Film analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Film analysis - Essay Example Analysis A group theory was put forth by Schutz (1958). He looked at three dimensions of groups. The first dimension is the in-out dimension, or inclusion, and this is where the people in the group are either in the group or out of the group. The second dimension is the up-down dimension, or control, and this looks at the members of the group according to how dominant, or submissive, they are to one another. The third dimension is the close-far dimension, or affection, and this how tight the link is between the individual members (Schutz, 1958). This is the basis for examining the film, by examining how the relationships between the members of the group fit the above definitions, and how the relationships were fluid, in that the dynamics constantly changed and the how the group was defined, according to these three dimensions, changed along with it. The first dimension is the in-out dimension, and this states that some people are members of a group, while others are not. In the begin ning, there was not a group, per se, but a bunch of individuals who were thrown together on a Saturday, most against their will. However, that said, there was a bonding between the two popular kids, Andrew and Claire. They were the only two who knew one another, so, if there was the possibility of having a group that consisted of only two members, then Andrew and Claire were part of a group and everybody else was not. The film implied that the two ran in the same circle in school, as, at one point, Andrew asked Claire if she were going to a certain party. So, then, in the beginning, the â€Å"in† kids were Andrew and Claire, and the â€Å"out† kids were everybody else. This gradually changed. The first indication that maybe the kids were becoming a group was when Bender took the screw out of the door that was to remain open, and the principle came in to ask who did it. The entire group stated that they did not know who did it. This was the beginning of the formation of the group, because it was the beginning of group cohesiveness, and the beginning of the â€Å"us versus them† mentality that permeated throughout the film. This was a kind of theme in the film – that the kids, no matter how different they were from one another, still formed a cohesive whole when it came to authority, and would still cover for one another, no matter how they felt about the individual members of the group. The second major time that the kids became a group, in that all were a part of the group, and there was nobody outside the group, was when they went out into the hall to go to Bender’s locker. This was obviously something that could have gotten all of them into trouble, and Andy, at least, was not in a position to serve another Saturday detention, due to the fact that he had a meet on the following Saturday, so, at least for Andy, going out into the hall was a major risk. Presumably the other kids, with the exception of Allison, who wanted to b e there, and Bender, who had a series of other Saturday detentions lined up anyhow, also were taking a huge risk of getting another Saturday detention. Yet the kids all risked this by going out into the hall with Bender, despite the fact that none of them were needed for the task. That they all chose to do this shows that the kids were members of a group, because it shows that they were going to stick together. The going out into th