Anybody\'s son will do. Discussion topic PDF

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Discussion Topic In 1983 Gwynne Dyre made a set of films about war and the military, The second part of this series is titled "Anybody's son will do." In this instalment, he is trying to demonstrate how the military creates soldiers by transforming civilians. Gwynne Dyre is not an anthropologist but he documents aspects of military life that are very interesting to anthropologists. Watch his film here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_G2u1RrLOk. You only need to watch from the beginning to 7:07, then from 16:31 to 20:43, and finally 47:37 to the end (warning: this last bit of the film has graphic depictions of battle). You are welcome to watch the rest but it is not necessary for this assignment and it contains disturbing language and imagery. Question: After you have watched these three clips, how would an anthropologist describe what is going on in relation to what you have learned about rites of passage? Also ask a question in your answer for your fellow group members to think about. “The rites of passage” is a formula consisting of three rites: separation, liminality and incorporation. This formula describes the process that an individual goes through to become part of an organization. Specifically, this week's readings and clips explain the rites of passage to joining a military organization: how civilians are transformed into soldiers through an incredibly hard and aggressive process. Firstly, the purpose of the separation process is to prepare the people to meet their new status. It signifies the detachment of the people from an earlier point in the social structure. Then, individuals will go through the process of liminality, as the clips shows, is the hardest process of the three, it is the training a civilian is given to become a soldier. It is about changing people, introducing them into the new regimental military environment. One of the most significant things when starting this process is the isolation of individuals, away from their previous environments. They also shave their hair, take away their personal belongings and give them a uniform. During this process, they exert a lot of physical and psychological pressure on individuals, this makes individuals feel weak, many suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, etc. At the end of this process, everyone feels part of a group or “comunitas” (as the reading calls it), thus forgetting their early point in the social structure. Finally the Incorporation process is in which the individuals returns to society with a new status and a new role, being a soldier. It is celebrated with a great ceremony in which the family and friends of the new soldiers go. My question is: do you think that the liminality process must be so aggressive to achieve its goal or could the same goal be reached without so much aggressiveness?...