Essay Sample on The Gods Must Be Crazy Film Review.

The gods must be crazy is a South African comedy film that was produced in 1980. It was written by Jamie Uys and Mont’ e Ramodumo, and narrated by Paddy O’Byrne. It was released by Columbia Pictures, with Jamie Uys being the director. The strings of this film are N! xau, Sandra Prinsloo, Marius Weyers, Nic De Jager, Michael Thys, Louw Verwey, Ken Gampu, and Simon Sabela. This film is the most commercially successful release in the film industry history of South Africa. The film portrays conflict theory. The gods must be crazy, exhibits its social gist by parading conflict as a universal enigma defying society. It shows how culture contains people with diverse social classes. However, it deforms social reality by rendering uneducated and lower social class people to live happily with no conflicts. This film substantially sheds light on social strife as a universal human and social problem, which is strong evidence for sociological theory and research.

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Social Context

The gods must be crazy reflects its social content by showing that conflict is a common problem facing societies and that society contains people with different social classes. Although Xi’s community was living in harmony, the emergence of the bottle led to conflicts among the traditionalists, which led Xi to travel to the edge of the world to throw the bottle back to the gods. On his way, he witnesses more conflicts and, to a certain point, that he was shot and arrested for shooting someone’s goat. Besides, it reflects on social context by showing how different social classes among people is a universal problem in societies. In this case, the film shows how Xi and his San tribe of Ju’/Hoansi bushmen live in the Kalahari Desert, far away from Western civilization. It educates the audience about the traditional social conditions of the bushmen and how they differ with other western civilized people due to different exposure to diverse social backgrounds. On the one hand, Xi’s community is not educated and seems to live a fusty life, although they are contented with it. On the other hand, the westernized people are erudite and have a higher living standard level. Therefore, the film connects to the social context by portraying modernization, traditional culture, and social conflicts.

Distortion of Social Reality

The gods must be crazy movie distorts social reality as it portrays that uneducated and lower social class people live happily and without conflicts. In this film, Xi and his people live poorly, yet they seem to be happy. However, this is different from social reality. In the actual society, poor people live a less happy life compared to rich people. In the real social context, everyone adores a higher living standard. The film also distorts the social reality by portraying that the San tribe of Ju’/Hoansi bushmen lived without conflict before the discovery of the decanter. Typically, this film gives an elucidation that the community was living in harmony and only experienced disputes due to the bottle. This explication distorts social reality because every community or society has social conflicts. Therefore, the elucidation that the traditional historical community lived in happiness without any conflicts distorts social reality.

The Degree at which the Movie Sheds Light on Shared Social and Human Problems.

This movie highly sheds light on social conflict as a universal human and social problem. The gods must be crazy film shows how people within a particular society are faced with a brawl, which is a reciprocated social problem. In this movie, the community of Kalahari Desert lived in harmony and peace, but when the bottle fell from ‘Heaven,’ it brought conflict among them, and the accord dwindled. Also, conflict is seen when Xi shoots a goat for a meal, but its owner retaliates back by shooting him on his leg. He is then arrested. Besides, as a universal social problem, conflict is portrayed when Sam Boga, together with his band, capture Kate and the student she was teaching as human shields. He then marches them deep into Kalahari until they reach the site where Xi, M’pudi, and Steyn are documenting animals. In this situation, another conflict is seen when the three men tranquilize the gorillas with arrows, and Xi crossdresses Kate. Therefore, the theme of conflict is portrayed throughout the film as a common social problem.

The Degree at which the Movie Provides Evidence for Sociological Theory and Research.

The gods must be crazy immensely provides adequate evidence for sociological theory and research. The movie supports the sociological conflict theory by giving relevant scenes of different types of conflicts throughout the film. It considers and clarifies objects of social reality from a sociological perspective by drawing a robust connection between Xi’s traditional community and substantiate sociological knowledge (Koot, 2017). Both the traditionalists and the westernized people have conflicts. It portrays the deprived social life of Xi’s and his people living in the center of Kalahari Desert compared to higher living standards of the other places witnessed by Xi during his journey to return the bottle to the gods. In this case, the film bolsters the inkling of the social reality that society is made of people with different social classes. Therefore, the film highly provides evidence for sociological theory and research by illustrating conflicts and different social class levels as a social reality.

The Degree at which the Movie Connects Biography, Social Structure, and History.

The film tremendously connects the biography, social structure, and history. It shows the historical life of Xi and his community as the biography giving the audiences a picture of the lives forefathers’ commune. In the social structure, the movie clearly shows how the societies have patterned social arrangements in cultures which are determinant of and emergent from the individuals’ actions. On the micro-scale, the film shows how bushmen and civilized people used their historical norms to shape the behavior of each individual within their societies. For example, the Xi’s community mimicked the way their ancestors lived to honor and enable the continuity of the harmony spirit within their community.

Conclusion

‘The gods must be crazy’ film portrayed the gap between the western people and the African traditionalists. This gap is brought because of different backgrounds. Xi and his San tribe of Ju’/Hoansi bushmen get all that they need from their land, which they perceive as their mother. They believe that gods provide for them within their territory. The film highly supports the idea of social reality by showing how the two communities have different living standards. Thus, it a common problem for societies to have people of different social classes. The film also portrays the conflict as a universal problem. In this case, this film showed how the traditionalists and the western people were experiencing conflicts. Therefore, the film substantially sheds light on social strife as a universal human and social problem, which is a shred of robust evidence for sociological theory and research.

Reference

Koot, S. (2017). Old wine in a new bottle: Seeking sustainability among the Earth Keepers.