“1. The Customer is always right. 2. If you have money, you have the right to get whatever that money can buy you... But in the parking lot they were simply not true.” (Eckman, 2010) The Parking Lot Movie is a documentary based on The Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. The director spent three years documenting this parking lot and the eccentric characters who work there as attendants. This movie is mostly a compilation of interviews with the attendants and scenes from daily life at the lot. The attendants in general are a very interesting group of people, and the owner is no different. They range from former philosophy professors to anthropology graduate students, with a smattering of the occasional undergraduate student. They classed themselves in several different terms such as: different, freaks and losers. There are several facets to the daily life as a parking lot attendant, particularly at this lot. The shelter that the attendants work from, is a tiny shed-like building, with one very small counter and a single chair, the inside walls are cardboard and pasted with various cartoons, drawings, and any other random parking or car related montages. The entrance gate is changed regularly and each gate has some entertaining message like: “bullitt”, “meta-gate”, “December-girls”, “civility”. In the beginning you see the attendants having fun and things at the corner lot seem very entertaining, but as the film wears on you begin to realize that while it is fun there is a deeper meaning for these people and it can make you a bit crazy. Social psychology is at play in The Parking Lot Movie at every turn, but the one that seems to rule the parking lot is stereotypes from both parties, both the attendants and the customer...
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...e very selectively hired, and each one has a story as to how they got their job and it’s always through a friend, the owner is very eccentric and has obviously staffed his business with people he can call like-minded friends. This was a very interesting movie and the dynamic within this little parking lot was even more interesting. In conclusion, this movie demonstrated not only that people make snap judgments in their social perception process, and stereotype people by their jobs, but that violence is alive and well within the American people and our entertainment.
Works Cited
Eckman, Meghan (Director). (2010). The Parking Lot Movie [Web]. Available from http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Parking_Lot_Movie/70134661? trkid=1996918#height1450
Kassin, Saul, Fein, Steven, & Markus, Hazel Rose. (2008). Social psychology. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Ivan Glasenberg, the CEO of Glencore, once said “I stopped focusing on people being different, and started treating everyone the same way.” An authority figure refuses to acknowledge the differences in people, and treats different individuals the same way. Authoritarian figures have shut down people, mostly kids, who are different for years. Striving to reach a conformity in society, they refuse to recognize the uniqueness of every individual. Similarly, in the short story “Antaeus”, the main character, T.J., is evidently different from the rest of urban society, much to authority’s disliking. In Borden Deal’s short story “Antaeus”, the author uses the main character ,T.J., to demonstrate that when man is different from the rest of society,
...eam, as Romero showcases the fact that the flaws shown within the characters end up turning their situation into something far worse than it had been in the beginning. It shows just how depraved, violent and absolutely terrifying humans can easily become when put into situations without consequences. Romero’s film is dredged in cynicism towards the modern American Dream, the way he deals with symbolism towards how “just” the American system is during battles and war, and how incredibly messed up our generalized view on racism and the ever ongoing struggle for certain ethnic groups to survive is. “The negativity of the characters extends, in fact, into every facet of their lives; indeed, the film implies the deepest denial of the goodness of effectiveness of every facet of human life in general. Every kind of human relationship is ridiculed or negated in the film.” 4
All in all, the film Crash was an eye opener. Although some scenes quiet drastic, viewers were able to see Americas hidden truths. Not only did we witness racism and prejudices through one lens, but through multiple lens. For example, Anthony and Peter discuss their issues with Caucasians, the pawn shop owner battles with Farad, and Mrs. Cabot angrily confesses her feelings towards African Americans men. This learner is now aware of different cultures and racial struggles. This learning will keep in mind that cultural awareness is vital tool for the field of social work. Great
While at first glance David Sedaris’s short story “Standing By” is nothing more than a story of the frustration of dealing with delayed flights and airports, when it in fact discusses a much more deeper topic of human nature and behavior. In 2009, Sedaris experienced a flight delay due to thunderstorms and was directed to wait in a customer service line. While waiting in line, he observes the people around him and how they were all disgruntled to be in this situation. However, one person stood out, given that he was wearing a large label on the back of his shirt. The person was a young teenage father with his baby and family, whose shirt largely proclaimed “Freaky Mothafocka” on the back. Sedaris noticed that the people around him, including himself, were all quick to judge the teenager, making assumptions and insulting him. He comes to the conclusion that the airport bring out the worse in people, and provides a space for them to be hateful for no other reason than being their true selves.
The sidewalk is a social structure for the people who work and live in it. They are mentors for each other. They play the same role of self-direction and psychological fulfillment of a formal job or family for example; where the society is shrunken on that one sidewalk. They form an informal social organization and social control so they can survive against the outer social system; meanwhile, this social organization organizes property rights and division of labor. Although their life seems deviant, they still practice conventional social practices and norms. Although it might seem that these men are engaged in random behavior, yet there is an organized interaction of norms and goals, and a shared collective self-consciousness from having a shared common history.
This film, directed by former gang- member Cle Sloan, shows how racism between whites and blacks during the civil rights movement played a significant role in the formation of many Los Angeles gangs that we would see today. T...
One of the biggest issues depicted in the film is the struggle of minority groups and their experience concerning racial prejudice and stereotyping in America. Examples of racism and prejudice are present from the very beginning of the movie when Officer Ryan pulls over black couple, Cameron and Christine for no apparent reason other than the color of their skin. Officer Ryan forces the couple to get out of the car
"Crash" is a movie that exposes different kinds of social and multicultural differences, giving us a quick example of how these conducts affect our society. Two of the behaviors observed, are Prejudice and Stereotyping. Identified as the causes of where all the events eradicate.
... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.
In conclusion, after view this film, it is clear that one can see how black youth are being viewed as killers and savages. This is not true. There have been many admirable scholars and scientists who come from the African American culture. This movie, though it depicts what goes on in South America, takes the violence committed by black youth too far. One cannot view a film and take it that this is what a race is like. The filmmakers depicted black youth in a harsher light.
The director Antoine Fuqua vision for this film was to bring that intense love-hate relationship onto the big screen and showcase it for the world to see. To ensure a convincing film setting, Fuqua shot on location in some of the most hardcore neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Fuqua also wanted to show the daily struggles of officers tasked to work in the rougher neighborhoods of cities and how easy it can be to get caught up in a street life filled with killers and drug dealers. Overall the film displayed the city of Los Angeles in a different perspective. One which m...
The film, Fruitvale Station, is based upon a true story of a young, unarmed African American male, Oscar, who was shot by a Caucasian BART police officer. The film displays the final twenty-fours of Oscar Grant’s lives going through his struggles, triumphs, and eager search to change his life around. There will be an analysis of the sociological aspects displayed throughout the movie that show racism, prejudice, and discrimination.
This was especially evident when they were being pulled over by a racist white cop. She felt that he could have done more to defend their rights instead of accepting injustice. There is also a Persian store owner, who feels that he is getting the short end of the stick in American society because his store was robbed multiple times. Then the Hispanic locksmith encounters racial slurs and discrimination, although he just wanted to keep his family safe. The partnered detectives and lovers of different races, one is a Hispanic woman and the other is a black male, who are dealing with his drug addicted mother who feels that he does not care enough about taking care of his family. In this movie, discrimination and prejudice are the cause of all kinds of collisions. We easily prejudge people with stereotypes, and we are concerned with our pre-thoughts of what kind of person he/she should be, we forget to actually get to know them. It is human nature to have some type of prejudices in one way or another; we fear the unknown. There are stereotypes that black people are angry or tend to be violent; white people feel they are the dominant race and discriminate against all; Asians are thought to be poor or ignorant, and people with higher economic statuses are distinguished to the working class
The movie was an interesting movie because it has the ability to make you react with many emotions. The movie follows characters that live in Los Angeles and the characters are involved in each other characters’ lives. With each character I had a first impression and I would most of the time end up with different impressions of them in the end. There are a few concepts I noticed and created after watching the film. I had a variety of emotions while watching the film, the most notable emotions were angry to hopeful. Regarding racism the action I could take is to not always rely on stereotypes.
Welcome to the automotive world, the last holdout in the battle against political correctness. This is one of the few places left where one can make a statement about women and men and not be assaulted with court cases or be accused of being a bigot. In the automotive media, it is still acceptable to represent men in business suits driving luxury vehicles, and to show mothers driving their kids in a minivan. There is one simple reason that the automotive media has remained unadulterated by political correctness—money. As a private industry, both car manufacturers and aftermarket companies have one goal, to sell cars and car related products, and to make money while doing so. As such, these companies use marketing techniques that will most effective reach their target market, which is the true populace, not the world envisioned by political correctness(hereafter to be referred to as PC). For this reason, the marketing techniques used by the automotive industry give us a more realistic view of society and how men and women view themselves.