentally and physically from the age of ten through Hitler Youth programs the Wehrmacht became Hitler’s Army and their blind loyalty distorted their morality to carrying out war crimes when believed to be necessary. He reaches this conclusion by analyzing the Wehrmacht’s time in Russia and how that devastating campaign effected the enlisted soldiers. He finds that the only way the Wehrmacht’s moral even survived this was their warped mentality and cohesion between the soldiers due to harsh discipline.

The theme of gender is presented to the audience as dramatic irony as well, since this play was written in 1912, the play shows how women were in that certain period of time, they didn’t have as many rights, they weren’t treated equally with men, in fact they were seen to be lower than men. However in the time that this play was written which is 1945 women had a lot more rights due to the fact that when men left the country for war, which according to Mr.Birling wasn’t supposed to happen, all the women were the people who looked after the country and kept it going, women became more interdependent and the society just grew and became a lot more open minded with their thoughts. JB Priestly has tried to show the importance of women in the play as well in the play as well at some places but very indirectly, like in that part where the inspector says, “There are a lot of young women living that sort of existence in every city and big towns in this

Year 11 English: AS 90854 (1.10) Form personal response to independently read texts, supported by evidence.

Boyz N the Hood, displays the challenging upbringing of adolescents who have to live with harsh conditions around not only their home but also their surrounding town. The film compares the differences between the lifestyles of Tre Styles and his friends’, Darren and Ricky Baker. Darren and Ricky are half-brothers who are nothing alike. Singleton demonstrates the importance of male leadership in a home in the ghetto of Los Angeles by comparing the difference between the lifestyles of Tre and his friends. While many adolescents in the hood have close friendships, some form close relationships by assembling gangs and create a world of violence due to alcohol abuse, which together ultimately breeds discrimination.

To get us started, how do the roles and identities of women in this play compare to that of the male figures?

The movie, The Breakfast Club, is a movie about five students who get Saturday school and become friends as a result of it. The characters were: Allison, the quiet girl who would sit in the back and refuse to talk; John, the troublemaker who always talked back to the teachers; Claire, the popular girl who always got what she wanted; Brian, the nerdy student who only cared about having good grades; Andrew, the wrestler who was only focused impressing his father. While watching the movie, I mainly related to Brian. He is pressured to have good grades by his parents and is labeled as the nerd because of it. I am also pressured to have good grades; however, I am labeled as the smart kid in many different classes, but I’m not classified as a nerd.

Throughout generations, the idea of gender roles can be found. Every person in their own particular way has an image entered into their head of how the parts of every gender should be played. In both Les Misérables and The Kite Runner gender roles are most certainly evident and seemingly stereotypical. In Les Misérables the fundamental hero, Jean Valjean is depicted as a man that was vigorously assembled and can lift overwhelming items, one of the most famous male stereotypes. All through The Kite Runner, Afghani young men are required to be athletic, social, certain, and in charge, much the same as their fathers. They are also expected to provide and make decisions for their families. In both novels, the female roles also tend to appear stereotypical. In Les Miserables, the female characters appear to be made for the men in the story to spare, feel sorry for or overlook. Even though Fantine was one of the most prominent roles within the novel, her presence and time within the story are very short lived and viewed very low key in comparison to the other male roles within the story. In The Kite Runner, the female roles are not as prominent as the men’s roles, and as a societal norm, women’s roles are dictated by the men to be portrayed as lesser individuals compared to their male counterparts.