Analysis of the movie October Sky in terms of socialization - Essay Example

Analysis of the movie "October Sky" in terms of socialization The movie "October Sky" (1999), directed by Joe Jonston, is the screen adaptation of Homer H. Hickam's novel called "Rocket Boys". This is a true story how Homer, a coal miner's son, opposing his father's wish to become rocket scientist.This is a movie about a teenager who observes the Sputnik, launched by the soviet space agency, racing across the sky and decided to indulge his life into rocket science. As Homer is over-showed by his older brother, a local football star, his ambition is curtained by the dust of the coal fields in the mining township of Coalwood where the ultimate destiny of every teenager is to work as a coal miner.

The social structure of this locality deprives any thought process that tries to overcome the social brackets of the coal mines and Homer's father is no different. He is unable to 'think big' in the context of intellectual freedom and the procedure is just the extension of the local neighborhood, or in other words, the coal mines. As we have seen in the novel "Germinal" by Emil Zola, the local characters other than Homer tends to be engrossed by the day to day living and livelihood of the mines and are just unable to think beyond the parameters of their circumstances.

"That is simply what happens to kids in Coalwood, at least those who can't escape by means of a football scholarship. They become coal miners, fighting to make a living, threatening to strike, and choking on coal dust." (Chastain, Norman Transcript) In this scenario, Homer finds himself in a situation where he finds no alternative other than rockets to opt for a better living. He tries to influence other kids to help him build rockets. The two other teens who agreed to help him out in this matter appears to be no as foresighted as Homer and are generally reluctant with a tint of amusement included to it.

But all is not that muted after all. As in our social life, Homer finds a supportive hand in his mother and his school teacher. This is another aspect of the movie that moves us so much and generates a sense of euphoria simply because a lone rider is never a lone rider in the real world and its societies. What ever and where ever and when ever there is a mission on its way it is the society's underlying aspect to oppose it in the initial strata but it never goes unnoticed. And in the process of this contrasting society provides alley in every nooks and corners of the undertaking.

This is society, and every time a movie manages to catch a glimpse of society, and in the process life itself, we stand up our seat to appreciate it. This is because we constantly identify ourselves with the central character of the movie and in a way the anti-establishment notion in all within us embedded in our core consciousness expresses its gratitude. This is the reason Walls wrote in the needcoffee.com "It's good for inspiring, good to make you all misty-eyed and it's commendable for making trigonometry more enticing than football.

" (Widgett, NEEDCOFFEE.COM)Its no a coincidence that this movie is so widely accepted all around the globe nor it is a chance factor that a whole lot of film critics and movie buffs made it the talk of the town because, apart being well made movie, this film "October Sky" inspires the Homer inside us to step out of our individual small townships- be it, real, magic real, physical or meta physical. Reference Chastain, Jim. Norman Transcript, 1999Widgett, Walls. NEEDCOFFEE.COM, 1999