Avatar: Sociology and Jake
The argument that I will be talking about in my essay is how the themes inclusion, otherness and social solidarity take place in the movie avatar. All these three themes relate in many different ways to Jake and the atmosphere in the movie itself. The three philosophers that will be discussed are Durkheim, Goffman and Mead. The concepts that are used in this essay are to argue the thesis. Front stage and back stage, self, presentation of self, me and I (the diagram), social inclusion, organic solidarity, mechanical solidarity are the concepts that are argued in this essay.
The film avatar is based on a character named Jake who is paralyzed from the waist down, he agrees to be sent on a mission to a whole new different world called Pandora where he is known to get a healthy body. Avatar is a film that after analyzing it can be related to the philosophers and their concepts Mead, Goffman and Durkheim. Durkheim mentions the notion of social inclusion in his work. The concept notion of social inclusion looks at how one lives in a society; this concept relates directly to the character of Jake since he enters a totally different world called Pandora where he feels different from the rest. Jake makes many efforts to get close to the avatars and to feel included; this is where social solidarity also takes place. The transformation that takes place in the film from a human to an avatar can convey to the concepts of Mead and Goffman’s “The self and the presentation of self.” These three sociologists’ theories can also relate to Avatar since Jake also witnesses two different cultures and the dissimilarities and similarities. The main character Jake, also experiences the sense of developing and living in such a community where he gains his sense of self. Through an examination of the movie avatar from a sociological perspective, it is evident that Mead, Durkheim and Goffman’s ideas can relate to the movie avatar through social solidarity, otherness and inclusion.
The film avatar is based on a character named Jake who is paralyzed from the waist down, he agrees to be sent on a mission to a whole new different world called Pandora where he is known to get a healthy body. Avatar is a film that after analyzing it can be related to the philosophers and their concepts Mead, Goffman and Durkheim. Durkheim mentions the notion of social inclusion in his work. The concept notion of social inclusion looks at how one lives in a society; this concept relates directly to the character of Jake since he enters a totally different world called Pandora where he feels different from the rest. Jake makes many efforts to get close to the avatars and to feel included; this is where social solidarity also takes place. The transformation that takes place in the film from a human to an avatar can convey to the concepts of Mead and Goffman’s “The self and the presentation of self.” These three sociologists’ theories can also relate to Avatar since Jake also witnesses two different cultures and the dissimilarities and similarities. The main character Jake, also experiences the sense of developing and living in such a community where he gains his sense of self. Through an examination of the movie avatar from a sociological perspective, it is evident that Mead, Durkheim and Goffman’s ideas can relate to the movie avatar through social solidarity, otherness and inclusion.
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