Movie Analysis

by | Jul 4, 2020 | Movie

Description

Sociological issues are often addressed in pop culture, particularly in television, music, and film. For this paper, you will choose a movie that relates to issues covered from the second section of this course on (Social Class, Race/Ethnicity, Politics and Protest, Gender, Sexuality, and/or Intersectionality), watch it, and answer some questions about it.

Below is a list of pre-approved movies, some of which are accessible through various streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc.).

In all portions of the paper as described below, you should support your arguments with direct references to both the movie and the readings and/or lecture material you reference.

  1. How are the concepts of social structure and agency present in the film you watched? Does the movie acknowledge the influence of social structures or is it largely a tale of a person or people experiencing success “because they wanted it more”? You should review your readings and lecture notes related to structure and agency before watching your chosen film, as it is important that you fully understand these concepts before writing your paper. Inaccurately applying these concepts to the film you watched will have a substantial negative impact on your paper grade.
  2. What are some (at least 3) course concepts from lectures on these topics that were addressed in the film you chose? Define each concept and explain how it was represented in the movie you watched, including specific references to content in the film that demonstrates this concept.
  3. Finally, discuss in a paragraph or so whether you think the filmmakers have taken a functionalist, conflict, or other theoretical approach in producing the film they have. (See the Sage and Eitzen reading you did at the start of the course for more detail on this issue). Often, filmmakers aren’t just telling stories for the purpose of entertainment. They commonly take a stance on an issue, and try to communicate that perspective through the films that they make. The movies below were chosen because their filmmakers have incorporated ideas that are consistent with different strains of sociological metatheory. In this section, try to put yourself in the mindset of the filmmaker, describe the “message” of the movie as you see it, and then explain how you believe that it aligns with a specific theoretical perspective, using specific examples from the film to support your claims.

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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