Comparing Lester of American Beauty and Ricci of The Bicycle Thief Essa

Comparing Lester of American Beauty and Ricci of The Bicycle Thief In American Beauty Kevin Spacey who plays Lester lives a typical middle class life with his family. His wife is having an affair, his rebellious daughter doesn’t talk to him and his neighbors are psycho. In contrast The Bicycle Thief portrays a tight family. Riccis wife loves him, his behaved son talks to him and his neighbors are helpful when a crises occurs. In both of these films the main characters, Lester and Ricci, go through a responsibility stage. Both must make a life changing experience, either good or bad, that will have an effect on the people around them. Lester decides to make a few changes in his rut of life, changes that are less mid-life and more adolescence like. While he slowly goes through these changes on film one can see that the more responsibility he gives up the more happy he becomes. What he gives up to make him happy, though, only makes his family more hateful towards him. It isn’t that he gave up his responsibilities to improve his relationship with his daughter or improve it with his wife but to be selfish and gratify himself from what he lost when he was young. He does reckless and foolish things in this movie, but he doesn’t deceive himself, he knows he’s running wild--and chooses to. He let these feelings over power him and he almost let this irresponsibility get the best of him when he found himself alone with his daughters best friend. It’s perfectly natural to have feelings like he has toward her but there came a time with him when he saw what he was going to do was not right. So he refrained and actually gained a friend. (After he has been losing people left and right) His ability to refrain from his action... ...l up Ricci throughout his search encounters indifference to humanity and incivility of others. Ricci fights within himself to be the better person but only ends up in internal conflict with himself. He loses his respect for himself and we are astonished by his indecency toward other people of Riccis same impoverished disposition. On the other hand American Beauty dabbles with the question how uncivil and inhuman can someone lower themselves to over a short period of time. But Lester proves us wrong. His obsession with Angela in the end turns into an act of humanism and civility towards someone who is naive. Both of these main characters traits, at some point in everyone’s life, have delivered or even taught a lesson about refraining from some sort of action that could end up in consequences that are defiant against ones own code of conduct or someone else’s.

Outline and assess Functionalist explanations of the role of the education system.

As a theory which places heavy emphasis on the analysis of institutions and their relationship with society, especially with regards to the functions of institutions, Functionalists place a significant amount of focus on the education system. However, this perspective is not always accepted, it’s macro theory approach is often seen as too wide bearing to be applied to the study of the education system as well as critics which dispute the functions of the education system as portrayed by functionalists.Nevertheless, its macro theory approach puts the education system in context and is therefore a theory which is notable when discussing the role of the education system. Firstly, it cannot be ignored that one of the main principles of the theory is that society is based upon consensus, – agreement between norms and values. As an institution of secondary socialisation, Functionalist theorists see the education system as one of the main institutions which help to achieve val ue consensus within society, allowing society to operate in a smooth manner.Durkheim suggested that the education system is an institution which helps to create a â€Å"collective consciousness†, uniting society into one body, with the system creating â€Å"social beings†. As put forward by Durkheim, the education system helps to achieve this through the National Curriculum, brought in by the Education Reform Act 1988, which helps to create shared values amongst all pupils throughout the country.Furthermore, Durkheim suggests that subjects made compulsory through the National Curriculum such as History and Religious studies help to enhance cohesion and social stability, minimising conflict within society through value consensus,- keeping social order. In this sense, Functionalism places significant emphasis upon the education system as an institution which contributes to the wellbeing of society.However, it may be that in reality value consensus does not exit, as today the diversity of society means that there is not agreement about norms and values. Ethnic and cultural diversity may therefore be attributed as factors which mean that the education system is not an institution which unites society, as it may not be able to change the norms and values instilled upon members of society by other forms of socialisation, such as the family or the areas of media young people are exposed to.Although, in defence, it is very much true that educational establishments do aim to create a â€Å"collective consciousness† through individual school ethos’s and uniforms, which are in operation to reduce conflict within society. Critically though, these could be seen as polices which aim to stabilise the school learning environment, as opposed to society.In addition, it is true to say that the inclusion of Citizenship is evidence that the government and educationalists are aiming to use education as an institution which aims to promote social cohesion , and indeed â€Å"social beings†. Perhaps it could also been seen, that in terms of the relationship between education and society, that the education system cannot necessarily make up for the diversity of attitudes within society,- to what degree can the education system compensate for differences in values and shape behaviours and attitudes?

Essay about Effects of Absent Fathers on Adolescents

The role of the father, a male figure in a child’s life is a very crucial role that has been diminishing over the years. An absent father can be defined in two ways; the father is physically not present, or the father is physically present, but emotionally present. To an adolescent, a father is an idolized figure, someone they look up to (Feud, 1921), thus when such a figure is an absent one, it can and will negatively affect a child’s development. Many of the problems we face in society today, such as crime and delinquency, poor academic achievement, divorce, drug use, early pregnancy and sexual activity can be attributed to fathers being absent during adolescent development (Popenoe, 1996; Whitehead, 1993). The percentage of†¦show more content†¦It is during this time a father needs to be present to father, shape and mold his children (Jones, Kramer, Kim A., Teresa L., Armitage, Tracey, Williams, Keith, as cited in Wallerstein, 1980, 1987). On their 10 year follow up, Wallerstein and Kelley found that regardless of the time spent with a father or not, the father continued to be a significant presence psychologically to adolescents, particularly to boys (Jones et al., as cited in Wallerstein, Kelley, 1974). On Kelley and Wallerstein’s 25 year follow up of their now adult participants in their longitudinal study, they have found that the effects of fatherlessness and divorce during their adolescents were long lasting. The participants in the study by Wallerstein et al. (2000) noted that â€Å"The impact of divorce hits them most cruelly as they go in search of love, sexual intimacy, and commitment† (p. 299). These same participants also stated in an interview that they had anxiety issues about relationships and intimacy problems into adulthood (Jones et al., as cited in Wallerstein et al., 2000). Wallerstein et al. (2000) participants of the research also stated that they had resentment towards their parents, parti cularly the fathers who were seen â€Å"selfish and faithless† (p. 300).Show MoreRelatedThe Role Of Parents Absent Homes Are More Frequently Perpetrators Of Crimes1382 Words   |  6 Pagesgrow up without a father may cross people’s mind, not many people tend to think about how not having a father impacts the children as adolescents and even sometimes into adulthood. The disruption of a family structure is known to be one of the main contributing factors in juvenile delinquency. This research paper will show evidence that adolescents in father absent homes are more frequently perpetrators of crimes. The independent variable is adolescents raised in father absent homes and the dependentRead MoreThe Loss Of A Father1345 Words   |  6 PagesResearchers MacCallum and Golombok (2004) argued that results from previous studies focusing on the loss of a father could not be generalized to children who grew up in households without a father from birth. This is where lesbian mothers and single mothers come into their research, because these families did not necessarily have an absentee father due to family disruption or realignment. For example, lesbians have used assisted conception and/or adoption. In earlier times, lesbian mothers weren’tRead MoreInfluence Of A Mother On A Child s Well Being And Development951 Words   |  4 Pagesshown that an engaged and loving father can contribute greatly to a child’s cognitive, social, and psychological develo pment (Bronte-Tinkew, Carrano, Horowitz, Kinukawa, 2008; Duursma, Pan, Raikes, 2008; Pancsofar Vernon-Feagans, 2010; Wilson Prior, 2010). 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In an article written about hard working mothers, all of the mother’s experience feelings of guilt and as if they are not doing enough for their child (KuperbergRead MoreSad and Sadistic803 Words   |  4 PagesThe word â€Å"father† appears commonly on first-grade spelling quizzes due to its simplicity of spelling; however, it holds startlingly many different meanings under its simple spelling. Most young-aged daughters characterize a father as the protector of their family who they can always rely on, a role model whom she gets inspiration from, and a counselor who provides wise guidance for her life. The Bible commands fathers to â€Å"Train up a child in the way he should go† and to â€Å"bring them up in the training