A Film of Mallrats Film - Movie Review Example

?Insert Insert of supervisor Insert of Insert assignment is due The movie the gods must be crazy is a successful screenplay that clearly depicts and reveals Social and culture. Dissimilarity between two different cultures is evidenced throughout the film. This paper explains how this dissimilarity comes to light how they develop the movie’s storyline. One of the socio-legal theories that can be used to explain this is Max Weber (Deflem, 2007) legal rational form that tries to explain the domination and inequality in society. Weber depicts that dominance and inequality in society are caused by norms, culture and laws in societies that are theoretical and are not practicable in the real sense. These legal rations by Max Weber formed a precedent for developments in the society. These notions have developed forms of socialism, capitalism and other forms of social rule. The movie starts with a pilot flying over the Kalahari Desert and throws an empty coke bottle through the cork pit’s window. Consequently it is picked up by a bushman (the main actor) who brings it to the people of his village, assuming that it was a gift from the gods. In the beginning it seemed as an immense advantage for the village, but as time goes by trouble arises. The villagers’ had no knowledge as to where the ‘gift’ from the gods really came from. As a result the bushman decides to return the coke bottle back to its origin-the gods. In the meantime the viewers get to see the start of an awkward romance between a school teacher and a scientist who get mixed up with terrorists operating in parallel story lines. The film shows the dissimilarity between the modern society and culture of the Bushmen in the course of the interactions between members of each of the various cultures. The cultural dissimilarities are evident in the characters' values actions and differing world outlook. The movie clearly depicts the dissimilarity between human cultures, plus the ethnocentrism that is experienced in the two cultures. The Bushmen culture is one of contentment and plainness. Bushmen’s pace of life and culture is unhurried and relaxed. Initially their culture had no class, they did not punish their children yet they had well behaved children. Additionally they placed their foremost value on their relationship with god and family. They appeared to have respect for forms of life that included the living and non living. It is observed while hunting they shot an animal with a traditionally tranquilized dart and waited for the animal to go to sleep. Before taking the animal’s they would apologize to the animal and would consequently explain their reason for doing so. This action was imperative as it showed that they hunted only out of requirement and never for competition. Even though they lived in circumstances that we think of as unpleasantness they seemed to be enthusiastic and completely satisfied with their lives. The Bushmen culture could serve as an outstanding evidence for those backers of Marxist Conflict Theory. The largely prominent aspect of the culture of the Bushmen was the lack of disagreement among its people. They seemed to have no idea of personal or private property and shared their food amongst themselves. This situation changed upon the breakthrough of the “gift from the gods" (empty coke bottle). They found a diversity of uses for this ‘gift’ that ranged from toy music-maker and tool. Consequently it also became the Bushmen's first limited resource and impelled the members to start fighting with each other for its use and ownership. The condition was so bad that the Bushmen viewed the bottle as the worst thing that the gods sent to them and decided to get rid of it. They saw the white persons and supposed that they were gods and as a result it was because of these "gods" deeds as well as the chaos that resulted from their "gift" that the movie acquired its name "The Gods Must Be Crazy." The Modern society is dissimilar from the peaceful Bushmen’s world. It is a society that moves at a fast pace that is full of highways, traffic jams and crowds moving to the workplace. Everything in modern society means something. The whole day is both muddled and highly structured. A day in modern society does not rotate around associations with family and god as compared to the culture of the Bushmen; alternatively it seems to rotate around the cult of the almighty dollar and work. The differences in the tastes and perceptions of the two cultures are astonishing. There are quite a few pointed contrasts that come are revealed throughout the thoughts and deeds of the characters in the movie. First and foremost is the culture's criterion of beauty. In the movie the school teacher Kate Thompson, is in view of western society, a beautiful woman. In description she was thin, blonde haired and with a beautiful face. Upon meeting the bushman; she was not observed as beautiful in his view but rather, the ugliest creature the Bushman had laid his eyes upon. The second difference is the occurrence of fear. The characters in the film from modern society were accustomed to fear strangers and anticipate for the worst from them; however this was not true of the Bushmen. They were not afraid of anything, leave alone a gun. In the film the bushman viewed the gun as a “funny stick” .In contrast the white man was scared of the gun as the modern society has accustomed him to fear guns and their disparaging power. Additionally there was an instance where a wild animal is approached; Mr. Stein jumps (the guide) on the teacher (Kate Thompson) in an effort to warn her. Automatically Kate’s reaction is to presume the worst: she fears that Mr .Stein was attempting to rape her. The Bushman does not confirm this fear when meeting strangers. Clash of the two cultures happen when, the Bushman is arrested for taking a life of a goat. Interestingly the modern society views this as breaking of the law but according to him he was simply hunting for his food just as he did routinely. Emphasized the cultural diversity of modern industrial society is emphasized thus there would be a slow development to marginal areas as experienced by the Bushmen (Sellin 1938).Upon entering the courtroom he smiled at the others and was puzzled when they did not smile back. The decision could not even be translated into the bushman’s language since he had no word for "guilty." The Bushman did a lot of things that seem strange to people of the modern society that include talking to a baboon. In the film when the baboon took the coke bottle from him; he calmly explained to the baboon that he may not want to keep the bottle as it had brought huge distress to his own village. The bushman did not talk to the baboon as an animal, but somewhat as an equal creature. Consequently, he jeopardized his own neck to assist a white man break away from a hungry lion that was chasing him; while the response of the people of the modern society was to save them first. The most astonishing dissimilarity between the two cultures is the value that they had on monetary system (money). This was observed at the end of the film where the Bushman was given money but he declined. He went on and told them that the money they were offering to him had no significant value. Even after the white man persisted in giving him the money the Bushman threw it away. Money, which was highly valued by the modern society, was absolutely insignificant in the view of the Bushmen. In conclusion the film was victorious in achieving its proposed idea. The idea was to illustrate that people socialized into dissimilar cultures, come to view the world from very dissimilar sets of views. Individual cultures, over and above individual people are dissimilar. It does not necessarily mean that there would be a great deal in learning and understanding from each other as various individuals arise from different cultures. Individuals need to embrace our dissimilarity and see the major strength that arises with multiplicity. Work Cited M ,Deflem, Sociological Theories of Law pp. 1410–1413 in Encyclopedia of Law and Society. California: American and Global Perspectives press. 2007 http://www.angelfire.com/or3/tss4/socmovies.html Accessed 19 June 2012 http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/culflic.html Culture Conflict Theory by Robert Keel Accessed 19 June 2012 http://www.webnb.btinternet.co.uk/newpage25.htm Accessed 19 June 2012 http://www.contactmusic.com/movie-review/thegodsmustbecrazy Accessed 19 June 2012 http://www.rbsp.info/rbs/RbS/JOB/gods2.html The Gods Must Be Crazy ,Philosophy of Technology  by Dr. Michele Svatos  http://www.listal.com/viewentry/189752 Accessed 19 June 2012 http://www.citehr.com/21366-god-must-crazy.html Accessed 19 June 2012 Sellin , Thorsten, Culture and Conflict in Crime (New York: Social Science Research Council, 1938. www.movieguide.org/reviews/movie/the-gods-must-be-crazy-ii.html Accessed 19 June 2012 Read More