Video/DVD Analysis

Michelle Aguirre 1

Gridiron Gang
Gridiron Gang is a film about a counselor at a juvenile detention
facility who decides to turn young inmates in his charge into a football team
to give them a sense of self-respect and social responsibility, but he faces
opposition from high school coaches who do not want their players facing
criminals on the field. This film shows how easily young adults are easily
influenced by society as well as to how inmates become unsocial and need
to learn how to re-socialize.
Emile Durkheims way of interpreting this film would be that society is
a system of interrelated parts where no part can function without the other.
In the case of this the young inmates were not able to function without the
teams football coach. The coach would provide them with trainings that
would help them become stronger not only physically but mentally and
emotionally as well. The coach would also go out of his way to try and talk
to high school coaches and try to get them to play against his team and
find equipment for his team as well. In order for the coach to do all of this
the team had to work out their differences amongst each other and work
together to make the team stronger. If the team didnt work out their
problems they would of lost more games, wouldnt of got equipment nor the
chance to play with other high school teams.
Karl Marxs way of interpreting this film would be that there were
more African American inmates in the football team than whites. Also that
the few white teammates thought they were better than the African

Video/DVD Analysis

Michelle Aguirre 2

American teammates. Another point that would of stood out to Marx would
be that many of the Africa American teammates where all imprisoned due
to some kind of gang violence in their neighborhood. Marx would point out
that the neighborhoods and the people you surround yourself with makes a
difference on society and how you socialize with others. The individuals who
lived in poorer neighborhoods were more likely to join gangs or sell drugs
and were more easily influenced to make bad choices. For a few lack of
money caused problems within their families, which led some to commit
crimes.
Throughout the film the paradigm was symbolic interactionism
because people develop and rely upon social interaction. The film reflected
how the individuals interacted in their neighborhoods before they were
imprisoned and how their socialization changed once imprisoned. The film
also shows how the individuals had a degradation ceremony where they lost
their freedom, rights and personal belongings. Towards the end the film
shows how the inmates had to learn to re-socialize once released or taken
out of prison for the football games.