“Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life.” (Mills 5). The sociological perspective is a way of looking at human behaviors that links individuals to the society as a whole. C. Wright Mills wrote an essay on the subject of the social perspective called “The Promise.” In his essay, he described the sociological perspective as having four main components: traps, morals that are challenged, public issues, and the whole picture. These four aspects cover a range of influences for human behavior and can be observed in everyday life. These can also be observed in movies. In fact, sometimes it is easier to observe these conditions in movies because the plot is usually exaggerated …show more content…
to maintain audience attention and to drive the themes. One such movie that shows the aspects shown in “The Promise” is the 2006 DreamWorks film, The Road to El Dorado. The Road to El Dorado is an animated film about two friends who find their way to El Dorado, the city of gold.
Miguel and Tulio are best friends. They are excellent con-artists and have been living on the streets of Spain and cheating their way through every gamble they take. Near the end of a game, their opponents bet a map in an attempt to win back their money. Miguel and Tulio win the game and discover that the map depicts the way to El Dorado. They are caught cheating and are almost arrested. As they run to escape the soldiers, they find themselves stuck on a ship going out to sea. Much to their poor luck, the ship is owned by Hernando Cortes, who is sailing out to sea to search for El Dorado himself. Miguel and Tulio narrowly escape death and end up in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. They wash up on an abandoned shore and realize that this is the first location on the map to El Dorado. They follow the map and end up discovering the city of gold deep in the forest. When they reach the center of the city, the high priest, Tzekel-Kan, and the chief, Chief Tannabok, mistake the two strangers as their long awaited gods. Miguel and Tulio are baffled and at first do not know what to do. Then they begin to see this as an opportunity to gather as much gold as possible, and they quickly take up the act as gods. As they stay in the city, they gain more and more gold and are worshipped by the locals. Many unexpected events occur, leading the two friends to different paths. …show more content…
Tulio becomes engulfed by the gold and his new girlfriend, Chel; and Miguel falls in love with the city and its people. It isn’t until the final battle of the movie, at the end, when the two friends reunite under a common goal. Together they seal off the entrance to El Dorado to protect it from Cortes and his army, and the two friends and Chel go on to return to their normal lives. The first aspect of the sociological perspective is the traps set by society. The Road to El Dorado displays these traps from the first scene. Miguel and Tulio are con-artists. They spend every day of their lives robbing people of their money by using loaded dice to “throw” all their games. They set up a reputation for themselves the moment they first cheated. Due to this reputation, every person that knew them in Spain thought they could be nothing more than con-artists. They set up a trap for themselves in society that they could not escape from. After they arrive in El Dorado and are deemed gods, they fall victim to another self-created trap. Since they are “gods,” they are expected to perform different tasks that were prophesied in legend. Whether it is accepting sacrifices or playing the traditional Mayan ball game, they were expected to perform these tasks with ease. If they did not perform these tasks then their con would be uncovered, and they would be in trouble: “What's more, if we don't comply with the locals' wishes, I can see us being sacrificed or stuffed.” However, they did bring this upon themselves by lying about their “divinity” in the first place. Both of the traps were self-inflicted but nonetheless they are enforced by the society in which they lived. The second aspect of the sociological perspective are the morals that are challenged. Miguel and Tulio are faced with a few different moral challenges through The Road to El Dorado. The most obvious example of this in the film is when Tzekel-Kan and Tannabok mistake the two friends as gods. In this moment they were faced with a moral dilemma: to tell the truth of their mortality or to accept the role of divinities. In that moment, they accept the role, but soon after Tulio questions whether or not it was the right decision. He says, “I hardly think I’m qualified to come across all sanctified. I just don’t cut it with the cherubim.” This shows that Tulio is struggling with the moral implications of his decision. However, as the thoughts of gold and glory take over, any doubts the pair had are quickly taken over: “So let’s be gods. The perks are great. Yeah, El Dorado on a plate… If they say that I’m a god, that’s what I am.” They conform to what society wants them to be and they throw their morals to the side. Later in their stay at the city, Miguel and Tulio are taken two separate ways in their moral mindset. Miguel starts to explore the city and meet the people. He plays with the children and talks with the adults. Through this he falls in love with the city and its people. He embraced the society and the people and suddenly, he felt right at home. This is because he wasn’t acting anymore. He was being himself, and that was how he could fit into the city. Tulio, on the other hand, stays inside the temple and basks in his gold. He becomes greedy and selfish. The greediness of Spain and her lust for gold overtakes him and that becomes all he cares about. He also falls for a girl named Chel, and this tears a rift between him and Miguel. Both Miguel and Tulio are challenged morally by the events in El Dorado and their response to such situation are what drive the plot of the movie. The third aspect of the sociological perspective are public issues. There are two main pubic issues that influence Miguel and Tulio in The Road to El Dorado: the Spanish quest for gold and the feud between the high priest of El Dorado and the chief. The movie is set in the 1500s when Hernando Cortes is setting out to conquer Mexico for Spain. This is during the era where gold was the main focus for everyone. Miguel and Tulio are caught up in this search for gold when they are given the map to El Dorado, and they find their way into the city. Hernando Cortes is also seeking out the city of El Dorado. He travels across the ocean and plans on the taking over the city and taking all the gold. This quest for gold has taken over the country of Spain and other parts of Europe during this time. Living in this society, Miguel and Tulio have acquired this lust for gold and it therefore influences their decisions in the movie. The other issue that influences Miguel and Tulio’s decisions is the feud between the leaders of the city. Tzekel-Kan, the high priest of El Dorado, is convinced that when the gods come they will cleanse the city of all the sinners and will devour their souls. Once the gods come, according to legend, the high priest would become incredibly powerful, so when Miguel and Tulio-the long awaited “gods”- arrive in the city, Tzekel-Kan tries to win their favor. If the legends are true, then Tzekel-Kan will be the new leader of El Dorado is he has the gods favor. Chief Tannabok, on the other hand, reveres the gods, but he cares more about the well-being of his people than the gods themselves. He wants to please the gods so they will bless the city, but he will not go to extreme lengths to do so. Due to these differences, the high priest and the chief are trying to please the gods in different ways. This influences Miguel and Tulio’s decisions. Stepping out from Miguel and Tulio as indicidual and looking at the city in which they resided is a useful way to see how they are influenced by the society as a whole. The final aspect of the sociological perspective is the whole picture.
By stepping back and looking at the entire story, one can see the bigger forces that are driving the conflicts of the movie. The overlying theme in The Road to El Dorado is the pursuit of power. The first example of this comes from the search for gold. Hernando Cortes, Miguel, and Tulio are all pursuing gold. This affects their decisions. The second example is the struggle for leadership. This is exemplified by Tzekel-Kan and Chief Tannabok. They are competing for who is the real leader of El Dorado, and this influences the decisions they make. The final example is the desire to overthrow others. This is shown by Hernando Cortes and Tzekel-Kan. Cortes is trying to overtake El Dorado to gain all the gold. Tzekel-Kan is trying to gain control of El Dorado by surpassing Chief Tannabok with the gods favor. These three examples show how Miguel and Tulio are influenced not only by their personal struggles but the greater picture in which they live
in. The Road to El Dorado, though a children’s movie, displays many different aspects of society and its influences. Through its plot, it supports the sociological perspective written about in “The Promise.” It shows traps, morals that are challenged, public issues, and the whole picture influence an individual and his or her choices. The sociological perspective is a great way to look at society to understand what a person is influenced by and why it influences them in this way. Even though movies are sometimes seen as merely entertainment, they can be tools to easier understand this concept. They are a visual representation of situations and are a great key to understanding society.
Throughout Enrique’s many attempts at successfully making his way by train to the border between the United States and Mexico, he has encountered people who were more concerned with stopping and harming the travelers rather than ensuring their wellbeing. Therefore this imagery during the journey part of the novel helps to provide the reader with the sense that not everyone in Mexico is out to get the people who are trying to obtain a better
Miguel is a Mexican descendent and this will affect the decisions he makes throughout the story. He finds himself in trouble at home and he gets sent to a Juvenile Center
Have you ever been watching a TV show and find yourself relating it to your life in some way? You might relate it to some problem that is going on in your life or some issue going on around your society. All of the sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically one day when I was watching the TV series Grey’s Anatomy. Almost seven series in, I started to realize similarities between Grey’s Anatomy and topics we have been learning about in class. I noticed ideas and concepts that related to sociology. From norms and agents to theories and structures, the series Grey’s Anatomy is a great analysis of sociology.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a movie and list five sociological concepts outlined in our textbook, Sociology A Down-To-Earth Approach, 6th edition by James M. Henslin, which was published by Pearson Education, Inc in 2015, 2013, and 2011. I have chosen the movie, “The Breakfast Club.” This is a 1985 movie directed by John Hughes. It is about five high school students that have detention on a Saturday for nine hours. The five students are played by, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall. These five students are deviant in their own particular ways and have different stereotypes. Eventually the students share personal information about their
In the 21st century, there have been many visionaries in society who aim to bring about social change. Understanding different societies and the way they evolve are a part of social change. In the films, Pleasantville, Crash, American History X, the Pianist and Cry Freedom a move towards social change is seen. The structure of family, discrimination and the breaking of social barriers are prominent factors in all these films. These arguments be seen through an anthropological, sociological and psychological perspective.
In our modern world, sociology has a tremendous impact on our culture, mainly through the processes and decisions we make everyday. For movies and television shows especially, sociological references are incorporated throughout the storyline. A movie which includes many sociological examples is Mean Girls. Mean Girls is a movie based on the life of home-schooled teenage girl, Cady Heron, who moves to the United States from Africa and is placed in a public school for the first time. Cady finds herself in many uncomfortable scenarios and has to deal with the trials and tribulations pertaining to everyday high school issues. Her experiences involve interacting with high school cliques, such as ‘the plastics’, weird high school teachers, relationships,
What is sociological imagination? Our textbook describes sociological imagination as the ability to see our private experiences, personal difficulties, and achievements as, in part, a reflection of the structural arrangements of society and the times in which we live. The movie entitled Forrest Gump is a great example of sociological imagination. In this paper, I will cite examples from the movie and tell how they correlate with sociological imagination. Sociological imagination allows us examine the events of our lives and see how they intersect with the wider context of history and tradition of the society in which we live. (Hughes/Kroehler, The Core, p. 7)
Here he presents use with some of the main characters who are Nayeli, Tacho, Vampi, Yolo, Matt, and Atomiko. The girls have been affected by the absence of the town’s men who have left the small town to seek work in the United States. The purpose in presenting us with the information of why these men have left the town is to present the fact, of why so many others in small towns like this one have left their towns, in search for work. He also provides a personal account of the everyday life of the people of Tres Camarones in a way that the reader can get a better idea of life in a small Mexican town. One of the main characters Nayeli is a dreamer, who fantasizes about living in a U.S. city and whose father that has left the town to the new world to seek work. The father was the town police man and someone who Nayeli looked up to. Nayeli and her friends take on a task to bring back seven men from the United States, for the purpose of helping to deal with the narcols that have threaten the daily life of the town’s people. But also feel that it is there duty to repopulate the town and prevent it from dying out. At this point the story takes on a different meaning and a new direction of heroism to save the town from the bad men. But the journey has many borders that the girls and one guy have to encounter in order to be successful. There are many different social and
This is the foundation of the Sociological Imagination Concept. According to C. Wright Mills, sociological imagination is developed when we can place personal problems in a social situation or environment such that they are no longer viewed solely as individual or personal problems, but instead as social problems. That is problems that are shared by enough peop...
Explorers always wanted to find the "Golden City." Of course, none of them did. In Candide, Voltaire describes a city that is equivalent to any "Golden City." This world is the ideal world that almost anyone would like to live in. However, when Candide finds his "Golden City," known as El Dorado, he leaves it. One might wonder why Candide left El Dorado, but there were many well justified reasons for Candide's departure from the perfect world he was searching for. Candide gives several arguments for leaving El Dorado. Candide wants to find Cunegund, and he wants to be of higher status. In El Dorado, everyone has wealth; but if Candide leaves with some pebbles from El Dorado he can richer then the nobles in Europe. With these reasons in mind, Candide prepares for his departure from the perfect Utopia. The seemingly perfect Utopia is not that perfect for Candide, for there are a few things that Candide must have in his world that are not present in El Dorado.
The Sociological Imagination speaks to the understanding of our own actions being a part of a larger historical and social picture. It encourages us to see what influences we have and what influences society has over our own individual lives, whether our decisions are determined by sociological factors and forces or are entirely in our own control. The sociological imagination enables us to see the relationship between history and biography. It helps us to understand the relationship between personal troubles and public issues, and as well as this, it addresses the three profound questions that C. Wright Mills asked. The three videos given, offer a range of successful and unsuccessful insight and explanations about the sociological
In today’s society, it is easy to spot someone blaming themselves for the occurrence of their personal life problems. For example, a single-mother may blame herself for not being able to support her children well due to a shortage of money and unavailability to find a decent job. Another could be a newly wed couple having daily arguments that may lead to their divorce, or women who are facing difficulties perceiving their housekeeping responsibilities and wanting to become something more than just a homemaker. These various private tensions may seem very personal. These dilemmas are all related to a bigger world called society and this is known as the sociological imagination. Sociological imagination suggests that people look at their own personal troubles as social issues and, in general try to connect their own individual encounters with the workings of society. The personal problems are closely related to societal issues such as unemployment, marriage, war and even the city life where the private troubles and the public issues become clearly apparent. With the understanding of the sociological imagination, I began to notice the daily choices I make, the classes I attend, the way I was raised by my parents, the group of people I choose to hang out with, the things I like to converse about with others are all somehow affected by public issues and what society tends to make us believe is right. There are many areas in my life where I feel that I am greatly affected by various sociological theories such as events dealing with gender and sexuality, family and culture, ethnicity and race, and social class and work.
Sociological imagination is the understanding of relationships between self and society. Anything that happens in a person’s life is an effect of something that has happened in society. Understanding sociological imagination will allow people to see how society can shape a person’s life. People feel that their failures are their own fault when in reality it is caused by what happens in society. If Americans understood sociological imagination they would have a better understanding as to why something happens to them, and how to fix that problem. If they understood why things were happening, from a societal viewpoint, there would look at situations in a different light and then they would hopefully be able
We’ve gone over many sociological concepts in class, but the three that I believe apply the most to this film are socialization, deviance, and resocialization. “What sort of world is it at
Sociology is a study of society social life, social change, and social causes and consequences of human behaviour and allows us to gain an understanding of the structure and dynamics of today’s society, looking at the interlinking links patterns of human behaviour. Sociology looks at the in which social structure and institutions affect our everyday life. Sociological imagination was founded by C. Wright mills in the 1950`s it is an overall understanding of that some of the things that happen in society may lead to a particular outcome. Mills said it is “the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and wider society.” sociological imagination can also be defined as the ability to look at how sociological situations can unfold due to how everyone is different. The way we behave is shaped by the situation that we find ourselves in, the values and norms that we have and the way that other members of society act around us. It is also a way of thinking about how things in society have led to a particular outcome, and understanding of what led to that specific outcome. Sociological imagination is an ability to look at things socially and how they interact and influence each other gaining an understanding of different cultures and class systems.