Sociology in the Movie The Kissing BoothIvy Tech

The movie The Kissing Booth is a perfect example of social interactions in teenagers' life as they struggle to develop themselves in society. The society and behavior interactions in the movie "The Kissing Booth" is a depiction of the functionalist theory, the conflict theory and the theory of the symbolic interactions. I am going to talk about the four main sociological concepts that are visible from the movie, which are, social identity, postmodernism, patriarchy, and capitalism. The Kissing Booth is a movie about two teenagers, Elle and Lee, who make friendship rules which include forbidding oneself from dating relatives.

Elle falls in love with Noah, Lee's brother, which presents a conflict between the characters. The conflict theory by Karl Max states that the society is always in conflict for limited resources and order is maintained by domination and power and not consensus (Speakman and Lynette, p. 189). The Kissing Booth addresses the sociological aspect of teen and school culture related to the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactions sociological theories but the conflict theory stands out most.

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First, the sociological concept of social identity is evident in the movie. The social identity theory states that social identity is what one sees oneself relative to other people in society (Tajfel, p. 276). These aspects include the different social roles within a family, school setting as well as a person's social status in the society. It is based on the greater symbolic interactionism theory which holds that the two entities of mind and body interact to affect each other.

The Social identity theory was originally developed by Turner and Tajfel to develop an understanding of the psychological basis of interaction between groups.

In the movie, social identity is demonstrated in several incidents such that Elle and his friend Lee are considered unpopular students in the school setting. This portrayal is the exact opposite of the portrayal of other characters like the OMG's and Noah. Noah is presented as a high school star whose involvement in American football in school has earned him a revered and admired status among students. He is also portrayed as a violent and bad boy due to his quick-to-anger approach and how he gets into fights all the time including on several occasion protecting Lee and against Lee.

The concept of postmodernism is also presented in the movie vividly. Postmodernism is a synthetic sociological theory that drives concepts and facts from different perspectives of knowledge and presents them as an ideological construct of the futuristic society (Dybicz, p. 341). The goal is to understand modern society and the future generation and their interactions. The ideology is intertwined with the modern concepts of consumerism. According to the theory, people within a society are focused on achieving maximum comfort, luxuries, and facilities while others offer the services to achieve even more for better luxury, comfort, and facilities. The main proponents and critics of the theory are Judith Butler, Avita Ronell, Rosalind Krauss, and John Fiske.

Postmodernism is presented in the film through the lifestyles, actions, and events that happen in the lives of the characters. The movie can be presented a social symbol of the modern interactions between young people, their parents, and their peers. First, are the dressing styles. On the first day of school, Elle's pants get torn, and she decides to put one her ninth-grade skirt even though she is in eleventh grade. The excessively revealing short skirt raises mixed emotions around everyone that comes around her, but the father and the school principal do not take the issue seriously as her father allows her to school that way and the principal gives her a lenient punishment only after her dressing code being the cause of a fight. When preparing for a carnival fundraises, Elle and Lee open a kissing booth, which is people paying for kisses. It would have been viewed as a form of prostitution, but it is accepted and justified in modern times and the only issues raised are health issues.

The movie addresses the social concept of patriarchy about the social structure, timing, geography, and setting. The concept of patriarchy revolves around a social system where societies and family systems are organized around the father rule idea in which the males are the figures of authority. It can be understood as a social organization in which institutional and cultural patterns and beliefs allow for older males to dominate over women and younger males (Sultana, p. 2). Patriarchy is closely related to the concept of feminist theory as a counter theory. The feminist theory by theorists like Rachel Speight and Olumpe de Gouge focuses on the analysis of gender inequality and exploring themes like oppression stereotyping objectification, and discrimination.

The kissing both addresses both the feminist perspectives and a display of patriarchal views in the society. The movie is set in 2018 in the United States and time and place where the liberation of women is a key focus in many areas of society. The movie shows objectification of women as only the women went on The Kissing Booth to receive customers, but when Lee went there, he was not received positively. Noah is portrayed as a male chauvinist who uses women and chases them away when he is done with them. He exerts control over Elle as a way of keeping other men from dating her because he has an interest. Noah also acts intimidating towards his younger brother Lee to the extent that Lee feels he is taking way Elle, the only thing he had that Noah did not have. The concept of the liberation of women is shown in the way Elle's father allowed her to decide to be with Noah even though he was not for the idea. The same goes with Lee allowing Elle to date his brother. Even though the relationship violates their rules of friendship, he still allowed her to go on with the relationship.

Finally, the movie addresses the sociological concept of ideological control. Ideological control is a sociological concept developed by Karl Max that argues that the ruling class uses the control of social institutions to achieve ideological dominance and control over the thinking pattern of people in society. He argues that the ideas of the ruling class were brought out as natural and common sense which validated exploitative and unequal relationships in the society as in Etzioni's compliance theory (Kraus, Cecilia, and Amelie, p. 44). The concept is closely related to Jean Baudrillard's concept of hyperreality which describes a society in which majority of the people interacting in the society are unable to make a differentiation between media representation and simulated reality from the actual reality.

Most characters in the movie The Kissing Booth demonstrated limited control over what was perceived as the reality and could not differentiate between simulated and actual reality. Social institutions, in this case, the school dictated a lot of what they were to believe in. Aspects like the dress code, behavior, and acceptable activities were all dictated by the school. Elle is summoned for putting on an overly short skirt and is given punishment for dressing that way. This indicates how she was not granted the freedom to decide what she wanted. The social contract theory states that people live together in societies according to agreements designed to rule their behavior. Socrates and Stuart Rachel suggest that a set of rules that govern people amounts to morality. Elle and Lee made a social contract in the form of friendship rules to govern their interactions. The committee deciding on booths to set up dictated the activities deemed as acceptable and even had earlier on objected the idea of a kissing booth, citing how it is a cause of illnesses and germs. Racial diversity is addressed through the involvement of non-white characters, but their minor roles imply a sense of marginalization. Therefore, the movie provides a variety of sociological elements related to teen and school culture.

In conclusion, The Kissing Booth addresses the sociological aspect of teen and school culture related to the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactions sociological theories but the conflict theory stands out most. The movie addresses the life of two teenagers whose romantic interests violate their Social contract. Social identity is addressed through the students' perception in school while postmodernism is displayed through the acceptance of controversial issues. Patriarchy is presented through the dominance of males and objectification of women while ideological control comes out through how social institutions determine the teenager's interaction. Therefore, The Kissing Booth is a perfect representation of the present sociological situation presented in one piece of literature work.

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Works Cited

Dybicz, Phillip. "Mimesis: Linking postmodern theory to human behavior." Journal of Social Work Education 46.3 (2010): 341-355.

Kraus, Kalle, Cecilia Kennergren, and Amelie von Unge. "The interplay between ideological control and formal management control systems-a case study of a non-governmental organization." Accounting, Organizations and Society 63 (2017): 42-59.

Speakman, James, and Lynette Ryals. "A re-evaluation of conflict theory for the management of multiple, simultaneous conflict episodes." International Journal of Conflict Management 21.2 (2010): 186-201.

Sultana, Abeda. "Patriarchy and Women s Subordination: A Theoretical Analysis." Arts Faculty Journal (2010): 1-18.

Tajfel, Henri, ed. Social identity and intergroup relations. Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press, 2010.