an analysis of the movie “Blood Diamond” from a socio-psychological perspective

an analysis of the movie “Blood Diamond” from a socio-psychological perspective Abstract This is the analysis of the social issues, social concepts and psychological background of the movie Blood Diamond from a socio-psychological perspective. In this analysis, I would like to take an effort to analyze major social issues such as cultural issues, ethnicity problems, occupational problems and social and psychological concepts as self, self-awareness, social cognition, self fulfilling prophecy, attitude and attitude change that are talked in the movie and underlining psychological procedure for those issues and concepts comparing with the theories, perspectives and teachings thought in social psychology. In the same way, I would like to analyze any scene of the movie that I may think important. Though the movie “Blood Diamond” talks mainly about political background, my main attention is directed towards the social issues and concepts in the movie and how social psychology sees these issues and concepts. Introduction Sociology and psychology are two special disciplines that talk about human being. Sociology is a perspective that is one way of thinking or one way of looking at and investigating the universe (Charon, 2004). Mainly it focuses on the human being as a member of the society and psychology is interested about the mental processes and behavior of human beings and animals (Schultz & Schultz, 2004). Though these two are different disciplines, there is a great relationship between these two disciplines. Therefore, sometimes the teachings of these two disciplines have a close relationship and because of this combination it helps to understand some social and psychological issues of humans very well. The movie “Blood Diamond” talks about some major social issues prevalent in African countries and those social issues have a close relationship with the mental processes of human beings. So, to analyze this movie from a socio-psychological perspective is very important. The Plot of the Movie “Blood Diamond’’ in Short:- The main theme of the movie is talking about illegal diamond trade in Africa and a sorrowful story is connected to it. As the title Blood Diamond of the movie suggests, the diamonds which are mined in African war zones and illegally transmitted to diamond companies are called blood diamonds. The story runs as follows. A fisherman named Solomon Mende Vandy, at Shenge, Sierra Leone in Africa is captured by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and put him to work as a miner in the diamond fields under the control of Captain Poison. Solomon’s son Dia is also captured by RUF and ultimately Dia becomes a member of RUF. One day, Solomon finds an enormous pink diamond while working. He buries it in a nearby riverbank, unobserved by the guards. Though, the RUF leader discovers the truth, before he can act on it, the Sierra Leonean Army attacks the mine field and Vandy, the captain Poison and most of Poison's fighters are captured and imprisoned in Freetown. At the same time, Danny Archer; a white Rhodesian gunrunner is also arrested because of attempting to smuggle diamonds into Liberia from Africa. While being held in the same Freetown prison as Solomon Vandy, Archer gets to know about the pink diamond. However, Archer with the intention of getting that diamond manages to release Solomon and offers to help him to find his lost family; especially Dia, if he agrees to lead him to the diamond. Solomon agrees and in Guinea, American journalist and humanitarian Maddy Bowen, helps Archer and Vandy to find Dia and as a gratitude, Archer provides proof to Maddy to certify the illegal diamond occupation of Van de Kaap and his Tiara Diamond Company. Archer and Vandy eventually found Dia and pink diamond with a great difficulty fighting with RUF and Army of Colonel Coetzee. However, Archer got shot and he with Solomon and his son Dia flee to mountain where his friend waits for them with a plane. However, Archer becomes weak because of the wound and he asks Solomon and his son to flee with the diamond and give information to sell it and he also asks Mandy to help Solomon talking by the satellite phone. Then he dies and Solomon and his son flee. After that Solomon meets Rupert Simmons, who promises that the Tiara Diamond Company will arrange for his family to be brought to England in exchange for the diamond. Maddy secretly photographs the deal and later publishes a magazine article titled Blood Diamonds: A Trail of Terror from the Jungles to the Jeweler’s in which she exposes the trade in "conflict" or "blood" diamonds, detailing Rudolph Van de Kaap's criminal actions. Later, Solomon can be seen preparing to tell of his experiences at a conference on blood diamonds in Kimberley, South Africa. With the start of his speech the movie ends. The Analysis of the Movie “Blood Diamond” from a Socio-psychological Perspective Different Cultures and Sub Cultures Mentioned in the Movie In this movie, mainly African rural and urban cultures are shown. According to social psychologists, culture is the total life style of a people including all ideas, symbols, preferences and material objects they share (Class note by Dr. Yusoof). As Baumeister and Bushman explain culture is an information based system, involving both shared understandings and praxis that allows groups of people to live together in an organized fashion to satisfy their biological and other needs (p, 32). Both the cultures shown in this movie are collectivistic cultures and so, priority is given to the group. The rural culture, in Shenge, Sierra Leone and the life style of the villagers are really very simple. Most of the villages are fishermen and farmers. They live in houses covered with grass and bamboos and those houses are established close to each other and there are no modern facilities in those houses. And this rural people have a great risk about their lives because of RUF. Children have to go far away school to study and on their way they have to go by even boats. Contrary to rural culture, urban culture is complex and the people live in city have modern facilities. They go to restaurants and eat and dance and they have enough money to enjoy. But in rural culture also, there are very poor people. In the same way, the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) also have a different culture. The main purpose of this group of people is to fight with African government army and killing and threatening innocent people and using innocent African villagers to dig diamonds in their mines. According to them there is no value for human life. From the child to adult they do not hesitate to trick the trigger of the gun towards non-member of RUF. At night they, dance, smoke, drink alcohol etc. without any age difference. They also have a value system. If anyone whether a member of their group or non-member cheats the gang, they shoot him or her. Fine example is shooting to a diamond miner by the RUF leader when a diamond is hidden by him. In the same way, obedience to the leader is highly considered. No one challenges the leader. In the same way, inside the rehabilitating camps, there is also another culture. There is a different way of living in those camps and people live in those camps have different values to be followed. Other Concepts that the Movie talks about…. Among the concepts that the movie talks about self is very important. According to social psychologists self is a symbol using social being who can reflect on his or her behavior (class note by Dr.Yusoof). This self is not built in isolation. Various social factors affect to build self and because of social factors this self can be changed with the time. Formally, when he was with his family Dia was studious, obedient and innocent child. But when he became a member of RUF things changed. He could kill innocent people without hesitation. Dia’s this change has a great relationship with self fulfilling prophecy. Examples to self fulfilling prophecy can be clearly seen in this movie. Dia’s conversion to a RUF member clearly proves it. Self fulfilling prophecy talks about how people’s behavior changes because of the expectations of others. The leader of RUF gives a brainwash to Dia and other children and Dia becomes a member of RUF after that. The gravity of changing is that he later refuses his father who tries to get him back. At that time he says “I hate you” and shouts saying “enemy.” So it clearly shows how the group members can change one’s attitudes and behaviors. That is how such an innocent boy became a cruel killer. In the same way, after training, RUF children get different names as baby killer, monster of disaster, born traveler, see me no more etc. and they use those names thereafter. Fine example is when Benjamin Megai once asks the name of a RUF child, he replies “I am the boy” (not the meaning that we normally use). So, this shows the environment affects to change our “self.” In the same way, one RUF boy marks the name “RUF” with a blade on his hand. It also shows how social background can change the self of a person. In the same way, for social and psychological changes, language can do many things. This “Blood Diamond” movie clearly shows how language can change one’s attitude and behaviour. The persuasive communication used by the RUF leader had a great impact on Dia and other children to change their behavior. The words came from his (Captain Poison) mouth are really powerful. He says to Dia and other children thus. “….Your parents are weak. They are farmers, fishermen…. They don’t know the cost of this country. But you are the heroes who save this nation. You are not children anymore. You are men. No one has ever given you this respect….” Actually, these words are really powerful enough to change the minds of children. These children do not have experienced knowledge to differentiate good and bad. They just have to obediently follow the commands. Another very important incident that shows the importance of language to change the attitudes and behavior can be seen at the scene where the diamond is found by Solomon from where it was buried. That time, Dia aims the pistol towards Archer and when questioned by Solomon next towards to Solomon also. At that time, words and behavior of Solomon easily changed Dia. He says. “…….You are a good boy. You are not a shocker. Your mother loves you so much….. Your mother and sister want you back. You are not a bad boy. I am your father who loves you and you will go home with me and you will be my son again…………..” When those words were said by Solomon, with the tears of his eyes, Dia puts down the pistol with tearful eyes. So, words of Solomon changed the attitude and behaviour of Dia. So it proves that language can make psychological changes in the minds of humans. As social psychologists explain, social cognition is the way in which we as human beings interpret, analyze, remember and use information about our social world (Charron, 2004). This helps us to understand what is going around us. This movie talks about the importance of social cognition also. Once, when Archer, Mandy, Benjamin and Solomon are going through a RUF road block by a van, they saw two RUF children at the road block. Then Benjamin Megai is driving the van. Though Archer says not to stop the van, Benjamin Megai stops the van saying that they are just children. According to him all humans are good. Once he says, “My heart always says that people are inherently good.” So he stops the van and asks the names of those RUF children and tries to make a conversation with them. At that time he was shot by one RUF child. It clearly shows that Benjamin Megai’s social cognition is poor. He is always in the position that all humans are good. But his vision is not always practical. According to the person and situation the things change. As he is not aware of this situation and seeing only from his perspective, he had to get shot. This is because of poor social cognition and his deep compassionate towards children. The self-awareness is a conscious process and it helps human beings to behave according to the situation. Example to self-awareness can be seen Archer’s response to Solomon when Solomon tries to go along another way (to find his son). At that time, Archer was very angry and he takes the pistol and aims at Solomon. But, he does not use it and it clearly shows self –awareness and if one has self- awareness he or she controls the behavior and it is called self-regulation. As Archer had self- awareness Archer regulated his behavior. That is why he did not shoot Solomon. One of the factors that affect compliance (publicly behaving according to accepted social norms) is giving reasons. When Solomon explains crying giving reasons (to find his son) to go along the other way, Archer listen and agrees with him. Thus to change Archer’s behavior, Solomon’s giving reasons also has affected. Ethnicity is also really remarkable social problem talked in this movie. Even by appearance Archer and Solomon are different. The skin color of Solomon is black while Archer’s is white. White people are highly honored while black Africans are neglected. On one occasion Solomon says, “I know good people who say that there is something wrong with us inside our blood skin.” So, it means that white people have a negative prejudice towards African people. Prejudice is a negative attitude or feeling toward an individual based solely on that individual’s membership in a certain group (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). So, those white people have a negative feeling toward these African people. In the same way, they have a negative stereotype towards African people. Stereotypes refer to what we believe or think about various groups and it is based on certain traits of groups and it may be both positive and negative (class note by Dr. Yusoof). In changing process of minds of human and society, cognitive dissonance holds a very important place. Cognitive dissonance simply talks about what happens when our behaviors do not match with our attitudes. Dia was innocent when he was with his family. But after becoming a member of RUF he had to kill people. A very important psychological process has undergone for his change. First, his attitudes did not match with his behavior. So, psychological imbalance or cognitive dissonance took place inside his mind. When cognitive dissonance takes place people change the attitudes or they change the behavior as suits to the attitudes or they add new information to the existing beliefs. So, as his attitudes did not match with his behavior Dia changed his attitudes which mean to kill people. There was no any other option for him to follow. He can’t change his behavior (killing) because the main job of RUF is killing. This cognitive dissonance concept is highly used by RUF members to convert children. When RUF children keep on working on killing people, fighting with army, threatening people and doing other various misbehaviors like drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes etc. they use to follow it and sees it as a very hard and very important thing. And ultimately they use to believe what they do and in social psychology it is called as “justification of effort.” To get a knowledge about attitudes and attitudinal change this movie is very important. Attitudes are global evaluations toward some object or issue (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). And attitudes have a cognitive dimension, affective dimension and a behavioral dimension. Cognitively based attitudes give priority to wisdom or cognition and affectively based attitudes prefer emotions and feelings while behavioral attitudes consider the behavior. As this movie shows, social factors and psychological factors can change one’s attitudes. From the beginning, Archer wanted to find the pink diamond with the help of Solomon. Throughout the film, his motives, behaviors clearly show that he does things for the sake of the diamond. He helps Solomon to find Solomon’s son with the intention of finding the diamond and he has no any sympathy or kindness towards Solomon and his family. That is why he asks and keeps the diamond with him after it was unearthed. But at the end, things changed. During the fight at the place where the diamond is buried he got shot. But three of them (Archer, Solomon and Dia) flee. When he can’t walk further because of his wound he gives the diamond to Solomon. He has changed his attitudes. Even Solomon can’t believe his change. Not only that but also Archer gives details to Solomon to sell the diamond and talking by the satellite phone asks Maddy also to help Solomon and wishes Solomon to live happily with his family. Why this change? What are the factors that led to change the attitudes of Archer? A lot of social and psychological factors have undergone here. Archer knows that he can’t go because of his wound. So, at last he may have thought to do a good thing. He acts at that occasion, on both affectively based and cognitively based attitudes. If he did not want to do a good thing to Solomon he could have thrown the diamond. But he did not do so. So, here he has acted mainly on affectively based attitudes. In the same way, when his friend tells him that there is no room for all of them in the plane and to miss Solomon and his son Dia, he did not do so. Such a selfish man ultimately became a noble man. The situation, his emotions and feelings with the cognition have changed his attitude. But, if he was not shot, things may be changed. So, as mentioned above, emotions are very important to change attitudes. Dia for the first time shoots a person because he is afraid of the leader of RUF and other RUF members. Here, fear as an emotion is very important to change the attitudes and behavior. If Dia did not shoot that innocent person, the other RUF members could have shot him. So, his fear for his own life led him to shoot the innocent man. In the same way, group influence is also very important to our behavior. All the friends that Dia associates are bad friends. All those friends do only bad things. Their social norms are killing, scolding, threatening etc. So, Dia also had to adapt or follow those social norms which is called as conformity in social psychology. And he publically behaves according to those social norms which proves compliance; very important factor that comes in social psychology. The obedience which relevant to group processes is also very important here. Dia and other RUF members should obey and follow the orders of leader of RUF; Poison. When considering obedience, the factors “who says to whom what” is important. As Poison is the leader of RUF, his position is very important and relevant to RUF children. So, it thoroughly affects to the attitude change. In the same way, the message given by him is also important to them and as RUF children are not matured their minds easily vulnerable to change. When considering the place in which African women have, this movie is very important. The African rural women lead a very simple life though urban women lead somewhat complex life. In the same way, women in city do prostitution as their job. It shows various social and life problems of African women. When considering above facts, it is clear that the movie “Blood Diamond” is a very important movie that talks about many social and psychological problems of humans. According to this movie, most of the social issues have a great relationship with the mental processes of human beings. Each and every social problem is created in the society because that social network does not function well according to accepted value system and misbehavior of some humans. So, before changing the society, first the human being has to change. If the human being is right, then the society automatically becomes right. Conclusion The society is a mixture of both good and bad. Each and every society has some social issues connected with it and those social issues are again connected to human beings. Human being is a collection of both internal and external factors. Social factors can change the mental processes of human being and in return mental processes can change the society. So, this is an interrelated bond. Most of the changes that occur between human being and society are not permanent and those changes can be both positive and negative. And, in the same way, one person’s attitude or behavior can affect to many other people. Thus, the movie “Blood Diamond” has succeeded in talking some social issues in Africa and underlining mental processes of human beings connected with those social problems. References Baron, R. A & Byrne, D., (1981), Social psychology; understanding human interaction, (3rd ed). USA: Library of Congress. Baumeister, R. F, & Bushman, B, J., (2008). Social psychology and human nature, Belmont: Thomson Higher Education. Blood Diamond (no date). Retrieved February 24, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Blood Diamond. Charon, J. M., (2004), Ten questions; a sociological perspective, (5th ed), USA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Rathus, S. A.,(2004). Psychology: Concepts and connections (7th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth and Thomson Learning. Schultz, D. P., & Schultz S. E., (2004). A history of modern psychology. (8th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth and Thomson Learning.