SOC Mindwalk Paper - A PDF

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Sarah Aktepy, Spring Term 2016 (2015-2016 school year), Online Class...

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Sociology 200 May 1, y Three People, All As One: A Reflection on Mindwalk In the movie Mindwalk, three characters have a philosophical conversation throughout the majority of the movie. Sonia Hoffman, Thomas Harriman, and Jack Edwards discuss their views, which each related to a sociological perspective. The three sociological perspectives: functionalist, interactionalist, and conflict, each have different ways of looking at the problems in the world. Sonia’s view is most similar to the functionalist perspective, Jack’s is most like the conflict perspective, and Thomas’ is also most like the functionalist perspective. Sonia Hoffman was a scientist who left the United States and went to France. Her views correlate the most with the functionalist perspective of sociology. The functionalist perspective states that “society is like a living organism, with its various parts working together…for the good of the whole, …society and its parts are structured to provide social order and maintain stability” (Witt 2014:16). During their conversation, Sonia begins to talk about the health care field. She talks about how health could improve if we ate better, but instead of focusing on diet, scientists are focusing on artificial hearts. She states that if we had been fed better instead of chopping down rain forests and producing more red meats, we would have less heart attacks (because red meats cause more heart attacks) and not need to make artificial hearts. Her point is that everything is interconnected, the main point of functionalist perspective. Though Sonia is very in line with the functionalist perspective, she also offers the idea that a tree is a part of a forrest as well as a connection between humans and the atmosphere. However, she also offers the idea that the tree is also separate from the system. This is where her views slightly differs from the functionalist theory. She states that a living organism is “selfmaintaining, self-renewing, and self-transcending” (Liv Ullmann). Though everything is connected, things are also separate and self sustaining. Thomas Harriman is a poet who is in France with his friend Jack. He doesn't speak much, but he does agree with some of what Sonia says. At one point, Jack attributes this to Thomas’ being able to change his point of view whenever he meets someone able to bring up good points. Since he doesn't speak much throughout the movie, it is the most difficult to determine his sociological perspective. However, since he often does agree with Sonia, he has at least some functionalist perspective. At the end of the movie, Thomas says that everything Sonia said (even the parts he didn't understand) were correct. Though he has some functionalist views, he doesn't like being reduced to a system (interconnected) like Sonia pushes throughout the movie. Jack Edwards is a politician who recently lost the presidential race and goes to France with Thomas. His views are most like the conflict theory. The conflict perspective “focuses on power and the allocation of valued resources in society… [and how] social order cannot be fully understood apart from an analysis of how the status quo is established and maintained by those who control key resources” (Witt 2014:17). Being a politician, it isn't surprising that Jack believes that people are shaped by power and focuses on how things are maintained by those in control of resources. Jack argues with Sonia about everything being interconnected. He asks her if she really thinks there is a physical connection between everything. He questions if she is arguing that there is a physical connection between the two of them, the air, the wall, and the bench, to which he then begins to ask her about light, realizing he has been defeated. Though he disagrees with So-

Page 2 nia on everything being connected, he does begin to see things from her point of view, showing his views shifting from a strict conflict perspective. The movie ends with a discussion on what life is. “What is life” is a question that has been asked for millenniums. They also talk about how America is unsustainable and how many teenagers contemplate and attempt suicide. This is a major issue sociologists study because it deals with social behavior and the effects society has on the individual. Though the movie is mainly a philosophical, metaphorical conversation, there are many sociological issues brought up that are of interest to sociologists. In conclusion, Sonia, Jack, and Thomas spend the majority of the movie in a healthy argument about life, reality, perception, interconnectedness, and other philosophical topics. These conversations reveal the sociological perspectives of each of the characters. Jack Edwards, an expresidential hopeful is unsurprisingly very in line with the conflict perspective. Sonia, an exphysicist argues the functionalist perspective and the idea that everything is interconnected. Thomas Harriman, a poet, doesn't speak much throughout the film, but when he does, he seems to agree with Sonia, though he does argue many of her points, suggesting he agrees with the functionalist perspective. All in all, Mindwalk’s characters bring about good conversation on life and issues that are also of interest to sociologists.

Page 3 REFERENCES Witt, Jon. 2014. Soc. New York , NY: McGraw-Hill. Ianmcferran. 2012. “Mindwalk.” YouTube. Retrieved May 2, 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=uec1cx-6a38)....