The Mission

            INTRODUCTION The movie analyzed in this paper is The Mission. This movie contains several sociological aspects and concepts. The concepts most easily identified are the ones that will be discussed in the following pages of this paper. Those concepts are Social Inequality, Deviance, and Subcultures. Social inequality is the social differences that exist whenever one group of people has different access to the rewards a society offers. Deviance is a variation from a set of norms or shared social expectations. Finally subcultures are groups of persons who share in the main culture of a society but also have their own distinctive values, norms, and life styles. These three concepts are clearly recognizable and are the concepts most prevalent in storyline of the movie. MOVIE DESCRIPTION The Mission starts out in a very interesting and unique way. The movie starts out with the priest who is to decide the fate of the Missions in the movie. He is writing a letter to the King to explain his decision for no longer protecting the Missions. As he writes this letter he goes back through all the things that he witnessed during the trial over the Missions. From the beginning if you listen to his words it is clear that he made a decision contrary to his personal belief but according to the influences of his society. Also in the beginning of the movie the first action seen is the Guiane Indians tying a Jesuit priest to a cross and sending him down an enormous waterfall. These two opening scenes set the stage for the rest of the movie. Soon after the discovery of the dead priest Father Gabriel climbs the waterfall to make another attempt to bring the word of God to the Guiane Indians. He is successful in reaching out to the Indians through music and is accepted by them. It is at this point when Roderigo is introduced as a main character. He is a mercenary who works for a Spanish plantation owner. He captures the Indians and sells them as slaves.