Deviance/Social Change In “The Philadelphia Story”

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While watching “The Philadelphia Story”, there were many occasions where deviant behavior can be observed from the characters. Every character’s actions are impacted and labeled by the theories somehow no matter what the deviant act was. Different theories were used to label some of the deviant acts in different ways according to the deviant act they committed. The three examples that I felt were very noticeable to the social deviant theories were: Dexter’s unannounced return and actions for Traci’s wedding, Traci’s behavior the night before the wedding and with Dexter, and Macaulay’s actions the night before Traci’s wedding and snooping around her family. I believe that Dexter’s and Macaulay Connor’s can be connected to the Anomie theory, and Traci’s behavior can be connected with the Labeling theory. Each theory goes hand in hand with the deviant act that was committed by the person. Both the Anomie and Labeling theory are used in different ways by each character’s actions. When Dexter Haven came back into his ex-wife’s home unannounced would very much compare to the Anomie theory. As stated by Jack Levin, “a social situation in which the traditional rules of everyday life have broken down and individuals became confused as to how to behave.” (Levin, 54) I believe this is very noticeable in Dexter’s behavior when he comes back into Traci’s home attempting to introduce Macaulay Connor and Liz Imbrie as family friends of the family so they can report on the wedding for their tabloid Spy Magazine. Dexter became confused as the person who he is when he learned about Traci’s wedding. He was an old employee for Spy, and that is when he decided to intrude into the wedding with his plot. ` Dexter becomes in a position where he as an... ... middle of paper ... ...the press trying to get into the wedding. Lying is still bad today because it breaks bonds and trusts that can easily be destroyed by lying. For messing with Traci as she is engaged, it looks like they had sex with each other after drinking the night before her wedding. This act would highly be looked down upon both the male and female. It would be looked down, because even if they did anything or not, society would think what they want, and that could be the worst things. Those type of deviant acts are the kind that would be looked down upon society the most, seventy years ago, and even seventy years later. Society will judge what they want the way they want because they would feel they can since it is a part of their society. People should be judged on their actions, and what they can do with that instead of being judged by what the people want to see in society.

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