Grand Canyon Sociology

Director Lawrence Kasdan's film Grand Canyon is centered around the lives of a few Los Angeles residents. Some of the individuals that are presented in the film belong in distinct social class in regard to each other. For instance, Mack is an upper-middle class lawyer; meanwhile, Simon is high-prole tow-truck driver. Fussell explains in his non-fiction text Class that there are many important elements that need to be taken into consideration when assigning a person to a social class. The elements that need to be taken into consideration include clothing, occupation and profession. Undoubtedly, Mark and Simon are a perfect example that reinforces the idea that their respective class standing can be accurately determined by these three

For example, Simon wears a New York Mets cap, which sets him in the prole category. The reason behind this is not difficult to comprehend: "the prole associates himself with an enterprise the world judges successful, and thus, for the moment, he achieves some importance" (56). This type of accessory is not unknow to proles, and Simon is not the exception. There is another aspect of Simon's cap that is not rare to see proles use, and this is the visor cap. Fussell asserts that "proles take to visor caps instinctively, which accounts for the vast popularity among them of what we must call simply the prole cap (70). Fussell also points out that one's social class can be determined by the outfit that is utilized when going out: "a person is middle-class or high-prole... [if] the wider the difference between one's working clothes and one's 'best,' the lower the class" (45). This inserts Simon in the high-prole status because he wears a more fancy and expensive outfit when going out; meanwhile, his normal attires are not that

That is not to say that it not possible, but they didn’t actually talk a lot, so it made it feel very unreal. Furthermore, their friendship grew so fast that it didn't take long for them to the Grand Canyon with their families together. The film Grand Canyon did not intend to reveal the social classes; in contrast, Fussell's goal was to show that different classes there are. Fussell understands that there are many factors, not just money, that can define ones social class. For example, class standing can be accurately be determined by the type of clothes a person has in this wardrobe, their profession, and the characteristic of this home. Mack and Simon help reinforce Fussell's