Theme Of Family Structure In Pleasantville

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Recommended: Discrimination and its impact on society

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.
The anthropological discipline views family structure as a part of culture. The term of family structure in anthropology is known as kinship. Every film highlights the family structure. According to an anthropological school of thought a functionalist explains that how family structure is important and if this structure is not proper it can affect the whole society. In the film, Pleasantville, one of the prominent themes is the family structure. According to an anthropological view family structure is strong in Pleasantville because of the way the people are raised. They are raised in a culture where they are taught to have a strong bonding. Bud was interested in watching that show because his own family life was disturbed. In the beginning of the film, when his mom plans to go out for a while, the first thing that comes into Bud’s mind is that he will get time to watch his favourite T.V show. The family shown in the film Pleasantville was a typical nuclear family following a patriarchy. In Pleasantville, George is seen romanticizing with his wife Betty which is an example of family structure, “Oh pumpkin, you sure know the way to this man’s heart”. Family structure is very in every step of life. In the film, The ...

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... changes the way people thought about things. In other films, such as, The Pianist and Cry Freedom there were examples of breaking of social barriers which affected the psychology of the population who brought change in their behaviour after discontinuing the traditional practices.
Conclusion
Through the analysis of the films, The Pianist, Pleasantville, Crash, American History X and Cry Freedom, the dynamics within societies are shown. These dynamics can be viewed according to anthropology, sociology and psychology. Each film emphasizes the effect social change. The themes displayed in every film including discrimination, family structure and breaking social barriers are all a part of social change. Furthermore, social change displayed in American History X, the Pianist, Cry Freedom, Pleasantville and Crash all deals with revolution and movement towards change.

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