Social Construction of Reality in "A Bronx Tale"

In the film "A Bronx Tale," the neighborhood that Collegero, or "C", grew up in was socially contructed based on the environment and the people that occupied it. There were no written rules to help with the construction of the community, but everybody who lived there knew them. In my opinion, one of the people who played a significant role on the rules and expectations of the community was Sonny. Sonny had the master power to help with whatever was needed, or to kill whatever was needed. However, Sonny's power didn't come about out of respect and admiration, but it was the outcome of fear. Under the fear of Sonny, people knew to respect him, and to respect everybody else that Sonny would want you to respect. The community knew that if Sonny asked for something to be done, it had to be done. They knew that they could not deny Sonny of anything that he asked, because there would be a consequence. Also, it was known that the African Americans and the Italians did not get along, and they weren't supposed to interact. I think that this came about because of racism and because of just following what the rest of the people in the community were doing. Nobody thought to step out and befriend people of that race, so when C met Jane, an African American girl, C thought that there was going to me some issues. He thought that both the community and Sonny would judge him and there would be severe consequences for him having interest in an African American. However, Sonny threw a curveball when C told him about Jane, and Sonny told him to go for it. That is another example of how Sonny had power over the community. Basically, whatever Sonny said goes, and if he approved, everything seemed okay. Sonny was the dominant character with forming the construction of the community in the film. Sonny had the power to control the community because everybody feared him. They feared that if they stepped out of line, their lives would be more difficult or would even be put into danger. Sonny had the group and the connections to basically rule, so the took advantage of it. Without a figure like Sonny, I think the rough community would lack protection. Sure there would be police to help, but I believe the neighborhood would be more dangerous. So, overall, the community was formed by Sonny taking charge, and everybody was secretly greatful for having somebody look over them.

Abandon Ship

Last week, we did a boat activity where we had to chose who was to get booted off of the stranded boat. Surprisingly, a lot of the characters I thought were to stay and which characters I thought were to leave, didn't. The character I was playing was Quarter Master MacDonald, and little was known about me. My role sheet said that I served in the navy, and I suffered injuries to both of my hands from an explosion to the point where I couldn't use them. I was married, and I had four children in the U.S. 

When we started, it was surprising to me when the rest of the shipmates chose to kick off characters like the pregnant women and her husband, or the fat self-made millionaire. In my opinion, those two characters were equally important as the man who was going to release important information to the public to help with the world's ecology problem. But, in the rest of the shipmate's eyes, people like the pregnant women and the fat man were not important just because they didn't seem to have any important reasons to stay; they didn't have anything to offer to the world. Maybe the pregnant women was so important to me because not only would she be taking her own life, but also her unborn baby as well. As for the husband, I think that he chose to go too because they are a pair- they are young and in love and one cannot live without the other. As for the self-made millionaire, he chose to leave because he was a little overweight and thought he was taking up too much room. I feel that today we are all so quick to judge people based on their outer appearance rather than people's worth. This man must have been brilliant to become as successful as he had, yet he was thrown off because of his body and not because of his brains. Along with my character, I was thrown off for the same reason. Nobody knew anything about me, making me useless to society. Also, my hands didn't work, so I was useless to the shipmates. 

Tying this activity back to the discussion we recently had about stereotypes, I feel that this process of judgement and dismissal occurs everyday within society. Within the first 7 seconds of meeting somebody, our initial impressions are made. Whether these impressions are that the person is fat, tall, skinny, mean, caring, funny- they aren't based off of any factual information. They are just made because of what we see, or because of what we have heard.  I think that the same thing happened on the boat. We got on the boat, read everybody's description, and then chose who we were going to kick off based on the two or three sentences about them. I think that is why the fat guy was thrown off, and I was thrown off, the person with useless hands, and the elderly people were thrown off-  we all thought that those people weren't anything to society or they weren't as important to save because of their outer appearance. 

I liked this activity because it was based on a true story, and we also got to experience how people act and how people justify their choices. Every person had a reason in their own mind as to why they wanted to throw somebody off. But nobody had a legitimate reason that would truly make it okay to throw that person off the boat in real life. All of the reasons were based off of judgement, and I find it interesting how everything our class has talked about is beginning to tie back together to form a bigger picture, and I'm looking forwards to the next discussion to see how it relates as well.

Freaks and Geeks

The show Freaks and Geeks that we watched was funny, serious, and also opened my eyes. It was interesting to me because at Stevenson, I really don't think groups like that exist. Sure, there are different groups of friends who hang out with each other more than others, but I don't think that those groups are classified as simply the "freaks" and "geeks." The groups of friends at Stevenson are all mixed and have different labels. I think that if they were filming at Stevenson, they would have groups such as: the athletes, kids involved in theater, kids not involved in anything, the staff, and maybe even the freshman would have their own group, because they are always the newbies and everybody is interested in the new "bait." 

I think that in the "Stevenson World," the staff would have power over the students, and the different grade levels would have power over the younger grades. Clearly, the staff would have power over the students because they run the place and expect us to treat them with respect. If we don't though, they have more power out of anybody to punish us or warn us for the future.  Also, I think that each grade has power over the younger grade because we each feel like we have more experience and we are wiser than the younger grade. For some reason, that makes us feel like we are better than somebody younger than us.

I'm not sure if I know what important symbols there are for the Stevenson society, but if I'd have to chose one I would say our mascot, the Patriot. I think that it represents a strong, powerful individual.  By attending Stevenson, each student becomes a Patriot, and therefore must represent who and what we are.

So, hopefully we can watch more episodes of "Freaks and Geeks" that relate to our lives and our class in the future, and I'll be able to blog about those then too!