Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer utilizes symbolism to reveal how personal material circumstances affect class ideology, which leads to conflict within and between classes; ultimately, oppressing the proletariat and minimizing the potential of class mobility. As an initial matter, there is internal conflict within the proletariat. As a result of unfairly distributed resources, they are faced with the choice of morality or mortality. Joon-ho’s portrayal of internal conflict with Curtis at the engine door is symbolic of the effects inhumane treatment has on lower classes. Prior to the distribution of protein bricks, the lower class is forced back to their primal instincts for survival. After the first three weeks, the food supply begins diminishing, …show more content…
Curtis’ internal conflict and feeling of inferiority subsequently perpetuates the idea of class immobility. In addition, there is also immense dehumanization of the population at the back of the train. Stripping people of their human traits has undeniably negative effects, only contributing to the injustices they face. Moreover, there is conflict within the proletariat due to false consciousness. Often, the bourgeoisie set the precedent of severe punishments for any disobedience. As a result of false consciousness, individuals become complacent and fear attempts at class mobility. Gilliam’s reluctance to rebel is the embodiment of fear of challenging society. Curtis is able to infer that the guards have no bullets, but Gilliam still questions him “If you’re wrong, we could be finished before we start” (23:40). It is understood that the upper class will have an immediate and violent response. As a result of intimidation, there is a sense of reluctance to oppose the system that employs extensive inequality. Overthrowing the first set of guards relies on breaking false consciousness and challenging preconceived …show more content…
In addition, the ideology of the bourgeoisie is further perpetuated by institutions. Influencing future generations at a younger age is the primary component of perpetuating the elitist agenda. On the train, the child is a symbol of successful conditioning by the economic minority. After reaching the school carriage, a girl exclaims “I heard all Tail Sectioners were lazy dogs who slept all day in their own shit” (1:08:16). The children are indoctrinated and will grow up to further alienation and dehumanization of the proletariat. Furthermore, treatment of the lower class will begin deteriorating, as they are stripped of basic necessities to the point of rebellion. Within this microcosm of society, external conflict is the result of the immense prejudice formulated over many years. Additionally, the exploitation of the tail passengers is symbolic of the commodification they experience. People are taken advantage of in favour of material desires, further straining the relationship between classes. A man is ordered to “Follow [and] leave [his] belongings, [he] just needs [his] hands” when the guards ask for a violinist
“The Outsiders” is one of the favorite movies of teenagers made by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983. (Barsanti, 2010). “Saints and Roughnecks” is a paper written by William J. Chambliss which was first published in 1978. (Chambliss, n.d.). Both of them commonly point towards one issue i.e. future of individuals in the society is decided by the way they are treated by the materialistic society which tends to favor the richer and suppress the poorer to the extent that the latter are pushed into social exclusion. “The Outsiders” and “Saints and Roughnecks” form part of the vast literature that has preserved the different standards of justice for the rich and the poor, that have always dwelled in the society. The poor have always been looked down upon by the society in general, and the rich in particular, and this social attitude has resulted into the emergence of such concepts as social exclusion, which forms the basis of the widespread crime among the poor. In fact, the absorption of rights of the lower class people...
People from different social classes lead different lives and treated differently by others. Society never promotes equality but categorizes them. In Bastard Out of Carolina, unfair treatment provokes characters who are in the bottom of the society and destroy them mentally. The author, Dorothy Allison tells in the novel of how anger could build up from the social inequities and personal insecurity that possibly burns one's true identity.
It is my opinion that Edward Snowden should be pardoned for leaking classified information. Snowden found himself in a unique position to confirm and provide proof of pre-existing suspicions by the American citizens towards their Government. Snowden was not the first whistle blower. He just happened to have top secret “privileged” access to classified information and documents as an infrastructure analyst working for the NSA. Some of his titles in his career over time included System Administrator, System Engineer, System Officer, and he had held positions in the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He obtained documents that confirmed that for the cost of “security” American citizens unknowingly lost they rights to liberty and freedom over time.
It exposes how the higher social classes were blinded by their very own success and how they did not care about the people that was making it possible for them to live their upper-class life style. Thus, factory workers, their families, and other unskilled laborers were forced to live in an overcrowded, tarnished houses and very small apartments. Because of their mistreatment and struggling condition, they suppress their problems and emotions by indulging in the comforts of alcohol consumption. Davis imagery allows the readers to connect to the “reality of soul-starvation, of living death, that meets you every day under that besotted faces on the street”. “Life in the Iron Mills,” exposes the truth and the misery of the struggles of the working class and how unjust the American class structure
Set during a time when communism was quickly spreading through Vietnam, aspirations for an equal society were forming. This contrasts greatly to the social system evident in The God of Small Things. Narrated by the main protagonist Hang, a young Vietnamese women growing up in an age of turmoil during post-war Vietnam, Paradise of the Blind gives readers a deeper insight into the contrasting lives of those from different social classes. Through Hang’s memory the reader is shown the difficulties in her life which eventually leads to her becoming an exported worker in Russia. Chinh, Hang’s uncle and a communist party member often used his authority to attempt to waver the opinion of those around him, “The merchants, the petty tradespeople, they’re only exploiters. You cannot remain with these parasites,” by referring to the landowning classes as parasites, it shows his political view and his belief in class segregation. The metaphor Duong uses comparing the landowning class to ‘parasites’ emphasises the extreme disdain Chinh and many other communists at the time had for the landowning class. It is also ironic for Chinh to describe the landowning class as ‘exploiters’, as they have done no wrong. Chinh and other communist members are the real exploiters. This concept of class superiority and segregation is also similarly expressed in The
Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders”, demonstrates how having both internal and external expectations impact the way you live and how you act on a day-to-day basis. In the text, the Socs and Greasers are put into roles with specific limitations, which impacted their lives accordingly. These standards for each group come from ideas relating to maintaining reputations. This could range from being the poor kids with turbulent, misfortunate lives to the wealthy kids who got to live a life of opportunity. In summation, the Greasers and the Socs dealt with conflicts that were related to living up to the expectations placed on them by the society they lived in and what they anticipated from
Imagine living in a society where “rivers of bright merchandise run past you/ and you are floating in your pleasure boat upon this river/ even while others are drowning underneath you” (31-33). The teacher’s nightmare is an implied metaphor, showing that the middle and upper class continue to purchase materialistic items without considering where the items came from. People suppress the thought that citizens from other countries are making these items for a few cents a day just to feed their family, while Americans have thousands of dollars to waste on those unnecessary things. Modern society continually sees faces “twisting in the surface of the waters/and yet it seems to be [their] own hand” (34-35). It is well known people are living in poverty in certain countries, but a blind eye is given because of this feeling of entitlement. Thus, is the reason many Americans “turn the volume higher” in the poem, they try to tune out the guilt they feel by convincing themselves that the poorer class lacks work ethic (36). Americans feel since they worked hard to gain success, people in other countries need to do the same if they want to escape the lower class. The teacher’s nightmare ultimately suggests unhappiness is felt by both parties, consumers feel heartless for not helping those in need despite their beliefs while the workers feel trapped in poverty with no way out due to low
This essay will be explaining the definition of sociology, the sociological factors of obesity using Symbolic Interactionism Theory and the Functionalism Theory and a description of the medical condition obesity and how it may affect individuals suffering from it.
They attack the people and companies that are in power and try to take them down. This movie is full of conflict theory. The film splits the characters into the two sides. The bourgeoisie think that they can adjust to the truth and get what they want just because they are the “ruler” in the society. However, this is challenged by the proletariats when they feel oppressed and alienated through the lawsuit and the work of Michael Clayton.
One of the most important parts when using a Marxist perspective to examine a piece of literature is the investigation of the various social classes that exist within the writing. Doing so enables the reader to achieve a more globalized perspective on the story, with factors such as economic advantages and hierarchical relations being taken into consideration. The social classes that are represented in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening are the Bourgeoisie, who control every aspect of society, and the Proletariat, whose oppression supports the lifestyles of the elite.
The Sociological Imagination The human attitudes have always been a curiosity that captivated most of the great social theorists like Karl Marx, Engels and Durkheim. One of the most unhumble attitude of the humanity was Racism and stereotyping. The racial issue even in the 21st century continue to be a subject that still is present and significant even though we tend to say that racism and other forms of discrimination are prohibited by law and illegal still even in the US the country of all freedoms people face everyday racism, discrimination and humiliation The Sociological imagination, a concept brought by C. Wright Mills basically states that a person lives out a biography and lives it out with some historical sequence. That means that everyone lives his personal life and personal experience but at the same time he contributes to change the history or to affect the society and that creates the historical sequence.
Both the family aquarium and family crest were fun activities to complete. I thought it was especially interesting to complete the family crest because when sharing aloud with my peers, it became quit obvious how different everyone’s answers were even though all parts of the family crest were similar. While completing these activities a competency I was able to apply more knowledge was: Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice (EPAS 2) because with the family crest the clinician has to meet the child/clinet where they are, to clarify I mean the clinician has to allow the child to guide the conversation and allow the child to decide what he/she wishes to put on their crest and explore why they chose what they chose.
The modern bourgeois society […] has established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in the place of old ones. Our epoch has simplified the class antagonisms: Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, two great camps facing each other: Bourgeois and Proletariat (Cohen and Fermon, 448-449).
To most, it’s very easy to imagine how it would feel to grow up without much of anything in life. Hell...I can tell you first hand what it feels like to not have a decent pair of shoes or pants without holes in them, or old “hand-me-down” toys while most of the kids you know have “state-of-the-art” toys. To many children in this kind of situation, it seems like a very bleak world to live in. No child should ever have to experience this kind of life. However, due to ignorant parents and an even more jacked-up government, there are many children that will always be in this predicament.
The film Modern Times directed by Charlie Chaplin is a silent era film filled with sound effects that shows the struggles and challenges of living in a modern industrial society. The Director Charlie Chaplin happens to be the central character referred to as Little Tramp along with his friend Ellen also known as Gamine, an orphan and homeless young lady. The technical code of the film is black and white but very humorous. The film portrays social issues such as slavery, poverty, unemployment, strikes, and economic imbalances just to name a few. These issues occurred during the period of the great depression in America.