More handpicked essays just for you.
The role of cinema in society
Film influence on pop culture
The impact of Hollywood movies on world cultures
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The role of cinema in society
As time passes society gains a multitude of themes that contain relevant issues of the time. The 1980s contained many themes that are prevalent in its media; these themes are addressed in a variety of films, John Hughes’ Some Kind of Wonderful included. John Hughes’ films throughout the 80’s continuously contained an important theme of the period. Some Kind of Wonderful demonstrates a plethora of them but the main three involved class struggles/ class differences, emphasis on fun and the disrespect of authority Throughout the the idea of class struggle was constantly alluded to, along with the idea that the rich got richer while the poor got poorer. It is a continual theme throughout the entire film being introduced at the get go and never truly being resolved. The movie starts out with a poor boy who wants the win a rich man’s girlfriend over, and immediately the viewer is introduced to their class differences. One boy walks everywhere while the other has a muscle car, one is despised by society and the other is revered by the people around him, one struggles for everything while t...
· The social class system at the time when the play is set, (rich and
The conflict approach is one that puts an emphasis on inequality and competition between social groups that leads to problems. Throughout the course of the Poor Kids documentary the conflict approach can be implemented to help explain why childhood poverty is caused. Conflict theorist can point to Brittany’s family as an example of how competition between social classes can cause poverty. Brittany’s father was working for a company that decided to scale down in order to better sustain itself during tough economic times. As a result, Brittany’s father lost his job with the company since he did not hold a high position within the company. Brittany’s family when her father had his job was not considered a high class family as far as income and luxury goes. The video did not specifically state what class family they were, but it can be inferred that they were probably a low middle class or low class family. So, because her father was not holding a high position and was not considered of high social importance, he was let go as if he was almost expendable. If he was of high social class and held a higher or more important position within the company than he probably would not have been let go. This refers back to competition between social classes (Turner). The old cliché, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer can be thought relevant in this situation. Also, the conflict approach can be applied to the part of the video in which Brittany’s dad was unsuccessful in finding a job. Her dad went online and submitted an array of applications to a multitude of different companies in hopes to get hired. Unfortunately, he didn’t hear anything back from any of the companies and was not offered a job. His lack of success in finding a job can be explained in various ways. The conflict approach would point to his social status as a key reason in why he was unsuccessful. It can said that because Brittany’s father was not of a high social class or group he wasn’t given as
People like John Hughes made some lasting changes in the way that teenagers are depicted onscreen. Seeing the real, down-to-earth concerns of teenagers being dramatized is much more common today than it was in the 1980s. Teenagers in films today will frequently discuss their issues like the protagonists in the Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club was one of the first films to deconstruct the high school archetypal characters, but these character types are frequently subverted today. John Hughes managed to stand apart from many other writers and directors in his day by taking a whole genre of films in a new direction.
In the beginning of the movie the first word that popped into my head was poverty. I then thought back into my head and started to think about class and the link between poverty and education. “The higher the socioeconomic level of a student’s family, the greater the student’s chances of finishing high school and college” (Gollnick 82). I tried to keep that thought in my mind for the entire film.
In our current society, it is acceptable to talk about race or gender. However, when it comes to the subject of class, people tend to tense, and are uncertain as to where they stand. At one time in history money afforded prestige and power, however now, money is a large part of our society and tends to rule many peoples lives. In the book Where We Stand: Class Matters, by bell hooks, she describes a life growing up in a family who had nothing, to now becoming one of America’s most admired writers. She wrote this book because she wanted to write about her journey from a working class world to class-consciousness, and how we are challenged everyday with the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In her book, hook’s describes a life dominated by the haunting issues of money, race, and class.
After inspecting this play, this film and this issue, one can clearly understand the large gap between the rich and the poor and how people throughout history have tried to solve this issue. People all over the world are all able to relate to this age-old theme because timeless themes, such as poverty, comment on life and the human condition and can eclipse any changes in time or
He has an idea to be rich, and he wants it fast. Being nine year old, he starts out looking for jobs in his neighborhood. After doing two jobs, he earns a nickel, a quarter and two peaches. He has money, and he can do whatever he wants. So with a friend and his sister, they go swimming. Money, to him at this age, affects him greatly already. From his own family, he learns that without money, they'll always be poor and working class. He has the need to be higher in social class and he wants to be like rich people.
Because of this, she needed to protect her owns as she need to lie in the court or her family will no longer be protected nor respected. This related to one of the social issue, violence, when Eva decided to tell the truth, but had to pay the consequence, beaten up by her own gang. All she had time to worry about was her safety and survival, and nothing else which the rest of her classmates felt. Another social issue would be poverty as most of Gruwell’s students either live in the project or the parents kick them out or any type of situation that can happen. This film also contrasts poverty and middle class by placing a white student among gang affiliated students. In the beginning of the film, the white student sat in the front of the class as it was a sense of safety being in front of the teacher as she is also white. But when Gruwell arranged the classroom for all her students to get along and not to get violent with one another, the gang affiliated students resent him because he is white and does not live a harsh life. In a way, poverty is connected to gang life because they want to feel protected, and
The notion of poverty has a very expanded meaning. Although all three stories use poverty as their theme, each interprets it differently. Consequently, it does not necessarily mean the state of extreme misery that has been described in ?Everyday Use?. As Carver points out, poverty may refer to poverty of one?s mind, which is caused primarily by the lack of education and stereotyped personality. Finally, poverty may reflect the hopelessness of one?s mind. Realizing that no bright future awaits them, Harlem kids find no sense in their lives. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of realizing their full potential does not derive from achieving standards that are unachievable by others. Instead, it arises uniquely from denigrating others, as the only way to be higher than someone is to put this person lower than you.
...vs. elite class as the band assumed. There was much more to it as few of the fortunate ones such as the senator’s, millionaire’s or military sons were supporting the opposition against the authorities. We must not forget the few fortunate ones with the right mindsets such as the student rioters in Columbia, Harvard and in many other elite universities who fought against their own parents to stop the nonsense that was going on in America and showed us that one’s class might have some effect on the person but it does not fully determine what kind of person one becomes.
Like William Blake 's return to the Chimney Sweeper after five years of experience passed him by, this too is the second incantation of this analysis. After further delving into the parallel stories it seems another approach could be similarly effective. The more one contemplates on the juxtaposition of the two sides perspectives of the story, the more one realizes that it could be seen as a struggle between two opposing views of separate class ideologies.
Social Class starts off in the book when Claudia describes her house and current living situation. “Our house is old, cold, and green. At night a kerosene lamp lights one large room. The others are braced in darkness, peopled by roaches and mice.”(10). Another example of Claudia’s lower status is when her mother gets upset when Pecola drinks all the milk. Claudia’s family can not afford to go through milk like that without losing a lot of money. Claudia’s mother says “Time for me to get out of the giving line and get in the getting line.”(24).Social class is also stated in the book early when Claudia talks about being “put out” and being “put outdoors”. This shows the difference between poverty and homelessness.“There is a difference between being put out and being put outdoors. If you are put out, you go somewhere else; if you are outdoors, there is no place to go. The distinction was subtle but final....Knowing that there was such a thing as outdoors bred in us a hunger for property, for ownership” page 17 (Toni Morrison).Pecola was homeless ...
The marxist lens reflects the gap between the rich and the poor during the 1920’s through the glass ceiling effect and female economic status. The glass ceiling is an unseen and unbreakable barrier that keeps one from rising to the upper class regardless of their qualifications or achievements. The different settings in the novel represent this effect: East Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and
The story is basically a compilation of the complicated circumstances that every man has to go through in life. The reader finds that life is full of inequities, although possibly not intentionally, it is forced upon everyone by themselves. The will of the mind is stronger than the invisible judge that is society, therefore if one should wish to be different then it is important that they push through with the change. It is important to free one's self, and claim individuality. Hence, I believe, that this story is a remonstration against the capitalist system that we abide by. It is a clear objection to the dehumanization that most members of society suffer from. Indeed, there could be no better way to object openly than through a short story.
Class distinction is one of Jane Austen’s themes in the novel, and the differentiation related to it is evidently depicted. Reading the novel from the first chapter, I realize that the author clearly illustrates that class is what matters most in many of the incidences displayed by the characters. Unless an individual is of a given class, the idea that he or she has money is not valued, since only birth in a certain background is what is of value. When a person openly values money over class, such a person is frowned upon. In general terms, the Novel shows a social world extremely stratified and full of pretension and class struggle.