Criminological Perspectives in the Motion Picture "Blow"
Criminological perspectives Individual assignment based on the motion picture “BLOW”, directed by Ted Demme in 2001, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz
Nicolae T. Stanca
I. Criminological perspectives present in the movie
1. Introduction and features The aim of this paper is to try to present and explain the main characteristics of George Jung and also what seemed to have triggered his criminal behavior presented in the movie “Blow” by Ted Demme, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. After watching the movie, most of the viewers are left sympathizing with the main character or the anti-hero as some might call him. I could only see the story of a man who had a rough childhood, a mother who was never happy, who ended betraying him, a father who no matter how much he worked was never able to make his wife truly happy and who couldn‟t give his only child the future that he wanted. So how can we judge a man who has been through so much and tried to achieve his goal, the goal of having money, a family and a good life, a goal that is considered valid and moral by society, but, by trying to achieve his goal, he committed numerous illegal acts. Even if I, or us, feel sympathetic for him we still need to acknowledge that he is a criminal and one with a rich and long criminal background and his illegal actions need to stand trial and serve his punishment. On the other hand I think that George Jung started his criminal career due to the circumstances in his life and all the bad things that happened to him as a child growing up in an unstable environment and I would like to shed some light by using a couple of criminological theories stated by some of the most influential criminologists in history and try and answer a question that many before had asked; what influenced George to evolve from a nice kid growing up in Massachusetts to become one of the biggest cocaine smugglers in the history of the United States of America? Was he born a criminal ? or did he end up
Nicolae T. Stanca
I. Criminological perspectives present in the movie
1. Introduction and features The aim of this paper is to try to present and explain the main characteristics of George Jung and also what seemed to have triggered his criminal behavior presented in the movie “Blow” by Ted Demme, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. After watching the movie, most of the viewers are left sympathizing with the main character or the anti-hero as some might call him. I could only see the story of a man who had a rough childhood, a mother who was never happy, who ended betraying him, a father who no matter how much he worked was never able to make his wife truly happy and who couldn‟t give his only child the future that he wanted. So how can we judge a man who has been through so much and tried to achieve his goal, the goal of having money, a family and a good life, a goal that is considered valid and moral by society, but, by trying to achieve his goal, he committed numerous illegal acts. Even if I, or us, feel sympathetic for him we still need to acknowledge that he is a criminal and one with a rich and long criminal background and his illegal actions need to stand trial and serve his punishment. On the other hand I think that George Jung started his criminal career due to the circumstances in his life and all the bad things that happened to him as a child growing up in an unstable environment and I would like to shed some light by using a couple of criminological theories stated by some of the most influential criminologists in history and try and answer a question that many before had asked; what influenced George to evolve from a nice kid growing up in Massachusetts to become one of the biggest cocaine smugglers in the history of the United States of America? Was he born a criminal ? or did he end up
Bibliography: - General Strain Theory and Delinquency: a Replication and Extension; Raymond Paternoster & Paul Mazerolle (Journal of Research in crime and Delinquency, Vd. 31 No. 3, August 1994 ) Lanier, M.M. & S. Henry, Essential Criminology 3rd edition, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2009 Matsueda, Ross L. 1988. “The Current State of Differential Association Theory.” Crime and Delinquency M. Maguire, R. Morgan & R. Reiner. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford: University Press 2007. P. Beirne & J. Messerschmidt, Criminology, Oxford, Westview Press 2000. http://courses.missouristate.edu/KarlKunkel http://courses.missouristate.edu/KarlKunkel/SOC540/suthrld1.pdf http://www.soc.washington.edu/users/matsueda/DA.pdf http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/sutherland.htm https://www.ncjrs.gov/ - - - - 11 12