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Edward Scissorhands And Its Association With Deviance Essay

Edward Scissorhands Scissorhands is a cross-generic, film mixing elements of teen romance, fairy tale and gothic horror into a modern story concerning the need to at look past external appearances. According to Burton (2000), it is a movie made as an opposition to the manner society judges and groups individuals in alignment with preformed ideas concerning normative outlook (p. 87). The film is meant to denote a "freakish" disabled character; in a classic fairy tale design, his external bizarre disability becomes a symbol of internal emotional insufficiency (Church 2006).

The town in 'Edward Scissorhands' is quite colorful and united. Even though this town is united, there is one house that is odd; it is gloomy and creepy and Edward lives there. No one knew of his existence. One day, a certain woman made up her mind to take Edward home and mingle him with the rest of the neighborhood. Edward was kind to all and tried to assist the neighborhood to his level best. Unluckily, one false move from a stranger leads to disaster and rejection form the community (Goolsby 2009).

One student tricked him into assisting him break into someone's home. Unluckily, the police were informed and Edward was left alone since his hands were stuck. Just like any other caring individual, Edward assumed full accountability for the action since he wished to make the loved happy since her boyfriend was involved. Ever since that incidence took place, no one in the neighborhood would associate with Edward. They made up stories...

This pressure of chasing him away could be linked with the labeling theory (Goolsby 2009).
Labeling Theory

Sociologist Howard Becker (1963) offers another means of understanding the social consequences of language: social groups build deviance through breach of policies that generates deviance. The individual that label has been effectively applied is the deviant; deviant behavior is behavior that individuals so label (p. 9) (Kelly, 2011).

Community Labeling Edward Scissorhands

Given that Edward possessed a physical disability and dresses differently, everybody felt threatened by him, however, gave him a chance. After assuming complete accountability for the deviant action, everybody remembered his scaring look rather than the individual he was and labeled him as a criminal. According to me, Edward did not fit into the stereotype of his external looks and did not possess any aim of hurting anybody. Edward possessed a great heart, however, nobody would see beyond his exterior apart from those who truly knew him. The larger the group labeling an individual, the greater the impact it possesses on an individual assimilating with the respective community. Nobody wishes to be linked with the minority when the majority possesses great power over the society (Goolsby, 2009).

Social Control Theory

Essential to Hirschi's (1969, 1977) theory of social control is the…

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Bibliography

Alston, R., Harley, D., & Lenhoff, K. (1995). Hirschi's Social Control Theory: A Sociological Perspective on Drug Abuse Among Persons with Disabilities. Journal of Rehabilitation.

Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders. New York: Free Press.

Burton, T. (2000). Burton on Burton. M. Salisbury (Ed.). London: Faber and Faber.

Church, D. (2006, October). Fantastic Films, Fantastic Bodies: Speculations on the Fantastic and Disability Representation. Retrieved from www.offscreen.com: http://offscreen.com/view/fantastic_films_fantastic_bodies
Cultural Transmission Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.boundless.com: https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/education-13/the-functionalist-perspective-on-education-100/cultural-transmission-562-9625/
Edward Scissorhand. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.markedbyteachers.com: http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/media-studies/edward-scissorhand.html
Goolsby, G. (2009, October 30). Deviance Matters. Retrieved from deviancematters.tumblr.com: http://deviancematters.tumblr.com/post/227974256/community-labeling-scissorhands
Strain Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.boundless.com: https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/deviance-social-control-and-crime-7/the-functionalist-perspective-on-deviance-62/strain-theory-how-social-values-produce-deviance-375-6183/
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