Sociology is a subject few people understand, but encounter in everyday activities such as reading a book or watching a film. There are many aspects dealing with sociology in films today. Varsity Blues is a film released by Paramount Pictures in 1999, written by W. Peter Iliff, and directed by Brian Robbins. This movie deals with a number of sociological concepts. Laws, sub culture, folkways, authoritarian leaders, and social differentiation are five concepts that are the most predominant in the film.
This film is a very good representation of how life is like for high school football players. Being a past football player myself, this movie causes flashbacks to my old days on the football field. Most of the people of West Canaan, Texas, (the setting of the film) are infatuated with their high school football team. Everybody in the town idolizes the coach, Bud Kilmer, and his success in two state championships and 22 district championships. The main character, Jonathan Moxon, is the team's second-string quarterback behind the best player in the state, Lance Harbor. There is even a billboard in the Harbor's front yard with a picture of the All State quarterback. Mox, as the team calls him, soon faces his best opportunity when the star quarterback is injured and Johnny is called on to lead the team to its 23rd district title. .
"In America we have laws-laws against killing, laws against stealing. It's just accepted that as a member of American society, you will live by these laws. In West Canaan, Texas there is another society that has its own laws. Football is a way of life . As a boy growing up in West Canaan, Texas, you never question the sanctity of football," explains Jonathan Moxon or "Mox" in the introduction of the film. Already you can see that the first three concepts: laws, sub culture, and folkways are important sociological concepts of the movie.
Indeed as Mox says, in America we do have laws.
