Cool Hand Luke is a film that starts off with the main character Luke. Luke has done crimes and has to go to prison while there he tries to escape three times before he dies. During this film, there are signs of the three social psychological themes which are conformity, non-conformity, and obedience to authority. In this essay, I will be explaining all these three themes with their examples from the film. To understand these themes in the film, it is essential to understand what each team really means. Conformity is when a person changes their behavior or beliefs in order to be accepted by a group (McLeod, S.A., 2016). Nonconformity is the opposite in which one doesn 't conform (Collins English Dictionary). Finally, obedience to authority …show more content…
In the film, there are examples of not only conformity but also with obedience to authority. One of these is the prisoners have a leader which happens to be the biggest of them all, Dragline. They do whatever he says and follows what he does, which they see him as their authority and conform to him. Moving to just conformity there are few examples. In one of the scenes Luke 's mother visits him in prison, while she is there she asks him why he couldn 't be like her and why he hasn 't found a house to himself meaning, why he couldn 't figure out what to do with his life. By this, she is asking why he isn 't conforming to society by being "normal" because, obeying authority and everyone doing the same thing is normal, to her he should also follow this. Another example is while in the egg contest when Luke wins everyone sees him as their leader which is very clear when they lay him down and he has his arms and legs the way Jesus had when he died. Many people know the position Jesus was in and because he was a leader of a religious group. Therefore in the movie, that scene symbolized Luke as the leader. Luke himself is a very non-conforming character in the movie and from this example, we could see how he isn 't conforming. By agreeing to eat 50 eggs, which is seen as impossible to do, he is not conforming. This could also be one of the reasons behind others seeing him as their
Luke's disobedience, with the lack of a just cause, ultimately led to his demise when he realized that fact at the end. His desire to disobey authority for no particular reason and construction of an image initially created tension among his inmates. Gradually, inmates started to idolize him, which the wardens saw it as a threat. His multiple escape fails to cement a clear reason for his disobedience; it was not until his recapture that he starts to lose his moral. He realizes this at the very end, however it has been too late. Cool Hand Luke demonstrates to us that disobeying authority requires a moral, just cause so that one can accomplish a more fair society and be one step close of attaining happiness.
Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,
In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedict rant about marriage for most of the beginning of the play, while Claudio raves about how wonderful it will be being married to Hero. Yet in the end, Claudio exchanges his marriage to Hero for an opportunity to bash her in public, while Beatrice and Benedick marry despite that they were mortal enemies for most of the first three acts. How did the situation swing around to this degree? Beatrice and Benedick had been using the most extreme metaphors to demonstrate their scorn of each other and of marriage, and Claudio had been doing the same to demonstrate his love of Hero. Not only did none of these three characters mean what they were saying, but meant the reverse, and the people that plotted to bring them together or pull them apart plotted because they understood on some level what each really wanted.
Solomon Asch developed and ran an experiment regarding the power of conformity that affects most populations. Psychologists have been attempting to fully understand the mental workings behind why people are so easily pressured into following others for the longest time. The main focus of psychologists, is to figure and understand what the causes are behind social conformity. Numerous terms are brought up when studying conformity. The “unspoken rules or guidelines for behavior in a group” (Hock 293) are labeled as social norms. When individuals are placed in large groups, the tendency is to lean with whatever the majority of the group thinks. The regular behavior of the individual tends to readjust to appease the superior crowd.
Fromm, Erich. "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem." Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 258-63. Print.
As a result of this need, "we, therefore, learn to conform to the standards of other individuals. Moreover, the more we see others behaving in a certain way or making certain decisions, the more we feel compelled to follow suit. " Despite the freedoms we are supposed to have in American society, most adolescents find it difficult to establish their own identity. "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth," said John F. Kennedy. When we comply with what our acquaintances, family, or public opinion asks of us, we lose the capability to develop into our own person.
“Conformity is a form of social influence that involves a change in behavior or belief so that one can fit in with a certain group” (McLeod). Such a change is a response to imagined (which involves the pressure of expectations or social norms) or real (which involves the presence of others) group pressure. Another definition of conformity can be “yielding to group pressures”. Group pressure can take many forms, for example persuasion, teasing, bullying, criticism etc. Conformity is also referred to as group pressure or majority influence. The term conformity is mostly used to show an agreement to the position of the majority, and this is brought about by either by the desire to be liked or to fit in, or just to match a social role. The aim of this paper is to argue that conformity is among people because they always live in groups-work groups, family, political, religious and social groups. At the same instance, they are adjusted to obey authority. A conformist mentality makes it easy for people to be influenced by others.
Released in 1967, “Cool Hand Luke” continues to be one of the most popular movies in American history. (Belton, 2008) The movie starred famed actor Paul Newman and was based on the trials and tribulations occurring inside a Florida prison camp. One of the main reasons why Cool Hand Luke continues to be relevant today is due to its incisive observations regarding the criminal justice system. While the movie was released over forty years ago, the relevance of Cool Hand Luke continues today. This paper will provide a synopsis of the movie and character analysis of Cool Hand Luke; in addition, the paper will analyze the movie from the perspectives of someone unfamiliar with the criminal justice system as well as a professional in the criminal justice system.
It is very common to see conformity among young people, especially when large groups of young people are constantly around each other. School is one example where conformity is rampant. For some reason people tend to gravitate towards what others are doing. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go, the characters are no different from any other young person in that they tend to conform. Ishiguro shows this conformity to prove that conformity stems from the want to fit in and pure ignorance. At Hailsham, the students conform just to fit in with the rest of the students, but they also conform because they do not know any better.
Conformity is the process of understanding to majority influence and is defined by David Myers (1991) as a change in behavior or belief a result of real or imagined group pressure
Conformity is a concept that has intrigued psychologists for decades; a concept that has been the foundation of numerous studies, books, and that has been subtly woven into the media. Most of the research done on conformity has to do with what can cause conforming behavior and when conforming behavior is most prevalent. There are generally two types of influences that can cause conforming behavior, informational social influences and normative social influence. Both deal with the when and why of conformity in society and what situations typically cause a group or one or two people to conform. The most powerful and dangerous type of conformity is conformity to authority, which can cause people to obey orders that they would normally not follow in any other situation. With that being said, informational social influence can fuel conforming behavior, especially in instances when the situation is a crisis, ambiguous, and when other people in the situation have authority or expertise.
Conformity is the adjustment of one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Several years ago, after I completed my undergraduate degree, I became a police officer. I discovered early on that there were several groups (or cliques) that operated inside the walls of the department.
Conformity is defined as behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. This is not a good or bad thing, this just is. It exists as a compliment to earlier humans congregating into larger groups, using agriculture and domestication to create sustenance. Also, conformity is essential for life. We need people to share the same ideas, ideologies and a way of thinking in order to work efficiently and effectively. There many examples that exist like, at work or in your house and even within yourself. Sigmund Freud has explained the phenomena of group psychology in a piece titled, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Using Freud’s theory of conformity I will explain the self, what we call “me”,and its different constituents using The Principles of Psychology by
Elliot Aronson (2012) provides a definition of conformity, two social psychological processes that underlie a conformity and cited examples of reasons why people conform in the book, The Social Animal. Aronson (2012) defines a conformity as “a change in a person’s behavior or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people” (p.19). In accordance with Aronson’s (2012) definition of conformity, people do conform owing to the social influence, which are two main social psychological processes: belonging and getting information.
Conformity is vital to people’s life. Humans, being compound animals, live in a culture that works as a whole. Therefore, if there is a fault, the whole system might disintegrate. So, people are obligated to respect the affairs of others so that they can stay together as a whole. On the other hand Individuality, just like conformity, is necessary to life even despite the fact that modern person may not understand its worth. At one point people may want to be special from all the rest in one way or the other. As a result individuals might dress a bit in a different way as well as choose to do things we actually like. And, for on one occasion, we might create the opinions based on what we actually feel. However, earlier or later we are required to curb our impulsive desires so that society or culture does not tag us as eccentric or else weird, simply for the reason that people fear being alone.