“Two Towns of Jasper” by Dow and Williams Essay

Introduction

One of the most prominent films about the race and racial issues is The Two Towns of Jasper by Whitney Dow and Marco Williams. Even the history of the film’s creation is significant in the first place. The documentary was filmed by the two producers separately in order to have the two different views from the white and black filmmaker. It is significant that the movie was shot this very way because it is the first attempt to make the documentary on race completely objective and unbiased. Evidently, the film gained huge success talking on the same exact topic from the perspectives of two directors that eventually flowed together for the sake of conveying the message to the viewer. That is why the documentary is called The Two Towns of Jasper.

Brief Synopsis of The Two Towns of Jasper

The story unfolds within the little town in Texas call Jasper. On June 7, 1998 the news shook the minds if its inhabitants. The cruelest racist murder ever was committed. A man named James Byrd Jr., was beaten, chained to the truck of the car, and trailed three miles through. It was an African-American killed by the white supremacists who considered themselves to be the Aryan Nation members, who were then arrested and charged for murder. James’ body was torn apart.

Functionalist, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionalist Perspectives

In order to analyze the documentary properly the three major perspectives of Sociology should be used here. The plot of the film can be perfectly implemented in the views of all three perspectives: Symbolic Interactionism, Functionalism, Conflict Theory. According to the Functionalism each member of our society has his/her own role within the society. Also, each aspect of the society is independent; however, it does contribute to the society as a union. The good example for that would be the school with children of the parents who pay taxes. The government in its turn helps raise the children and give them education. Hence, kids grow up and become the members of taxpaying society; thereby they can pay the government back. So, the social “inequality is not only inevitable but also necessary for the smooth functioning of society” as Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore claimed in their theory. (Kendall, p.245).

The symbolic interactionist perspective presents the relations of people inside the society. Namely, it holds the importance of symbols of everyday life, also what those symbols interpret and the way people interact with each other.

The conflict perspective is completely opposite to the functionalist one. It does not regard people cooperating within the society. On the contrary it claims that the society should change the order even if the mean for that is revolution.

Two Towns of Jasper – Symbolic Interactionalist Perspective Analysis

Needles to say, the actual crime is horrible no matter what the citizens of Jasper were trying to convey. Namely, those were some of the leading white and black citizens who tended to prove the overall nice relationships between races. The essential thing about the murder through the conflict perspective is the way people talked about it. According to the perspective of this kind, the conversation is an interaction of symbols that are applied to people who interpret life around them. This is very important because the core issues of the documentary are the racial issues, which were talked about by people in the way they wanted others to think about it. It was completely evident that the authorities did want others to think that Jasper was not racist conveying the thought of generally peaceful relations between races.

Two Towns of Jasper – Functional Theory Perspective

No wonder any problem is always rooted very deep inside of a person’s soul or very long ago in terms of historical events. As such, it is well-known that a white-black problem in America is an evil that was placed in our lands right along the foundation of the state. Moreover, the state would not otherwise exist. The slaves were brought to America from Africa in order to work on the fields and help rich whites prosper via selling the cotton. Therefore, the internal race crisis takes way long ago. It had never emerged – it was always here with us. No matter how veiled this problem is presented by the government, it is still present within our society being passed from the parent to the child in every generation. It has to be admitted that the documentary presents well the roles African-Americans and white Americans within the society. The roles are derived from the past when Africans were forced to work on the whites. Today, it is impossible to watch the same image of racial hierarchy; however the role of African-Americans in the society is way undervalued.

Two Towns of Jasper – the Conflict Perspective

Let’s look at the image of American society of the only way to justice was conflict. Since the way the society can work – according to the conflict perspective – is only revolutionary one, the plot of the movie is best fit into the theory. The three white Americans murdered Afro-American man – this is the way conflict theory works. No negotiations, no compromises, just pure conservative, die-hard methods. Who said they could do what they did? There is no one on Earth who can take other people’s lives. The three murderers wanted to change society in a cruel and horrible way, implementing their goals locally. This is probably the worst thing a person can carry out in order to convey the ideas. The Two Towns of Jasper showed the way people cannot get along together due to historical background and deeply rooted biased opinion of race.

Conclusion

It is evident that the United States of America is a very diverse country. It is a melting pot that holds many religious beliefs, traditions, and cultures. However, the most debatable topic that had always been a foremost problem is racial abuse. No wonder there were so many movies shot on this theme, among them is The Two Towns of Jasper – the documentary filming the most outrageous act of violence. The African-Americans are the equal part of the American society disregarding the perspective we use to look at this problem, indeed.

Works Cited

Kendall, Diana. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing, 2011. Print.