Importance of Education in the City of God - Essay Example

? of God The film, of God is a 2002 Brazilian crime drama directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Katia Lund. The film is a depiction of the development of an organized crime in the superb of Citade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro. The story is set between late 1960s and early 1980s. The film captures the reality of the world of crime and drugs. In this essay, the film will be analyzed in terms of the importance of education, the lack of social and economic mobility, and urban crime and youth gang. Importance of education The youth gang involvement in urban crime is as a result of lack of education and lack of social and economic mobility. The Brazilians who engage in crime in the film are undoubtedly uneducated. Like other street occupants in the world cities, these youths in the city of God are held in low esteem. Their occupation is crime, begging and barrow-pushing among others (Bromley, 1982). The elite class refers to these people as ‘parasitic occupants’ with disguised unemployment (Bromley, 1982). These descriptions of the street occupants in most cities and especially the young youths are true, but they do not address the causes of these behavioral patterns in the city. In The City of God, the youth gang that develops engages in drug and crime acts. Most of these acts thrive because of poor planning of the government resources. Unequal distribution of resources, therefore, becomes a major cause of youth indulgence in crime (Bromley, 1982). This is because with unequal distribution of resources denies the poor basics such as education and hence lack of employment in the formal sector. Without education, youths spend most of their energetic years struggling for a daily bread and for them to survive, they engage in drug dealings and organized gang crime. For example, in the film, the viewers meet the impoverished thieves known as the ‘Tender trio’ consisted of Clipper, Goose and Shaggy. This gang group is involved in a line of robberies in the town. It is unbelievable to see how this group colludes with the society members to unleash crime in the city. For example, whenever they rob, they split their lot with citizens who in turn offer them protection. The way the young teenagers idolize the trio and cooperate with them shows the deep effect of organized crime in the society. For example, younger boys led by Li’l Dice collide with them to rob occupants of a certain motel. In what can be seen as initiating Li’l into the crime gang, they leave him outside with a gun where he shoots motel inhabitants. At the scene, two members of the trio are killed. Lack of social and economic mobility Socio-economic mobility is the movement of people from one social class to another or one economic level to another. As discussed earlier, there is a strong correlation between education and one’s economic mobility. In The City of God, the young people are unable to secure jobs that would allow them to enhance their economic status (Bromley, 1982). The fact that the young people who form crime gangs in the movie are not employed is an indication that they are not educated. Their involvement in crime while young is a depiction of a sector of urban youths who are idling and surviving in hardships instead of being in school. This means even their parents are not well off or they are not there to support them. Therefore, lack of adequate planning by the government in educating its youths leads to them being denied the most effective and equal process that would enable them to improve their economic mobility. The results of such negligence are blatantly displayed in the movie as thriving of crime and drug business where youths are eliminating each other as a way of surviving. This is a long term effect in the society. Economic mobility starts with ones parents’ inability to take their children to school. Therefore, family background plays a great role in perpetual poverty in urban towns, and this exposes more youths to criminal acts and drug engagements. The evils born of lack of economic mobility give birth to unhealthy competition among the affected group (Massey & Denton, 1993). For example, when Rocket joins a group of young hippies, he likes one girl but he could not access her because some other criminal kids prevent him thus slowing down his social mobility. This may lead to another form of competition where the youths may start killing one another competing for a girl. This is because the boys can kill to keep their lives going. For instance, Li’l and Benny have established a drug empire by killing all their competitors in the business. They have only left Carrot whose manager is forced to work for them. This merciless engagement in crime and drug business is the result of long term mismanagement of resources and the consequences spill over to the rest of the community threatening the security of the whole society in the long run. Urban crime and youth gang Urban crime and youth gangs are the theme of this film. There are various crime gangs in the film and the viewer is surprise at the speed of their formation, their development or their instant end either through police killing them or being eliminated by other competing gangs. Poverty and lack of proper planning by the government is the root cause of these crime and youth gang in urban areas (Massey & Denton, 1993). As a result, they hit back to the society by engaging in crimes that threaten the security of the society. The reality of the youth gang thriving is laid by the movie when the viewer realizes that police are the main collaborator in crime and drug business. In the movie, for example, we are treated into a pessimistic ending when Rocket is in a dilemma either to expose the corrupt police involvement in crime or secure an internship by publishing Li’l Ze’s dead body. He never chose to expose corruption; he chose to play his cards in a way that would enable him secure an internship. The film ends as a gang called ‘Runts’ plans to kill in order to monopolize the drug market in the entire city. In conclusion, this movie is a lesson to the world and a critical examination of the reality of the society. Lack of education, unemployment and economic mobility are the causes of urban crime and youth gangs. More thrilling is the fact that the society members and the police are the close associates of criminal gangs who engage in city robbery and drug trafficking. The movie ends in a pessimistic way where no solution is found for the criminal gangs and drug traffickers. In fact, more expansion is predicted and the viewer is left to ponder the next fate of the society. References Bromley, R. (1982). “Working in the Streets: Survival Strategy, Necessity or Unavoidable Evil?” (pp.160-181). In A. Gilbert, J. and Ramirez, R. (eds.). Urbanization in Contemporary Latin America. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Massey, D. & Denton, N. (1993). “Ghettos and Barrios” (pp. 154-175). In Jargowski's (1996) Poverty and Place. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Read More