David Gale Sociology

Movie Review of the Sociological Concepts of The Life of David Gale

The movie The Life of David Gale is an exhilarating thriller about the life of a philosophy professor, David Gale. David was convicted of rape and murder and is sent to death row, where his execution awaits. Journalist Bitsey Bloom gets an assignment where she must complete three two-hour interviews with the alleged criminal. Bitsey discovers David's preceding life and story throughout the interviews, discovering that he was a DeathWatch activist, a group that is against capital punishment. Constance Harraway was David's best friend and lover. She was murdered and found with evidence that incriminated David as the murderer and rapist. While Bitsey discovers the heartbreaking

On page 494 of Mastering Sociology, deviance is defined as, "the violation of norms (or rules or expectations)" (Henslin, 2014). Although David Gale was framed as the epitome of a deviant person throughout the film, in truth, he was not a deviant individual. First and foremost, society rejected and avoided David when Constance's body was found in his kitchen, murdered and raped. Since he was convicted as a felon of a crime he did not commit, David was forced to tolerate the capital punishment of a criminal. Deviance was a principal concept in this film because David revealed how cruel and brutal individuals in society can be once they have an impression of someone. On the second day Bitsey visited David, he told Bitsey that she must know he was innocent, and her reply was that no, she did not. Although she had her speculations about David's innocence, she set aside her true belief since almost every other person involved with the case wanted David executed. If Bitsey would have confronted and outspoken her initial beliefs about David's innocence, she would have been also treated as a deviant individual by the many who wanted David to suffer. Additionally, one may consider Constance and David to be deviant individuals since they willingly committed suicide. David already had the ascribed status of a deviant person, and Constance was willing to support David through his hardships,

The conflict theory perspective is defined on page 493 of Mastering Sociology as, "a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources" (Henslin, 2014). Stigma, ethnocentrism, and deviance are concepts that support the conflict theory perspective in this film. Since David's stigma led to his downfall, many individuals did not want to be associated with him. For example, when Constance was on the phone with the president of DeathWatch, he stated that he did not want David affiliated with the group because of his bad reputation. Although the president of DeathWatch was an abolitionist against the death penalty, like David, he still wanted to banish David from the group he was passionate about. The concept of ethnocentrism in the film also supports the conflict theory perspective because the debate scene provides evidence that people will never be able to live fully peaceful in a society. There will always be disagreements on laws, rules, and morals, therefore there will always be conflict between diverse parties. Instead of compromising on disagreements, people often attempt to forcefully make the other group with opposing views admit that their perspectives are illogical and irrational. David and Constance undoubtedly wanted to prove why their viewpoint about the death penalty was legitimate to the opposing side,