Menace II Society was the movie that reflects social problems, about the brothers Allen and Albert Hughes.. There are various social issues discussed in this movie such as “drug”, “murder”, Moline”, “crime”, and problems associated with the society. This movie not only reflects about the behavior and attitude of people in the society, but also reflects on the social norms and breaking laws. The interesting element in this movie is that it not only reflects the social problems, but also provides reason for the negative social behavior.
Another reason is that this movie provides a chance to study the social problems and other concerns associated with the Blacks in that society. Despite the fact that this movie is directly about the crime and violence in Blacks, there are various symbolic interaction in this movie that proves the problems of social hatred and conflicts in the society due to the structure and function of society. There are various theories of sociology which can assist in understanding all these factors presented in this movie.
Discussion Summary Menace II Society is a story about Blacks struggling for better life in the society, through any meaner. In order to get money and to fulfill their dreams, Canine Lawson ND his best friend Kevin Anderson (O-Dog), planned to rob a store and in their attempt they killed store keeper and his wife and took all the money along with the surveillance tape. They involved in a number of different other crimes like theft and different other negative social activities such as their involvement in drugs.
The story of the movie also presents the background of Canines life; his mother was also an addict and died of overdose. His father was a drug dealer and killed in a deal. This highlights the negative impact on his life and his experiences with the drugs. He ivied with his grandparent’s, during that time his cousin Harold killed by carjackers and later Canine and O-Dog trace and killed those carjackers. He was also imprisoned, but released. He enjoyed his life with his friends and involved in a number of criminal activities like cart theft, killing and robbing.
He also found a girl named Elena, but could not have proper relations with her and left her when she was pregnant, later he had fight with her cousin and this create more difficulties for him. He than planned to move to Atlanta with his friend Ronnie, but he got shot and became rigorously wounded Ana Totally a Theories Theory is defined as “a set of interrelated hypothesis or propositions” that attempt to describe or explain a phenomenon (Observant, p. 431). There are number of different theories that define different phenomenon associated with the social norms and behaviors.
In order to understand and avoid these problems in the society there are various theories presented to deal with these social problems. Some of the most remarkable theories are the symbolic interaction theory, social conflict theory, and structural functional theory. Symbolic Interaction Theory Symbolic interaction theory provides foundation for analyzing and understanding social behavior and interaction between different people. This deals with the understanding of symbolic meanings of different social events, objects, attitudes and behaviors.
This theory was first used to analyze social interactions by “an American philosopher, George Herbert Mead” (Sawyer, p. 36). This theory deals with the interpretation of the social attitudes and behaviors of different individual in the society and the changes in their social perspectives based on different situations and interactions with their society. This theory is based on the close analysis of every individual and his or her views and perceptions during interaction in society.
The movie, Menace II Society is the perfect reflection of the increasing crime rates and different other social problems which is mainly represented by using all the Blacks in this movie. This directs towards thinking about the particular community and to associate all the negative aspects with the particular Black society. In this way the Blacks were the symbolic presentation of the crime, drugs and violence in the reticular community or with the group of people in the society. There are various dialogues in which a Black person called other as “Niger”.
The language in this movie also reflects the symbolic of the Blacks as considered lower and inferior like “Niger” being accepted as their social identity and symbolic interpretation. Social Conflict Theory As compare to the symbolic interaction theory, where different social symbols are used to interpret the meanings, attitudes and behavior of society, based on their social interactions, social conflict theory further proceeds with the problems that rise due to change in perceptions.
It also involves conflicts that arise due to competitions, inequalities and different other social changes (White & Ortega, p. 1 3). Every individual have their own set of views and opinion, whenever there are more individuals involve in a group there is always clash or conflict between the perceptions. This theory is based on the Mar’s theory of class conflicts and social constraints in the society that results in violence (Bartok & Wear, p. 9-10). This theory is very effective to understand the conflict in society and then to look for the ways to solve the conflict.
Resolving social conflicts is based on understand the problems of situations and behaviors. The social conflicts that are symbolically represented in the movie and associated with the reflection of social norms and interactions in society are reflected with the crime scenes, murder, shooting, violence, and problems with the goal of achieving social status and better life through any meaner. Use of rugs mainly Owe to ten unconscious Impact AT parent’s’ actively Ana Involvement In the activities related to drugs, “my father sold dope… ND my mother was a heroin addict… They’d always have parties… Or who was on their way to Jail. (Menace II Society). This reflects the negative impact of parent’s and their tragic deaths with sufferings and their efforts to earn money. Structural-Functional Theory According to White and Ortega, “Structural-functional theory addresses the question of social organization (structure) and how it is maintained (function)” (White & Ortega, p. 10).
This theory is based on the social patterns and stability for the maintenance of society harmony to work together for good, and elimination of the outdated structures of society with the evolution and adoption of new social structures. Therefore, this theory deals with the structure, along with the positive and negative functions in the society. This theory is also very effective in order to understand the structure and function of that society in the movie Menace II Society. This movie is a perfect reflection of the social norms and structures reflected in the society.
For example, after graduating from high school, Canine showed no ambition beyond hanging out with his friends, and involvement in the criminal activities and to main all the luxuries of life and money by even following wrong ways and killing other people. Menace II Society reflects continuous attitudes of neglect and hatred in the society that results in negative consequences and sufferings of Blacks that finally resulted in the criminal activities and anti-social behavior. The parent’s were mainly responsible for this negative attitude of Canine that reflects the social organization and its function, “Growing up with parent’s like that…
I heard a lot, and I saw a lot… Instead of keeping me out of trouble… They turned me on to it” (Menace II Society). This provides the basic reason for his involvement in the criminal activities and drugs that represent the structure and function of the society. Literature Review According to Hilary & Bartholomew, Social behavior is defined as a actions that people do collectively, either in groups or in as individuals confronting to cultural patterns (Hilary & Bartholomew, p. ND).
Every individual has different personality and behavior; this behavior reflects in a number of aspects in the life of a person such as “eating, reading, dancing, shooting, rioting, and warring” (Rumen, Hawaii. Du). When these personal factors and attributes are in interaction with the other people of society it requires moral, intentional and behaving considerations (Rumen, . Hawaii. Du). These perspectives are very important to understand the conflicts and problems arise in the society on the basis of social discriminations based on gender, race, color, class and various other factors.
Economic crisis, class conflicts, racial, ethnic and gender discrimination are also important factors that affect social behavior of a person, all these negative aspects and factors can lead o the anti social behavior and results in increase in crimes and violence (Clarke,p. 7). Satisfied also highlight all these negatives attributes in the American society. According to him, American society is a “product of a race centered society’ (Satisfied, p. BOB).
I Nils rennet’s ten exact control AT Tanat collect reenacted In Menace II society, which reveals the negative attitude especially in Blacks and it further reveals the problems in the society such as all the negative attitudes of Canine are result of society and various social factors such as activities of his parent’s, murder of his cousin, killing of store keeper and his wife by his friend O-Dog, all leads him to the negative activities. Critique This movie is a perfect example to study all the theories of sociology and norm of society.
This movie is not Just helpful for understanding social norms and attitudes, but also provides assistance to analyze the human behavior and psychology. It defines the philosophy of social norms, racial discrimination, and hope to achieve the better life and to follow wrong ways and criminal activities. The impact of parent’s’ fife, increase in crime rate, drugs, violence and street life are all highlighted in this movie. I like this movie for highlighting the negative social impact, but there is too much of violence and crime.
The negative image of parent’s and killings were also negative impact for the rest of society. The involvement of youngest in crimes and drugs are the reality of society reflected through this movie. Conclusion In conclusion, the movie, Menace II Society assisted in studying and analyzing symbolic interaction theory, social conflict theory, and structural functional theory. There are various social issues discussed in this movie such as “drug”, “murder”, Moline”, “crime”, and problems associated with the society.
