SYP3000 A12

Save as a document and upload to Canvas by the deadline here

This assignment should take you 5-6 hours to complete

Always read through the entire assignment before you start at least once

Last chance to think about your dream Lolita syndrome research essay that you don’t have to write

01. .025 points, At least 25 words > Tell me how you would revise the research essay you proposed here on the A11 Q08 discussion board by incorporating something someone responded to your post or by just reading through the discussion board more generally. If you wouldn’t change a thing explain and defend why. You don’t have to do a rewrite like you on that discussion post for A09 Part 1. You just have to think and write about what you would change or not change

Review how sociologists and Hollywood invented the juvenile delinquent

The Jackroller (1932)

In the early 1930s, there were a group of scholars at the University of Chicago, mostly philosophers and historians, who wanted to develop an academic discipline that would assess society empirically. They were and are to this day called sociologists. (And that is what I am and why this course you are taking exists). Anyways, at one point, these scholars hired a working police psychologist named Clifford Shaw (1895-1957) to research what they saw as a brand new social phenomenon happening in the United States, (particularly in urban centers, like the city of Chicago), which they called “juvenile delinquency.” Juvenile delinquency, also known as “juvenile offending,” is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. This study was called The Jackroller (1930). I assigned excerpts from this book on the previous assignment but posted them below for your quick reference so you can easily answer the questions that follow.

• Excerpt from The Jackroller (1930)
  • Make sure you read the introduction by Howard Becker
• Summary of The Jackroller (1930)
  • Be sure to watch the 12-minute embedded video, It’s useful

02. .025 points, At least 10 words > What did Clifford Shaw use as actual, tangible evidence from “real life” for his 1930 study The Jackroller? In order to get credit for your answer you must reference at least one of the sources posted above and be sure to explain and defend your response.

Practically the musical version of The Jackroller (1930)

03. .025 points, At least 25 words > In large part because of The Jackroller (1930), juvenile delinquency would come to be defined in sociology and criminology as a human who was male, white, and the child of first-generation immigrants from Poland, Italy, Greece or Ireland living in a major urban center.  This is very much the way a fictional gang called the Jets was defined in the 1961 musical West Side Story. Listen to one of the songs the Jets sing below and just list off all the structural institutions the Jets see as being connected to the police. A structural institution is a way people organize themselves formally into a society. It’s another word for “organization” or “bureaucracy.” Never heard of West Side Story (1961)? Don’t worry. Just pay attention to the lyrics. It’s pretty good sociology, which is what the producers of this musical actually intended way back in the early 1950s, about 20 years after The Jackroller (1930) was published.

The lyrics for the video below are here

04. .025 points, A list of 5 things, Note the point value and word count change > In West Side Story (1961), first introduced in Q03, the Jets are in conflict with another gang called the Sharks. Listen to the Sharks’ big song and dance number below and just list five things that are different about the Sharks from the Jets. You can list anything. The way they look. What they sing. How they identify themselves. What they love. What they hate. Important note: The Sharks are a gang of guys who have just migrated to Manhattan from Puerto RicoLinks to an external site.. Migrated, not immigrated, because Puerto Rico was then and is now a part of the United States. Originally, the Jets were supposed to be a gang of Catholic boys from the east side of Manhattan, rather than the west, and the Sharks, a gang of Jewish guys, newly arrived in America. But Leonard Bernstein, the guy who composed the music for West Side Story (1962) was really into Latin jazz. Oh, one more thing. Most of the performers in the 1961 version of West Side Story (1962) were not Puerto Rican or Latinx. The guy playing Bernardo is Greek American. He actually should have been cast as a Jet, see Q03.

The lyrics for the video below are here

05. .025 points, At least 25 words > Shaw, assigned above Q02, didn’t really mention the possibility of non-male juvenile delinquents, but West Side Story (1961) did. All you have to do is rewatch the songs from West Side Story assigned for Q03 and Q04 and tell me how each song is “gendered.” Not sure what “gendered” mean? We discussed “gender” in-depth on A05, but not the term “gendered.” Here’s a definition: Reflecting the experience, prejudices, or orientations of one sex more than the other gendered language. Also, reflecting or involving gender differences or stereotypical gender roles. Be sure to explain and defend your response.

06. .025 points, At least 25 words > Read this source to learn about the character Anybodys in West Side Story (1961), (click hereLinks to an external site. for an image or rewatch the song assigned for Q03 to spot him), and the social identity he was meant to embody and then answer the following question: Are you surprised by the inclusion of a transgender character in West Side Story (1961), a mid-20th-century example of American musical theatre? Be sure to explain and defend your response. A couple of things to consider. American musical theatre during this era was supposed to be fun and entertaining, not necessarily about “social problems” or forms of “social deviance,” like West Side Story was. Also, until the early 1960s, juvenile delinquency was thought to be something that mostly happened to immigrant or migrant boys or first-generation American boys who were assumed to be cisgender and heterosexual, i.e., like Stanley in Shaw’s The Jackroller (1930), assigned above. We took at the stories of some transgender humans on A05, “So we know what Mikael’s mom does But what does Lisa think?”

07. .025 points, At least 25 words > Do you think Talcott Parsons would consider the character of Anybodys, see Q06 above, to be a human experiencing “gender convergence?” I first introduced Parsons’ idea on this on A11, see Q15.

Rebels without a cause

As, hopefully, you picked up from the Breines reading mentioned in Q05 and first assigned on A11, by the 1950s new concerns started to arise that juvenile delinquency was not just something that happened in the city and that juvenile delinquents were not only the children of immigrants or migrants or immigrants themselves. Juvenile delinquency was spreading to the suburbs and to middle-class youth not marked by any ethnicity or race. Watch the trailer for the big Hollywood movie on the subject Rebel Without A Cause (1955), assigned on A11Links to an external site., which came out a few years before the movie version of West Side Story (1961), our theatrical example of urban, ethnic juvenile delinquents. I included the trailer to West Side Story here too, so you can see how juvenile delinquency affected the suburbs were seen as something different than the juvenile delinquency which more “naturally” existed in the city, and then move on to the rest of the questions of this assignment.

08. .025 points, At least 75 words, Note the word count change > I assigned you to watch Rebel Without A Cause (1955) closely and in its entirety on A11Links to an external site.. Now, re-envision this film where Jim and Plato are the sexual/romantic pairing and Judy plays the “Plato” character. Would the story still work? Make sure your answer shows that you

• Know each of the characters and their relationship to one another
• Express the entire plot of this film referring to at least 3 specific scenes
• And explain and defend your response

And just as a little last-minute gossip. Check out the screen test James Dean (Jim), Sal Mineo (Plato), and Natalie Wood (Judy) made for Rebel Without a Cause (1955) together. In real life James was bisexual, leaning towards identifying as gay; Sal was a gay man, out to his friends and very openly into James Dean at the time; and Natalie had crushes on both and loved them both very deeply … as friends.

09. .025 points, At least 25 words > I assigned you to watch Rebel Without A Cause (1955) closely and in its entirety on A11. Make the argument that Judy’s character develops in a similar way to Lolita’s character in the 1962 version of Lolita, first assigned here. I.e., How does Judy go from being the object of Jim’s desire to a “mother figure” to Plato? Be sure to explain and defend your response.

10. .025 points, At least 10 words, Note the word count change > According to Wini Breines in this review article, (first assigned on A11Links to an external site.), what “modern social problems” were sociologists researching and writing about in the mid-20th century? Need a definition for “modern social problem?” Things (or stuff) that people in power thought were going wrong in the 20th century. I.e., Starting on A11Links to an external site., we looked at the “modern social problem” of juvenile delinquency as it was defined by Clifford Shaw and Rebel Without a Cause (1955).

11. .025 points, At least 25 words, Note the word count change > Which study discussed in this review article by Wini Breines, (first assigned on A11) offers the best insight into the 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause, (also first assigned on A11Links to an external site.). In order to get credit for your answer you must reference something specific about Rebel Without A Cause (1955), i.e., a scene, a character, a piece of dialogue), and be sure to explain and defend your response.

For your good mental health

How expert ideas became spread among the masses

12. .025 points, At least 10 words, Note the word count change > According to Wini Breines in this review article, (first assigned on A11), why were sociologists considered “experts” on the topic of “modern social problems?” In order to get credit for your answer you must reference the review article specifically and be sure to explain and defend your response.

The questions that follow are all about the topic of “socialization.” In sociology, (which is the social science we have been focusing on and using to organize our analysis and discussion since A11), socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained. In the field of sociobiology and psychology, (which I first introduced way back on A01), socialization is defined as the social experiences humans learn in their culture to survive. In this definition, socialization essentially represents the whole process of learning throughout the life course and is a central influence on the behavior, beliefs, and actions of adults as well as children. In both sociology and psychology, socialization may lead to desirable outcomes, sometimes labeled morals – as regards the society where it occurs. Individual views are influenced by society’s consensus and usually tend toward what that society finds acceptable or “normal.” Socialization provides only a partial explanation for human beliefs and behaviors, maintaining that agents are not blank slates predetermined by their environment; scientific research provides evidence that people are shaped by both social influences and genes. One last little point: Genetic studies have also shown that a person’s environment interacts with their genotype to influence behavioral outcomes. We considered the topic of genetics in the first five assignments. You can find quick links back to these assignments here.

13. .025 points, At least 10 words > According to sources posted directly below, who were the experts brought in to help better socialize American public school students in the mid-20th century? In order to get credit for your answer you must define the term expert as Breines does here; reference at least one of the sources posted directly below; and explain and defend your response. Don’t make this question harder than it is 😉

• Read Ken Smith on mental hygiene (or classroom) films
• Read Jessamyn Neuhaus on mental hygiene films

14. .025 points, At least 25 words, Note the word count change > Use the mental hygiene films posted directly below to make some generalizations about where these films considered the ideal American to live and who they considered them to be. (By doing this you will be outlining the narrative conventions of these films, i.e., the setting, the characters, the point of view, the tone, and the symbols). Make sure you reference all three of the films posted below and make your answer detailed enough. It should be at least 25 words in length.

Film 1 – “A Day In The Life”

Film 2 – “Home Life”

Film 3 – “A Date With Your Family” (1950)

Some super creepy outtakes from “Make A Date With Your Family” above

15. .025 points, At least 10 words, Note the word count change > Watch the three mental hygiene films below. Who are the medical authorities in these films and why, according to these films, should we trust them? In order to get credit for your answer you must reference at least one of these three films specifically and explain and defend your response.

Film 4 – “Live and Learn” (1951)

Film 5 – “As Boys Grow” (1951)

“As Boys Grow,” Part 1

“As Boys Grow,” Part 2

Film 6 – “Molly Grows Up” (1951)

16. .025 points, At least 10 words > Watch the two mental hygiene films posted directly below. Is there a difference between the kind of “dangerous stranger” boys should be on the lookout for as opposed to what girls should be on the lookout for?  In order to get credit for your answer you must reference both of these films specifically and explain and defend your response.

Film 7 – “Boys Beware” (1961)

Film 8 – “Girls Beware” (1961)

17. .025 points, At least 25 words, Note the word count change >  So far on this assignment, there have been 8 mental hygiene films for you to watch and analyze. What do you think it would be like to be a little kid or young person, watching these films in a formal classroom setting, in an American public school, and you

• Didn’t live in a suburban setting?
• Or have an intact nuclear family
• Or weren’t a White kid?
• Or spoke English as your first language
• Or weren’t a middle-income kid
• Or even a lower middle income

What if your

• Family practiced some form of organized religion? Any religion?

Or you were

• Poor?
• Hungry?
• Unbathed?
• Transgender?
• Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or pansexual?

What would it feel like to watch those films? To be possibly tested on their content? In formulating your answer be sure to reference at least one of the films assigned so far.

• Q14, Film 1 – A Day In The Life 1950)
• Q14, Film 2 – Home Life (1950)
• Q14, Film 3 – A Date With Your Family (1950)
• Q15, Film 4 – Live and Learn (1951)
• Q15, Film 5 – As Boys Grow (1951)
• Q15, Film 6 – Molly Grows Up (1951)
• Q16, Film 7 – Boys Beware (1961)
• Q16, Film 8 – Girls Beware (1961)

18. .025 points, At least 25 words, Note the word count change > Re-watch the two mental hygiene films posted below, (they were first assigned for Q16, scroll up), describe three sociological details of the White, male predator, (regardless of whether he goes after boys or girls), and decide whether or not Humbert Humbert from Lolita (1962), (first assigned here, with this specific topic discussed here) shared these characteristics. In order to get credit for your answer, you must reference both of the mental hygiene films posted below, as well as Lolita (1962) and be sure to explain and defend your response.

19. .025 points, At least 25 words > Write a quick 25-word movie pitch for a mental hygiene film based on what happened to Sylvie in the novel To All My Fans With Love From Sylvie  (1982) by Ellen Conford, first assigned here and archived here.  I will be looking here to see that you know what a mental hygiene film is, (explained in the sources assigned for Q13 on this assignment, scroll up); what their narrative conventions are, (see Q14 on this assignment); and, also, the content of the novel To All My Fans With Love From Sylvie (1982). Below are some definitions to help you with this question.

• A movie pitch is a concise verbal (and sometimes visual) presentation of an idea for a film generally made by a screenwriter or film director to a film producer or studio executive in the hope of attracting development finance to pay for the writing of a screenplay.
• A narrative convention is a technique that is commonly used in a specific kind of story. It is a familiar way of getting information across to the reader quickly. “Narrative” means “story.” And “conventions” (in this usage) means “the way things are usually done.” So in your answer, you want to show that you know the ways mental hygiene films were typically made and produced, i.e., what their intentions were, the kinds of settings they typically had, the kinds of characters, and plot lines. Again, scroll up to Q05 on this assignment

Taking another look at juvenile delinquency

20. .025 points, At least 10 words, Note the word count change > Based on what you know about the history and use of mental hygiene in American public schools, (readings assigned with Q13, directly above), do you think it is a coincidence that the film What About Juvenile Delinquency (1955) was shown in classrooms the exact same year Rebel Without A Cause (1955) came out in movie theaters? Explain and defend your response. You took a very close look at Rebel Without a Cause on A11.

21. .025 points, At least 10 words for each point, Note the point value change > Make a quick list of the similarities between the mental hygiene film What About Juvenile Delinquency? (1955), assigned for Q20, directly above, and Rebel Without a Cause (1955), first assigned here, along the following points.

• a. The settings of these films
• b. How the police are depicted
• c. The lead juvenile delinquent, named Jim
• d. The personality and demeanor of Jim’s dad
• e. The plot
• f. The gang
• g. The lesson of the film

22. .025 points, At least 10 words, Note the word count change > Use the mental hygiene film below to explain the behavior of Jim that landed him in the police station. In order to get credit for your answer you must specifically reference the opening police station scene of Rebel Without A Cause, first assigned on A11, and show that you know why Jim got hauled in by the police, as well as at least one of the two mental hygiene film posted directly below.

23. .025 points, At least 10 words > Use the mental hygiene film below to explain the behavior of Judy that landed her in the police station. In order to get credit for your answer you must specifically reference the opening police station scene of Rebel Without A Cause, first assigned on A11, and show that you know why Jim got hauled in by the police, as well as at least one of the two mental hygiene film posted directly below.

For your quick reference, some of the scenes relevant to this question from “Rebel Without A Cause” (1955)

24. .025 points, At least 10 words > Use the mental hygiene film below to explain the behavior of Plato that landed him in the police station. In order to get credit for your answer you must specifically reference the opening police station scene of Rebel Without A Cause, first assigned on A11, and show that you know why Jim got hauled in by the police, as well as at least one of the two mental hygiene film posted directly below.

25. .025 points, A list of five scene descriptions, Each should be at least 25 words, Note the word count change > Quickly review and describe the following scenes from Rebel Without a Cause (1955), first assigned on A11. In order to get credit for your descriptions you must summarize what Jim and Judy talked about it. You will need at least one of these little descriptions to answer Q26 posted directly below.

• a. The time Jim and Judy talk in the morning after seeing each other in the police station
  • The “Who lives,” “Life can be beautiful” scene/conversation
• b. At the time Jim pulls Judy away from the cliff Buzz just drove off of
• c. The time Jim says goodnight to Judy and gives returns her pocket mirror to her
  • Take note of how he holds her headscarf! as they say goodnight
• d. The time Jim asks Judy to go off to the abandoned mansion Plato told him about
• e. The first time Jim and Judy kiss
  • Not the greatest movie kiss of all time, but it’s all we have 🙁

26. .025 points, At least 25 words, Note the word count change > Use the mental hygiene film below to explain why Jim and Judy’s courtship would be considered inappropriate by some parents, teachers, and police officers in mid-twentieth century America. In order to get credit for your answer you must specifically reference one of the scenes from Rebel Without A Cause you listed for Q25, as well as the mental hygiene films posted directly below. And, as always, be sure to explain and defend your response.

The American public school system

27. .05 points, At least 25 words, Note the point value and word count change > Watch the documentary film High School (1968) hereLinks to an external site. and then explain how it could be used to help better understand the mental hygiene films used in American public high schools from 1940-1980, featured throughout this assignment. In order to get credit for your answer you must specifically reference both High School (1968), as well as the Ken Smith article I assigned for Q13 on this assignment. I reposted it for you directly below. There is also a little article posted on High School (1968). 

• Craig Keller on Frederick Wiseman’s High School (1968)Links to an external site.
• Ken Smith on mental hygiene (or classroom) films