Sociological analysis of film and cinema

American Gangster

Movie American Gangster.

This is a 2007 film that was directed by Ridley Scott and is crime-based film that was adopted from New York Magazine story "The Return of Superfly" and is based on real life situation. It tries to relieve the life of Frank Lucas, who was a real life Harlem gangster who managed to smuggle heroin aboard the returning war planes from Vietnam War. Denzel Washington assumes the role of Frank Lucas, a gangster who takes over from his mentor Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson for whom he was a driver, climbed to be a right hand and when he died, Frank took over the drug business. On the other hand is Richie Roberts (acted by Russell Crowe), an honest police who refuses to fall into the temptation of taking away 1 million dollars they find together with another officer in a car trunk, he goes ahead to form an investigative unit to look into the activities of drug dealers (The Internet Movie Database, 2011).

Ridley Scott, born in 1937, began his film production in the 1960s though widely recognized in the late 1970s with his films coming to light more and more each and every day. Some of his most renowned films are Legend, Black Rain, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven and Body of lies among many more. Apart from the film business, Scott has worked on various advertisements and he co-owns Shepperton Studios located in UK with his brother Tony Scott.

The social area that will be the point of focus for this paper is the relationship between drugs, crime and poverty in the society. There is a portrayal of an intertwinement of drug dealing that led to violence, murder and decapitation without any remorse especially among the poor population of Harlem. It is worth noting here that the drug lords were predominantly rich yet the peddlers down there were largely poor. However, of significance in this context is the social learning theory that can be used to explain a series of behaviors exhibited in the film itself. This is a social science theory that suggests that people learn from their environment and this shapes their personality and behavior, the environment here includes the people that an individual interacts with on a daily basis and the institutions that they come into frequent contact with.

The film American Gangster is made and based in the U.S.A., and the setting is in the poor Harlem region where poverty and crime was the order of the day in the 1960s and 1970s, the period that is covered by the film.

The plot of the movie is such that there is consistent depiction of crime from the beginning to the end accompanied by drug dealing and poverty in tandem. The movie opens up with Frank shooting to death a Spanish rival and burning the body. Frank is then seen to be taking over from Bumpy who was a disciplined gangster is running most of Harlem at that point in time and responsible for majority of the drug business. On the other side, one honest policeman called Richie is outstanding in his qualities that he refuses to indulge in the frequent seizure of drugs the fishing it out of the evidence store to sell and consequently controlling the streets. Once Frank takes over the business, he decides to cut out all the middlemen in the drug trade and go by himself to Vietnam and import the 100% pure heroine and sell it at a much cheaper price hence attracting all the customers. With time he moves his entire family to New Jersey and inculcates the brothers into the drug ring. The business grows large, with the street vendors coming from predominantly poor people in the Harlem Ghetto, until Richie gets information about the incoming drug haul from Vietnam aboard the last plane from the returning soldiers. This marks the end of the Frank as he is followed to their drug dens and arrests are made, many dying, Frank was at last brought to justice and for spilling out the names of the corrupt officers involved in the drug trade, he gets a fairer sentence of 15 years instead of 70 years.

This plot helps to explain the progressive development of crime from one person to another and at last to the wider family structure. It indicates how crime surrounds drug dealings with killings taking place every so often and the poor people being the consumers of the drugs and benefiting the few rich drug lords in the region. It also helps to show how the social interaction shapes the behavior of people s seen in the way Frank influenced his brothers and cousins to put aside their career pursuits like baseball and engage in the drugs trade. If the brothers were not brought into New Jersey, then there are chances they could not have engaged in drug related dealings and carried on to pursue their careers.

The plot contains a significant amount of behavior practices that point towards cultural beliefs that are widely held in many societies. The concept of wealth and good life is clearly portrayed as Frank sinks himself in wealth and consequently buys a lot of property and lives in one of the best house in New Jersey, he lives such a comfortable life that even the reluctant youngest brother wants to be like him ad own what he owns. The cultural belief that good life goes hand in hand with prostitution is also well played out here, with the gang leaders owning brothels and drug peddlers being regular attendants of these brothels and strip clubs. There is yet another belief portrayed in the movie which is the cultural belief that money is equal to power. This shows up when Frank feels because he has money, he has the power to shoot anyone who dares play with him, even a small disagreement over debt makes him kill someone.

The movie is set in Harlem in the late 1960s through 1970s when there were a lot of ruthless drug dealings in Harlem and gangs controlled the drug trade. The sociological perspective of the movie is vivid display of the social mess that used to be inflicted upon the society especially caused by drugs as the main source and the challenge of stopping this social vice and the other accompanying consequences. This was a hard thing bearing that is was a socially learnt behavior that the younger generations picked from the interaction they had with the older members and leaders of the powerful gangs.

Sociological manifestation of the movie

The entire movie is inclined towards showing how human beings can be engaged in deep crime life not from natural endowment or choice but through social influences that he lives through and is faced with in their daily lives. Frank was not a drug baron himself until he was brought so close to drug business when he was a driver and later a right hand man of the drug baron himself. This was passed down to the younger brothers and cousins. This is very significant in conveying the social learning theory in application in the human behavior and the shaping of the human behavior in the society and in relation to the daily engagements in the society.

The first parts that the filmmaker emphasizes upon in a bid to highlight the behavior of Frank and the influence of the society around him as well as how he influences the same society back is in the scene where Bumpy is dying, the filmmaker isolates them and leaves just the two of them alone. Frank attempts to call out for someone to call the emergency medical service but Bumpy is quick to turn down the efforts and hands over the business to him and passes on. This marks the turning point in Frank's life since he then has to take charge of the wide business empire which radically makes him adopt the behaviors of Bumpy and trying to be like him in all aspects. Secondly is the inculcation of Frank's brothers into the illicit business, the filmmaker thrusts the innocent folks from elsewhere into a radical drug packaging den full of ruthless gang members and naked women. This again marks the changing point in their lifestyle. The filmmaker does this intentionally to enable him use the contrast to indicate a total change in the physical, social and even spiritual life of the brothers, hence the influence on their lives.

Theoretical perspective

The movie American Gangster has widely opened my eyes to the fact that majority of the social behaviors that are experienced and the crimes that are in the society are actually learnt from the society itself. For instance, an innocent cousin of Frank comes to New Kersey and is thrust into drug dealing and ends up being swallowed so much into the crime life that he ends up shooting dead a woman, just like his uncle did.