Asha Pulliam

Sociology 1
Spring 2016

Project 1: DVD/ Video Analysis

The video I have chosen to analyze is the ending of the movie musical Hairspray.
It is based in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1960s when segregation was being fought
against. The movie has a variety of battles being fought but we are going to focus on
the racial battle. Throughout the movie the main character is a plus sized caucasian
teenager who gets a spot on a television show where all of the dancers are tall,
caucasian, and slim. After she gets casted on the show, she becomes a hit. The show
she is casted in has one day for the negro cast and plans to cancel it. Tracy and the
cast fight for the show too keep negro day. After protesting, and many other attempts
the show becomes integrated after a young african american won a competition that
requires the winner too dance on the show.
Comte would focus mainly on the social dynamics of the film. He would look at
the video and try to find the reasoning behind the change and how it took place so that
in the future we will have a better chance in understanding how and why the change
has occurred again. If he was still alive today perhaps he would have added a fourth
stage into the laws of three stages that would connect with the video, such as a natural
or humanistic reaction to society.
Marx would view this video from the conflict theory. He would take a look at the
social and economic differences and see that they are fighting to move up socially and

economically.During the movie there is an obvious gap in the social classes between
the main character and the african americans and the caucasians on the show. the
interactions between the two groups were caused because of the african-americans
believing the had rights like any other person and wanted things to change , and while
the other group wanted to stay on top and keep things the way they were.
Durkheim would anaylsis the change that occurred from the functionalist
viewpoint. He would look at the needs of the characters of the films and compare it to
the change that occurred. He would look at the role played by each character of the film
and see how it affected the society in a domino effect kind of way. He would probably
view the main character Tracy, as the beginning of the change in the film because the
changes started to occur after she auditioned for the show. She was an lower class than
the others on the show and the african-americans were not treated equally, so
Durkheim probably viewed that the issues arose for a drive to be in a upper social or
economic class.
The paradigm I have chosen that most represents this video is the Conflict Theory.
Throughout the movie there is a battle for African-Americans to be treated and have the
same opportunities as the caucasians in the movie. They wanted to become equal,
while the caucasian group wanted to keep their power. At the end of the film the main
characters state something that people see aswrong or negative about them and
they state it in a way basically saying that they dont care what anyone thinks. After this,
a young african american girl is crowned a winner of a competition that requires the
winner to dance on the show every week. This make the show now integrated and the
conflict had been resolved, in the films aspect.