American Gangster: Symbolic Interaction Theory

Symbolic Interaction theory refers to the ongoing language or gestures that can affect a conversation. Within this conversation it has a symbolic meaning which affects how one reacts to the conversation within a family. Sign Language is a very popular form of the symbolic interaction theory, because when using sign language you are demonstrating different gestures to communicate with another person. Symbolic Interactions theory was a very popular theory seen throughout the movie, as far as the many interactions that are involved in a drug trade and between Lucas and his family. In one of the scenes in “American Gangster” Frank and his cousin get into it at a party because his cousin starts acting up in front of everyone. Frank gets angry and punches him in the face and then slams his head in the piano. This is a part of the symbolic interaction theory because Frank’s cousin basically turns on him because of his addiction to crack and Frank was fed up with it a forced to take some action and in that he beats him up.
Frank uses his fist to get a point across which is a form of a gesture to provoke the conversation.
In end gets his point across not only to his cousin but everyone else around him that he was not playing around and business means business. In another scene in the movie Frank’s mother was beginning to get upset at the fact that she did not know what was going on with her son. Her and Frank had a brief conversation about how his brother’s looked up to him and followed his footsteps. She became upset because she did not want to lose her sons and did not know what they were doing to get the money they were getting. Frank was on his way to go shoot a cop and his mother knew about it so she slapped him. This then affected how Frank was thinking because he knew his mother did not want to lose him and he lied in her
face.
This relates to symbolic interaction theory because of the mother’s anger towards her son she slapped him which then affected the way he was thinking about the situation he was going to get into. He had to think about his brothers and how they looked up to him and not only that but his family because he will also lose them too. His mother used a gesture of anger to help Frank realize what he was going to get his self into which changed his whole perspective on things. Another scene that represents the symbolic theory in “American Gangster” is the fight in the car between Frank and his brother. The argument symbolizes the stress put on frank and his brothers as a whole involving the drug game. Once again Frank’s brother looks up to him and when something is wrong it puts everyone in a bad mood. This is a part of the symbolic theory because the whole argument symbolizes how close they are as brothers and how when one is mad the other is mad. It also symbolizes how when something goes wrong with in a family it affects everyone. The symbolic theory is seen a lot throughout this movie since Frank goes through a lot of people and interacts with many but most of all within his family.