The Outsiders
The name of the movie I have chosen is The Outsiders. The reason why I chose this movie is because it was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was in middle school. I remember in middle school that I was in a reading and writing class where the teacher provided students several books to read together as a class and The Outsiders was one of the novels. I always had an issue with reading since I was kid even today in college because I have a reading comprehension disability where I have a hard time remembering what I read as well as having trouble pronouncing words. This was such an awesome book and for the first time I was able to understand the whole story. The whole class actually enjoyed reading this book. Whenever the class finishes
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reading a book, we would watch the movie of the actual novel. Watching the movie helps students like me who have a learning disability because it deliver a visual image so I can fully understand the story better. The whole class agreed that The Outsiders was the best movie to watch as a class. Both the book and the movie have left the class a powerful message to remember especially at a young age. In my paper, three major issues will be discussed: Stereotype, Collectivism, and Masculinity.
The major characters in this movie are Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade.
Ponyboy Curtis is the youngest character at age fourteen and is also the narrator of the movie. Ponyboy lives with his two brothers, Darry and Sodapop Curtis, after losing both his parents in a terrible car accident. Johnny Cade is a vulnerable sixteen year old that comes from an abusive home. Johnny is always with the Greasers because they are the only reliable family he has. Also one of the main characters is Dallas Winston. Dallas is known as “Dally” and is the most dangerous member in Greasers. Not only does he take pride in criminal records, he also feels very protective of Johnny Cade. The background of the movie talks about a big group of teenagers within the ages from fourteen to seventeen who form a gang together so they can hang out all the time. These teens have a tight friendship and would do any activities as a group. There have been no conflicts or fights during their friendship whatsoever. What the group of young teens do not realize is there is another gang roaming around town filled with teens who are eighteen and older. When the two groups meet for the first time, problems have been occurring left and right. They immediately start to not get along with each other. The older group of teens starts to brag to the group of younger teens about the stuff they have such as cars and girlfriends. The older groups of older teens believe they are a threat to the group of young …show more content…
teenagers. Ever since this incident occurred, the two gangs have officially become rivals with each another. The next day, the groups of young teens start to become more aware of what is going on. They are playing the role of family by looking out for each other incase they encounter trouble again with the older group of teens. The Outsiders targeted audience under the category of middle school students and adults. According to the Rotten Tomatoes website (rottentomatoes.com), the Tomatometer critic score received sixty-five percent and the audience score displayed that eighty two percent liked the movie. According to the Internet Movie Database website (imbd.com), the movie ratings received seven out of ten.
The plot of The Outsiders takes place in 1965 at Tulsa, Oklahoma where the Greasers, a gang filled with low-income working class teens, are dealing with a rivalry gang called the Socs (Social), a group filled with wealthy kids from the other side of town.
One night, Dally, Ponyboy and Johnny all decided go watch a movie at a local drive-in and ended up meeting two of the Socs member’s cheerleaders named Cherry and Marcia. Cherry is well known because of the color of her hair. Cherry was uncomfortable with the way Dally was treating her. As Dally leaves the scenario, Ponyboy starts to have a conversation with Cherry. Marcia did not really speak at all because she is usually the quiet type. Later on the conversation, Cherry tells Ponyboy that she could fall in love with Dally some day. As the four characters leave the drive-in theater, two Soc members for talking to their girlfriends confronted Ponyboy and Johnny. Both Cherry and Marcia went home with the Socs so there would not be a huge fight occurring. However, later that same night, Greaser members, Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, get involved in a brawl at a local park with five Soc members. The five Soc members grabbed Ponyboy and tried to drown him in a fountain. As Ponyboy is trying to keep himself from drowning, Johnny kills one of the Soc members by pulling a switchblade out of his pocket and stabbing one of the Soc members. In result to this incident, the rest of the Soc members’ runaway in fear and
Johnny manages to save Ponyboy’s life. After the brawl, the boys now realize that they have to force themselves to go into hiding. The boys have decided to go to Dallas’s house so they can not only stay safe, but also explain what happened during the brawl at the park. After hearing the boys tell their story, Dallas provides them fifty dollars for food and a loaded gun incase they get into some serious trouble with the Socs again. Dallas advises the boys to leave town and hide in an abandoned church further away from Tulsa. As the boys arrive to the church, Ponyboy decides to bleach his hair with peroxide incase anybody spots him. He even reads a quote from a poem written by Robert Frost called, Gone With The Wind, which says “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” A few days later, Dallas arrives to the abandoned church to see how they are doing. Dallas tells Johnny and Ponyboy that he talked to the police and said they are looking for them somewhere in Texas and Cherry offered to support them in court. One day, the three Greasers have decided to go food shopping again, and then return to find the church on fire with children trapped inside. The Greasers have rescued all the children inside the burning church and turned into heroes. In result, Dallas and Ponyboy were able to heal up quick, but as for Johnny, he ended up with severe burns and a broken back. Although the Greasers were praised for their heroism, Johnny is still charged with manslaughter due to killing one of the Soc members earlier. The Socs are seeking for revenge on the Greasers since one of their members was murdered. At one point, all members from the Greasers except Johnny got together and managed to meet up with all the Soc members and started a massive gang brawl against all the members of the Socs. The Greasers ended up winning the fight. Dallas drives Ponyboy to the hospital after the brawl to visit Johnny. Sadly, Johnny dies after he tells Ponyboy to “stay gold,” referring to the Frost poem. In reacting to Johnny’s death, Dallas wanders around the hospital and pretends to shoot a doctor with an unloaded gun. He then robs a grocery store with the same gun, but gets shot and wounded by the owner as he flees away from the store. The police at a park finally surrounded Dallas and shoot him down after refusing to drop his unloaded gun. Ponyboy was allowed to live back with his brothers, Darry and Sodapop after being cleared of wrong doing in one of the Soc member’s death. He also finds Johnny’s letter in Frost’s poem saying that saving the children was worth sacrificing his own life. It movie ends when Ponyboy writes a school report about his experience. After watching the Outsiders, I have brought up three intercultural concepts. The first concept I have selected is stereotype. According to the class textbook, the definition of a stereotype is the “appeal to the audience’s positive and negative emotions,” (Samovar 33). In The Ousiders, one of the Soc members tell Ponyboy that Greasers are white trash with long greasy due to their poor life style. On the other hand, Ponyboy replies back to the Soc member by saying that Socs are white trash with mustangs and matches due to their wealthy lifestyle. Both gangs are judging each other due to their economic of being poor or rich. In a journal article that talks about steretypes, it has stated an example that says that people are “more likely of themselves as members of a particular national cultural group culture when participating in mixed-culture rather than same-culture groups,” (Leonardi 479). In The second concept I have chosen is collectivism. In the textbook, the definition of collectivism is to “where group interests take precedence over those of the individual,” (Samovar Chapter 6 page Page 23). In the movie, Ponyboy and Johnny worked together as a team to defend themselves from getting murdered by the Socs In a journal article that talks about collectivism, it states, “the key features of friendship formation and maintenance is self-disclosure,” (Chen 78). In that case, Johnny ends up saving Ponyboy’s life from drowning would have drowned to his death if it weren’t for his friend Johnny chasing the Socs off with his switchblade. The last concept I have indicated is masculinity. The textbook states that the definition of masculinity is “the extent to which the dominant values in a society are male oriented,” (Samovar Chapter 6 page 28). In a journal article that talks about masculinity, it describes the term with “characteristics as emotional toughness and exercising power over women,” (Scharrer 89). Dallas does show power over women in one of the scenes by touching Cherry and buying her soda and popcorn at a drive in theater. Dallas also demonstrates Masculinity by telling Ponyboy and Johnny where to go to avoid trouble again. These are signs specifying Dallas playing the role of being the leader of the Greasers in the movie.
References
Chen, Y.-W., & Nakazawa, M. (2009). Influences of culture on self-disclosure as relationally situated in intercultural and interracial friendships from a social penetration perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 38(2), 77-98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17475750903395408
Leonardi, P. M., & Rodriguez-Lluesma, C. (2013). Occupational stereotypes, perceived status differences, and intercultural communication in global organizations. Communication Monographs, 80(4), 478-502. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2013.828155
Scharrer, E. (2012). More than “just the facts”?: Portrayals of masculinity in police and detective programs over time. Howard Journal of Communications, 23(1), 88-109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2012.641882
The Outsiders. (n.d.). In imbd.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086066/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Outsiders. (n.d.). In rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outsiders/
reading a book, we would watch the movie of the actual novel. Watching the movie helps students like me who have a learning disability because it deliver a visual image so I can fully understand the story better. The whole class agreed that The Outsiders was the best movie to watch as a class. Both the book and the movie have left the class a powerful message to remember especially at a young age. In my paper, three major issues will be discussed: Stereotype, Collectivism, and Masculinity.
The major characters in this movie are Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade.
Ponyboy Curtis is the youngest character at age fourteen and is also the narrator of the movie. Ponyboy lives with his two brothers, Darry and Sodapop Curtis, after losing both his parents in a terrible car accident. Johnny Cade is a vulnerable sixteen year old that comes from an abusive home. Johnny is always with the Greasers because they are the only reliable family he has. Also one of the main characters is Dallas Winston. Dallas is known as “Dally” and is the most dangerous member in Greasers. Not only does he take pride in criminal records, he also feels very protective of Johnny Cade. The background of the movie talks about a big group of teenagers within the ages from fourteen to seventeen who form a gang together so they can hang out all the time. These teens have a tight friendship and would do any activities as a group. There have been no conflicts or fights during their friendship whatsoever. What the group of young teens do not realize is there is another gang roaming around town filled with teens who are eighteen and older. When the two groups meet for the first time, problems have been occurring left and right. They immediately start to not get along with each other. The older group of teens starts to brag to the group of younger teens about the stuff they have such as cars and girlfriends. The older groups of older teens believe they are a threat to the group of young …show more content…
teenagers. Ever since this incident occurred, the two gangs have officially become rivals with each another. The next day, the groups of young teens start to become more aware of what is going on. They are playing the role of family by looking out for each other incase they encounter trouble again with the older group of teens. The Outsiders targeted audience under the category of middle school students and adults. According to the Rotten Tomatoes website (rottentomatoes.com), the Tomatometer critic score received sixty-five percent and the audience score displayed that eighty two percent liked the movie. According to the Internet Movie Database website (imbd.com), the movie ratings received seven out of ten.
The plot of The Outsiders takes place in 1965 at Tulsa, Oklahoma where the Greasers, a gang filled with low-income working class teens, are dealing with a rivalry gang called the Socs (Social), a group filled with wealthy kids from the other side of town.
One night, Dally, Ponyboy and Johnny all decided go watch a movie at a local drive-in and ended up meeting two of the Socs member’s cheerleaders named Cherry and Marcia. Cherry is well known because of the color of her hair. Cherry was uncomfortable with the way Dally was treating her. As Dally leaves the scenario, Ponyboy starts to have a conversation with Cherry. Marcia did not really speak at all because she is usually the quiet type. Later on the conversation, Cherry tells Ponyboy that she could fall in love with Dally some day. As the four characters leave the drive-in theater, two Soc members for talking to their girlfriends confronted Ponyboy and Johnny. Both Cherry and Marcia went home with the Socs so there would not be a huge fight occurring. However, later that same night, Greaser members, Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, get involved in a brawl at a local park with five Soc members. The five Soc members grabbed Ponyboy and tried to drown him in a fountain. As Ponyboy is trying to keep himself from drowning, Johnny kills one of the Soc members by pulling a switchblade out of his pocket and stabbing one of the Soc members. In result to this incident, the rest of the Soc members’ runaway in fear and
Johnny manages to save Ponyboy’s life. After the brawl, the boys now realize that they have to force themselves to go into hiding. The boys have decided to go to Dallas’s house so they can not only stay safe, but also explain what happened during the brawl at the park. After hearing the boys tell their story, Dallas provides them fifty dollars for food and a loaded gun incase they get into some serious trouble with the Socs again. Dallas advises the boys to leave town and hide in an abandoned church further away from Tulsa. As the boys arrive to the church, Ponyboy decides to bleach his hair with peroxide incase anybody spots him. He even reads a quote from a poem written by Robert Frost called, Gone With The Wind, which says “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” A few days later, Dallas arrives to the abandoned church to see how they are doing. Dallas tells Johnny and Ponyboy that he talked to the police and said they are looking for them somewhere in Texas and Cherry offered to support them in court. One day, the three Greasers have decided to go food shopping again, and then return to find the church on fire with children trapped inside. The Greasers have rescued all the children inside the burning church and turned into heroes. In result, Dallas and Ponyboy were able to heal up quick, but as for Johnny, he ended up with severe burns and a broken back. Although the Greasers were praised for their heroism, Johnny is still charged with manslaughter due to killing one of the Soc members earlier. The Socs are seeking for revenge on the Greasers since one of their members was murdered. At one point, all members from the Greasers except Johnny got together and managed to meet up with all the Soc members and started a massive gang brawl against all the members of the Socs. The Greasers ended up winning the fight. Dallas drives Ponyboy to the hospital after the brawl to visit Johnny. Sadly, Johnny dies after he tells Ponyboy to “stay gold,” referring to the Frost poem. In reacting to Johnny’s death, Dallas wanders around the hospital and pretends to shoot a doctor with an unloaded gun. He then robs a grocery store with the same gun, but gets shot and wounded by the owner as he flees away from the store. The police at a park finally surrounded Dallas and shoot him down after refusing to drop his unloaded gun. Ponyboy was allowed to live back with his brothers, Darry and Sodapop after being cleared of wrong doing in one of the Soc member’s death. He also finds Johnny’s letter in Frost’s poem saying that saving the children was worth sacrificing his own life. It movie ends when Ponyboy writes a school report about his experience. After watching the Outsiders, I have brought up three intercultural concepts. The first concept I have selected is stereotype. According to the class textbook, the definition of a stereotype is the “appeal to the audience’s positive and negative emotions,” (Samovar 33). In The Ousiders, one of the Soc members tell Ponyboy that Greasers are white trash with long greasy due to their poor life style. On the other hand, Ponyboy replies back to the Soc member by saying that Socs are white trash with mustangs and matches due to their wealthy lifestyle. Both gangs are judging each other due to their economic of being poor or rich. In a journal article that talks about steretypes, it has stated an example that says that people are “more likely of themselves as members of a particular national cultural group culture when participating in mixed-culture rather than same-culture groups,” (Leonardi 479). In The second concept I have chosen is collectivism. In the textbook, the definition of collectivism is to “where group interests take precedence over those of the individual,” (Samovar Chapter 6 page Page 23). In the movie, Ponyboy and Johnny worked together as a team to defend themselves from getting murdered by the Socs In a journal article that talks about collectivism, it states, “the key features of friendship formation and maintenance is self-disclosure,” (Chen 78). In that case, Johnny ends up saving Ponyboy’s life from drowning would have drowned to his death if it weren’t for his friend Johnny chasing the Socs off with his switchblade. The last concept I have indicated is masculinity. The textbook states that the definition of masculinity is “the extent to which the dominant values in a society are male oriented,” (Samovar Chapter 6 page 28). In a journal article that talks about masculinity, it describes the term with “characteristics as emotional toughness and exercising power over women,” (Scharrer 89). Dallas does show power over women in one of the scenes by touching Cherry and buying her soda and popcorn at a drive in theater. Dallas also demonstrates Masculinity by telling Ponyboy and Johnny where to go to avoid trouble again. These are signs specifying Dallas playing the role of being the leader of the Greasers in the movie.
References
Chen, Y.-W., & Nakazawa, M. (2009). Influences of culture on self-disclosure as relationally situated in intercultural and interracial friendships from a social penetration perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 38(2), 77-98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17475750903395408
Leonardi, P. M., & Rodriguez-Lluesma, C. (2013). Occupational stereotypes, perceived status differences, and intercultural communication in global organizations. Communication Monographs, 80(4), 478-502. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2013.828155
Scharrer, E. (2012). More than “just the facts”?: Portrayals of masculinity in police and detective programs over time. Howard Journal of Communications, 23(1), 88-109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2012.641882
The Outsiders. (n.d.). In imbd.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086066/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Outsiders. (n.d.). In rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outsiders/