All stories, no matter their intention or the form of media they take, have one thing in common: social interaction. From social interaction blossoms an additional sea of sociological concepts, most of which can be extracted from the plots of stories. By looking at a series of events from a sociological standpoint, that series can be subdivided into a multitude of different concepts, theories, and ideas, all of which are dynamic in their own way. Books, movies, and television shows are much more complex than we immediately recognize. They can be broken down almost infinitely, which may reveal real-life social conditions and conflicts that the author or producer may have not initially planned. Stories can help us learn life lessons that we ourselves …show more content…
may not have the opportunity to experience. Such is the case in the 2005 film Cinderella Man, which is based on true events that occurred in boxer James J. Braddock’s life before and throughout the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930’s. Many significant sociological concepts are addressed in this film, the most prevalent being the ideas of role conflict, impression management, and social mobility. The story of boxing legend James J. Braddock started in New York, New York, where he began his professional boxing career in 1926. He landed the nickname “the Cinderella Man” (from which the film is titled) due to his practically fairytale career comeback between 1929 and 1935. Cinderella Man explores Braddock’s initial career downfall, a devastating loss in July of 1929, which results in the revocation of his license. In October of the same year, the stock market of the United States crashes, leaving Braddock and millions of other Americans in financial turmoil. Unable to legally box as a career, and laden with a number of chronic hand injuries, it becomes impossible for Braddock to support his family from within the depths of the crumbled economy. During a long string of bad luck, he struggles to put food on the table, and is unable to pay the bills, including those for milk and heat. His physically tolling and unreliable work at the docks is not enough to scrape by, and his wife makes the grueling decision to send their three kids to her sister’s house in order to regain the family’s footing. As a last resort, he joins many other Americans in the breadlines and signs up for government relief money. Finally, after a harsh winter, his bad luck turns. He is contacted by his old manager Joe Gould, who finds a fight for him. After winning this fight (subsequently earning him $250), he is offered several more, and is relicensed. Braddock is able to get his kids back and even repays his welfare balance. His winning streak eventually leads him to Max Baer, the world heavyweight champion, whose rough boxing is attributed to two men’s deaths. James Braddock miraculously wins the fight, fueled by the memory of his family’s previous state of poverty and his wife’s newly found unconditional support. Now having earned the title of world heavyweight boxing champion, James J. Braddock is able to fully appreciate life at both ends of the income spectrum. One important sociological theory addressed in Cinderella Man is the concept of role conflict. Role conflict, as defined by Sociology: a Global Perspective is a predicament in which roles associated with two or more distinct statuses that a person holds conflict in some way. In this film, James Braddock is conflicted in his roles as a family leader and as a boxer. When he is told he is to fight Max Baer and it is revealed that his life may be at stake, measures are taken to get rid of any legal liability. However, he is still wants to (and is expected to) take the fight. Contrary to this, as a husband and a father, he is expected to not take the risk of putting his life on the line. Throughout the movie, Braddock’s wife repeatedly establishes that she is opposed to his choice to be a boxer. She says at one point, “I used to pray for you to get hurt just enough so you couldn’t fight anymore. And when they took your license away, even as scared as I was, I went to the church and I thanked God for it.” Incompatibility between roles can result in several different kinds of conflict, including that of morals or values, of capabilities, of expected behavior, and of adherence to established policies (Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970). In Braddock’s situation, he experiences two of these conflicts, one being his own values, and the second of his expected behavior. Both his family and the boxing commission expect him to adhere to their expectations, and as a result he begins questioning how well he is leading his family, as well as how he can continue his career to support it. In the end, Braddock’s fear of his family again falling into poverty overtakes the risk of losing his life, and so he justifies going through with the fight for the chance of finally establishing permanent financial stability. It appears that his wife Mae realizes his dedication, and she unexpectedly shows up in James’s locker room before the fight to show him that she fully supports his decision. With his wife by his side, the conflict is resolved; Braddock experiences a wave of confidence that largely contributes to his win. Another significant sociological perspective illustrated in the movie is that of impression management.
Impression management is the process by which people in social situations manage the setting, their dress, their words, and their gestures to correspond to the impression they are trying to project (Ferrante, 2013). Throughout the movie, several characters in Cinderella Man actively try to hide their financial struggles brought on by the Great Depression, James J. Braddock and Joe Gould being two of them. Initially, Braddock is resistant to admit that his family is almost to the end of their rope. When he finally turns to the government’s welfare system, he is somewhat humiliated at how far his family has fallen in terms of wealth. As people in the government relief center recognize him for who he used to be, a well-off boxer with a successful career, he avoids eye contact and seems to keep his head down. It is not only Braddock who is suffering. Joe Gould, Braddock’s old manager, replies to a comment on his business attire by saying, “Got to keep up appearances, you know?” Later in the movie, Gould invites Mae into his apartment, which has recently been emptied of all of its furnishings. He explains that he “sold the rest of it yesterday”, and now all that remains is a single beaten, two-person table in the center of the living room. In almost all social encounters, people attempt to contour the presentations of themselves on several different levels (Leary & Allen, …show more content…
2011). This may include dominance, attractiveness, or in Braddock’s and Gould’s cases, competence. According to Haun & Williamson (2014), “identity management is not necessarily manipulation.” While both Gould and Braddock were actively trying to hide their struggles for other people, it was not harmful outside of their own families, and neither was trying to manipulate the situation to protect anything but their pride. Finally, the most recognizable social concept in Cinderella Man is the idea of social mobility.
This film in particular demonstrates this concept well, as it clearly shows James Braddock’s variety of experiences at every income level. While income level is only one small slice of inequality as a whole, it tends to have a negative effect on other areas of life, such as health and overall life satisfaction (Brennan & Spencer, 2014). Income level is also associated with social status within society. For example, an individual with limited social ties, who presides at a low level of income, and who is subservient to higher-level individuals is often considered a member of the lowest caste in society. While levels in hierarchical caste systems are often considered impossible to move within, Braddock successfully regains his stance after falling hard into poverty. It is clear that he learned from his time in poverty by his heartfelt answers during an interview just prior to his fight with Baer. While he was simply fighting for publicity before his career took the plunge, the purpose of his career changed drastically after his struggles. When asked why he is so confident about the fight, Braddock says that he now knows what he is fighting for:
milk. In conclusion, Cinderella Man is a fairytale comeback story that contains a multitude of complex sociological perspectives. With the support of his wife, kids, and friends, James J. Braddock is able to jump back into his career with surprising elasticity after a long bout of bad luck. Throughout the film adaptation of his rollercoaster life story, Braddock demonstrates the concepts of role conflict, impression management, and social mobility, as well as many others. His rise from poverty is motivational even when applied to other debilitating life events. By analyzing James Braddock’s life from a sociological point of view, the conclusion can be made that all stories, regardless the form or the lessons meant to be taught, are more complex than initially realized. By thinking in a more complex manner toward the experiences of other people, whether they are fiction or nonfiction, we ourselves can learn the same complex lessons that they have.
As a result, Malcolm Gladwell used it as a starting point of his book “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.” Gladwell’s book tells the story of people, whom as David, overcome difficult situations, Goliath, and become successful, even though all the odds were against them. Therefore, Chapter 2 of Gladwell’s book studies the effects of smaller and bigger classes in countries all around the world,
People from lower classes try to achieve success but tend to struggle depending upon their foundation. The problem that people don’t want see is that we all want to become successful, and have the capability to do so but are just restricted by the lack of income.
Often, when a story is told, it follows the events of the protagonist. It is told in a way that justifies the reasons and emotions behind the protagonist actions and reactions. While listening to the story being cited, one tends to forget about the other side of the story, about the antagonist motivations, about all the reasons that justify the antagonist actions.
...st or heart of the story is often compromised, losing the power to grip an audience with its strong emotional or tragic plot. Furthermore, in the
These help the reader become a better person and make educated life decisions, unlike popular fiction stories which give the illusion of ‘happily ever
During his education, Sanders met young men “who had assumed from birth that they would lead the lives of comfort and power,” the exact opposite of the boys whom he grew up with. Those boys expected to “work as their fathers had worked,” enduring the adversity that is lower class life. Lower class citizens did not expect to accomplish greatness in life as it seemed “remote and unreal”, they have learned to accept their place in society and chose to not pursue careers and goals that seemed unrealistic. Higher class citizens, however, were born into said greatness. They expected just as much or more from themselves as affluence is what was normal to them. This belief is what motivated them to follow in their fathers’ footsteps to obtain stature and wealth. Furthermore, while both higher and lower class men are expected to provide for his family, that burden is experienced in different degrees. Lower class men shouldered all burdens of the family; they had to bear with exhausting work to make sure that money kept flowing in with lay-offs and unemployment looming over their heads. And when the money troubles do appear, the fathers are “the ones who had failed”, they were the ones to blame. Whereas higher class families never had to worry about money, for the fathers were “never laid off, [and] never short of cash at month’s end.” Fate did not intend for rich men to worry about becoming a bad father or husband, but due to the socioeconomic situation of poorer men, that is all that they can worry about. While both classes of men are fathers and providers of the family, richer men had it easier. In short, this disparity of men’s expected role demonstrate that class decides
reading this book makes me realize it is a completely different world in “the projects.” I always thought it was that individual’s fault for not getting out of the projects and they chose to live that type of life. MacLeod’s findings and interviews with the kids made me realize that is not the case. I now see that social inequalities make it very difficult for social mobility to
Attention Getter. Fairy tales portray the idea that anything is possible for someone no matter the person or their social class. The fairy tale of Cinderella tells a story of a woman who has nothing in life, but, with help, finds a prince with whom she lives “happily ever after.” The fairy tale, however, fails to acknowledge that there is any love between the prince and Cinderella, a key aspect of a relationship. The movie Pretty Woman, directed by Garry Marshall, illustrates the Cinderella idea that a man knows what he wants in a woman, but also that he must be in love. In the movie, the main character Edward Lewis realizes that Vivian is a woman who fits his lifestyle and that he could be with, but in addition falls in love with Vivian and the woman that she is. This suggests that Garry Marshall was making the claim that, in addition to chemistry and compatibility, love must be a present factor in a meaningful relationship.
Even at the world level, inequalities are striking and well-known, yet apparently irremovable. As a middle-class child, teenager, then young adult, Jimmy sees the world through the media such as television or websites, on which he can see the poverty of Third World countries, without being ever revolted by the striking inequalities with his own lifestyle and the country in which he lives (which is never named as such, but which, through different clues and mentions, is easily understood as being the United States). Christine Horner, in an article from the Collective-Evolution Web Site, points this out: “Humanity will advance much more quickly toward ending the wars, private and public, and creating the world we know is possible, when we let go of separation consciousness for the rewards of unity consciousness.”. The fact that it is taking all of the human race so long to get rid of our inequalities and to accept that we are all the same is just shocking looking at how self-centered people are and how their ego and financial status keeps them from thinking that they are no different than any other
Within the fictional worlds of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the characters realize that stories are not mere entertainment, but are crucial to their lives. Fictional stories are crucial pieces to Rashid Khalifa since he relies on them for a career and brings him enjoyment. They are also important to a politician because storytelling is a critical part of a politician’s survival and livelihood since they rely on the storytellers to persuade and convince people to vote for them. Most importantly they are important to Guppees since they depend on stories to be the source of all there speaking, and the pages of Gup (the army) they depend on stories to help them fight. All in all stories can
Adopted into sociology by Erving Goffman, he developed most terms and the idea behind dramaturgical analysis in his 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book lays out the process of human social interaction, sometimes called "impression management". Goffman makes the distinction between "front stage" and "back stage" behavior. “Front stage" actions are visible to the audience and are part of the performance. We change our hair color, eye color, complextion. Wearing make-up, the way our hair is styled, the clothes we wear. The demeanor we present to the world to the. All of these things lead to an outward appearance of what we want others to think we are. People engage in "back stage" behaviors when no audience is present. We whine and moan about the customers we deal with. Hair goes un-styled, make is wiped off. Clothing is comfortable and unrestricting. When a person conducts themselves in certain way not consistent with social expectations, it is often done secretly if this ...
Pretty Woman is a modern take on the classic Cinderella story where a poor misguided girl meets her prince and her life is dramatically changed. This film has fairy tale elements, but the biggest element in the movie is the use of sex; Vivian, the main character, is a prostitute. She meets her “prince” and is swept off of her feet, but what this really means is that she is bought for an entire week by a handsome, wealthy business man. One would assume that he was buying her for sex, but this is not your average prostitute transaction. This movie has a lot of third wave feminism ideals. Third wave feminism deals with using the female gender and sexuality to further the cause and portray their views. The ultimate goal of this paper is to show that Vivian Ward (portrayed by Julia Roberts), is the poster girl for third wave feminism.
...verything around us is made by our actions. Positive or negative they cause an effect that will ultimately lead to a different story base on how we interpret life. Narrative elements are used as a bridge by the directors in their film to create any master plot that is currently known. Any modification at any narrative element used by the director at important moments inside the story can help you portray a different master plot. This used of narrative elements can be best described as an ever changing process that takes place inside an individual’s head. Depending on the individual that may be exposed to those narrative elements can create different meanings. This new interpretation can be different for everyone. We have to be aware that one change in the surface scenery can lead to many ideal outcomes in our minds and that is the main power the audience has.
Erving Goffman uses a dramaturgical perspective in his discussion of impression management. Goffman’s analysis of the social world primarily centres around studies of the self and relationship to one’s identity created within a society. Through dramaturgy, Goffman uses the metaphor of performance theatre to convey the nature of human social interaction, drawing from the renowned quote “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It.’ Much of our exploration of Goffman’s theories lies within the premise that individuals engage in impression management, and achieve a successful or unsuccessful performance. Impression management refers to the ways in which individuals attempt to control the impression that others have of them stemming from a basic human desire to be viewed by others in a favourable light. Goffman argues that our impressions are managed through a dramaturgical process whereby social life is played out like actors performing on a stage and our actions are dictated by the roles that we are playing in particular situations. In a social situation, the stage is where the encounter takes place, the actors are the people involved in the interaction, and the script is the set of social norms in which the actors must abide by. Just as plays have a front stage and back stage, this also applies in day-to-day interactions. Goffman’s theory of the front and back stage builds on Mead’s argument of the phases of the self. The front stage consists of all the public and social encounters with other people. It is similar to the ‘me’ which Mead talks about, as it involves public encounters as well as how others perceive you. Meanwhile the back stage, like the ‘I’, is the time spent with oneself reflecting on the interactions. Therefore, according to Goffman’s dramaturgical
The classic fairy tale of Cinderella easily connects with three different perspectives of social science – anthropology, sociology and psychology. Anthropology, being the study of cultures, relates to Cinderella regarding how the characters were brought up through their cultural background. The perspective of sociology – people within groups and social structures – explains how and why the different conflicts arise within the story. Psychology studies mental processes and behaviour, analysing Freudian decisions of Cinderella and what might have been her mental state in the fairy tale.