Movie in Sociology

1885950297180Movie in Sociology

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Introduction

Sociology is the scientific study of societal life, social change, the social basis, and costs of individual behavior as well as investigating the structure of groups, organizations, societies, and people’s interactions within these situations. All human behavior is considered social thus making the main issue of sociology to range from the close family relationship, organized crimes, religious cults, shared beliefs of a common culture, sports sociology, and to the work sociology. Sociology provides many distinguishing perspectives on the world, breeding new ideas and criticizing old thoughts by tackling the most current taxing issues thus making it a rapidly expanding field whose potential is increasingly tapped by those who design policies and build programs.

The subject matter of sociology is to make our lives better by knowing the different societies, improving our way of thinking towards different people in the society and understanding the social processes that have brought the society of humans from their origins to where the society stands currently. Sociology has greatly contributed to many life aspects such as understanding and planning of society, keeps us posted on contemporary issues, enriching human culture, bringing our interest to the essential worth and dignity of man, and providing solution to societal challenges (Giddens & Sutton 2010).

Sociological Imagination

This refers to the concept of willingness of thinking beyond the conventional perspective by moving away from thinking in terms of the individual problems, focusing rather on the social circumstances that produce social problems to the individuals. It involves looking at issues in holistic or multidimensional point of view by examining both personal and social forces when explaining any phenomenon. Sociological Imagination entail the ability of an individual to stop considering things from a narrow perspective, but to perceive general social forces, characteristics as well as their reactions , and to apply their findings to everyday life (Kornblum & Smith 2011).

Social Issues and Personal Problems

A social issue refers to outside forces affecting an individual’s perception and opinion yet the individual has no control on. Social issues may be either desirable or undesirable depending on different societies with unusual perceptions and opinions regarding social behaviors (Kornblum & Smith 2011). As a result, social issues purely vary with particular society in question being that there is no uniformity in the social manners in different societies. A social issue is therefore any issue intimidating the values upheld by a society, hence distressing all individuals who involved in the society such as violence, justice equality, and poverty (Giddens & Sutton 2010).

Personal problem refers to an issue bothering or concerning an individual at a personal level and the ultimate decision to resolve, or repair that certain problem lies in an individual’s hand, even though possibly persuaded by the community. Personal problem is an issue involving an individual and the resolution to that problem would only benefit the person affected. On the other hand, a personal problem has everything to do with self efficacy since an individual has absolutely complete control of the problem from the very start (Kornblum & Smith 2011).

Movie

Philadelphia is an American drama movie that was released in 1993 and amongst the first conventional Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia that was written by Ron Nyswaner, and directed by Jonathan Demme (Pristin, 1996). The movie features two chief artists, stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, who perform with immense decency, that give it substance and convincingly address the AIDS plague seriously. (Pristin, 1996). Philadelphia movie irrefutably incorporates both the social issue and personal problems themes in an undeniable and clear manner thus making it the basis of addressing these issues in this piece of writing.

Social Issue Presented in film

The issue of discrimination, which is a social issue in the society, is presented in the Philadelphia movie in a very depressing and emotional way that makes whoever watches the movie keenly understand it. Discrimination presented in the movie is that of intolerance against the HIV/AIDS infected individuals. Philadelphia drama film is a story of Andrew Becket (Tom Hanks) who is a senior associate in a law firm and is pitilessly fired by the law company after realizing that he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. It was disgraceful that the firm, where he had worked for a long time and as a senior person, was doubtful about his ability to discharge the duties of the firm (Pristin, 1996).

The film further attributes a social challenge of biasness, versus a personal problem of homophobia by revealing Andrew Beckett’s (Tom Hanks) homosexual act, which, for a long time, he has been hiding from the people around him, to keep away from being intimidation or having his reputation damaged. Andrew Becket understands that homosexuality is an act that is not common to the society especially after he had his colleagues negatively joking about gays, though it is his preferred way of doing sex. Andrew Becket therefore found it uneasy to disclose his situation to his fellow workers who were openly opposed to gay.

Truth about the social problem

HIV/AIDS and sexual orientations are some of the social issues discriminated against in the place of work, social events and homes because of their unpopular nature in the society. Additionally, the HIV/AIDS infected individuals are mostly assumed incompetent in discharging their obligations yet they too live as any other normal persons and can do anything done by HIV/AIDS negative persons.

Functionalism theory specifies that everyone in the society is vital, notwithstanding their sexual orientation or health status, being that they all contribute to the society (Kornblum & Smith 2011). No persons should not be discriminated against in the society due to their health status or sexual orientation since sickness does not interfere with an individual’s ability to work and ability to help in the society. It is important to treat every individual equal and with equal respect that they deserve for the mutual benefit of the society. Finally, the issue of personal opinions and perceptions in a society influences greatly affects people in that particular society and Philadelphia film has clearly shown this.

References

Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2010). Sociology: Introductory Readings. Cambridge: Polity.

Holtzman, L. (2000). Media Messages: What Film, Television, And Popular Music Teach Us About Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation. Armonk, NY [U.A.: Sharpe.

Kornblum, W., & Smith, C. D. (2011). Sociology In A Changing World. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Pristin, T. (1996). Philadelphia Screenplay Suit to Reach Court. New York Times, n.p. HYPERLINK “http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/11/business/philadelphia-screenplay-suit-to-reach-court.html” http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/11/business/philadelphia-screenplay-suit-to-reach-court.html.