The Invisible People And The Fierce People

The Invisible People John Boorman’s film The Emerald forest contrasts two traditional societies, the Invisible People and the Fierce People, with Modern Western Society. I will compare and contrast the culture of the Invisible people with that of the contemporary American society.
The authority structure of the Invisible People is very different from the authority structure of the American society. In the American society, people must abide by a set of rules and laws and if one does not respect those laws they will face consequences. On the contrary the Invisible People live in a society where they are not told what to do, they do not have laws that they have to follow, as implied by the chief’s statement “If I told a man to do what he does not want to, I would no longer be chief”. According to the influential sociologist and philosopher Max Weber, the American society has a legal-rational authority, which means the authority is constructed in clearly defined laws. A modern society like America relies on this type of authority because it represents order. In contrast, Max Weber would say the Invisible People have a traditional authority, which means the ability, and right to

The western society is technologically advanced, so much so that we use it constantly. Unfortunately the use of many of those technologies has negative affects on the environment. In the movie the Invisible People refer to the westerners as the termite people because like termites, they are destroying the trees. They are taking down all the trees in the forest to build a dam in the Amazon basin, which has the potential benefit of water supply, electricity generation, flood control, and recreation. Deforestation not only impacts the environment negatively but also the Invisible People and their home in the forest, soon they may not have a home. They refer to where the Termite people are taking down the trees as “the edge of the