Sociological Concepts In The Film 'Booksmart'

The 2019 film, Booksmart, is about two high-school girls named Molly and Amy. Molly and Amy have spent the entirety of their high school careers with their head in the books to ensure they are well-prepared for their futures. While they are first happy with their choices, encounters with their peers make them realize how uneventful their high school careers have been. From this realization, Amy and Molly devise a plan to attend a party on their last night of being high schoolers. Throughout the night, the two girls face many challenges or setbacks, however, through these challenges, the girls are still determined to have the most action-packed night of their lives while remaining best friends. Throughout the film, many sociological concepts present themselves. The sociological concepts that are most distinguishable in the film are socialization, group dynamics, and gender. A key sociological concept that is present throughout Booksmart is socialization. Socialization pertains to the idea of “learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, and norms of our social group, by which we become functioning members of society” (Ferris & Stein 96). Throughout Booksmart, the concept of socialization is presented as agents of socialization. Agents of

For instance, Molly and Amy realized they spent most of their high school education focused on academics after conversing with their peers. (Booksmart 12:22-15:00). Related to peer socialization, it is stated that peers have a more “immediate effect on one another” (Ferris & Stein 108). This “immediate effect” of peer influence pushes Molly and Amy to attend a party on their last night of being high schoolers (Booksmart 15:59 -18:35). This allows one to determine that peer socialization has a drastic effect on individuals, specifically school-aged children. Besides peer socialization, school socialization is reoccurring in