Ashley Coty

Professor Mozzini
SOC 001
10 July 2016
DVD/VIDEO ANALYSIS PROJECT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=632CHpeHYZE
The video linked above is a life insurance commercial which revolves around a man who
does many goodhearted deeds without the intention of gaining anything but his own happiness.
He will be named Man for the purpose of this project. Throughout the story, he is shown
watering a plant, feeding a homeless dog, donating money to a beggar woman and her daughter
on the street, helping a lady move her food cart, and bringing fruits to an elderly woman next
door to him and more. Though he expects nothing in return, later on we find that the beggars
daughter, who he had constantly been giving money to, had finally been able to go to school. He
gets to feel the happiness and love by making his own impact on those around him.
Auguste Comte was an important sociologist who strove to understand the principles that
hold society together and keep it in order, as well as the factors that cause change and that shape
the nature and direction of the change. With this vision, he would see this video and analyze the
effect that the main man in the video actually had in his community, that he caused a change for
people. A young girl was able to go to school, because the man gave her money for the
opportunity to do so. Education is very important for success. The man fed a dog, who could
otherwise have grown hungry and weak, and possibly could have died. He helps a woman move
her cart; an act that would be incredibly difficult for her to do and would likely cause her to get

hurt or sick in the long term. The list goes on about what the Man has changed for his
community, and Comte would have analyzed this impact he had on society.
Karl Marx was a sociologist best known for his studies of the social conflict theorya
theory emphasizing on the unequal allocation of power and resources in society at a macro level.
Marx would interpret the video most differently than I would, in focusing on the conflict that he
sees between the classes shown in the video. He would immediately notice the social inequality,
and question the mans position. He seems to have quit enough resources; enough so that he
could afford to give money and time but still be able to feed himself and others. Though there is
a period in the video where the Man seems to be running short on money, he gives some to the
poor family on the street anyway. Marx would remark on this inequality. The man does seem to
be trying to close the gap between them though, by trying to help the girl go to school to get an
education and end that cycle of poverty. If there wasnt such a huge issue with inequality,
however, the girl would have been able to get an education without having to beg for it, as the
education there seems to be a system that works only for certain social classes. Lower classes
apparently are not able to afford it and therefore stay in poverty.
Durkheim, on the other hand, laid emphasis on macro level social order rather than social
inequality like Marx. He was a devout functionalist who believed that the more specialized
individuals became in their work, the greater risk they had of anomie. He was greatly influenced
by Comte. With all of this considered, Durkheims analysis of this video would focus on the
larger picture, the functions of this society and its effect on individuals. One important point in
Durkheims view was that people served many different functions in society and their ability to
do their function depended heavily on the capacity of others to carry out their own functions and
so on. According to this, Durkheim would analyze the social facts of this situation: it seems that

some people look down on helping the poor. It is also apparent in the video that functions of
individuals do rely heavily on the functions of others, just like a body system relying on its
organs to function properly. Going back to the poor woman and her daughter; most people would
likely ignore them or even scoff at them because of the social facts of their culture. In Thai
culture it is easy for people to look down on those who are worse off than they are. This type of
thinking would likely ensure that the poor family would never be able to send the daughter to
receive education, and therefore it would hardly be possible to raise their social status. However,
because this particular man seems to personally hold different morals, values, rituals, etc., he
deviates and is able to help the poor womans daughter carry out her own function by functioning
in a way (not ignoring the beggars) that would allow her to do so.
It seems here that the prominent paradigm, not mentioned above, is symbolic
interactionism. The Man has several, one-on-one interactions throughout his daily life. We even
see in the video that there is barely any vocalization going on, just actions and gestures which
still make a world of a difference for those he interacts with. Although some people dont agree
with his selfless actions (i.e. the shop owner), there is still that hope that he could be setting an
example or standard for his society in the way that people should act with one another.