This paper discusses many sociological themes in Darren Aronofsky’s movie, Requiem for a Dream.
This paper explains that there are many specific sociological principles that apply to things that happen within deviant subcultures in this movie. The author points out that Requiem for a Dream takes sociological deviation to the extreme with its use of drugs and how drugs destroy the four main characters’ lives. The paper relates that the situation where, concurrent with Harry and Tyrone selling drugs, Sara switches from her grapefruit diet to speed pills in order to lose weight, is an example of a technique of neutralization, which is the process of hardening one’s attitudes, perspective, and involvement in society and social norms.
The movie starts out with primary deviation, which is the deviant act itself. Within the first one fifth of the movie Harry, Tyrone, and Marian are all portrayed doing uppers, an illegal drug that gives users a boost of energy. Also, vocabulary of motives is shown in the first portion of the movie. Tyrone’s language is different from the rest of the characters, and he uses it in his subculture of friends to discuss their motives to sell heroin and beliefs that money is the key to happiness. However, the deviant subculture starts to develop when Harry and Tyrone start selling heroin. They form a group that believes that heroin is the only way to make a living. Harry comments about how great it is out there, referring to when he’s selling drugs, and exclaims that everyone’s thirsty out there.