Girls Like Us is an intimate portrayal concerning four girls who grew up all with different ethnic backgrounds and various forms of parental guidence. Anna Chau is Vietnames with strict parents and good beliefs, Lisa Bronca is a Caucasion Catholic, De’Yonna Moore is African-American with strong goals who lives with her Grandma and Raelene Cox is a young white girl who comes from a broken home with little parental guidence. Girls Like Us shows examples of structural functionism, and conflict theory, as well as symbolic interactionalism. This movie really intersted me because I actually got to see each of these girls grow up.
This film also contained implications for the science of sociology. I believe that the main point of the movie Girls Like Us was to show examples of how different lifestyles could have an impact on young girls growing up today. It actually showed these different girls at different important stages in their lives so we got to see how strong their goals were at the beginning, and how they changed with time and maturity. It showed how family history and ethnic diversity has an important role in the lives of young girls. It was a good way to show how lifestyles in general impacted each of these girls futures in so many ways.
It takes four girls all with different families and different religious beliefs and asks them about their goals and lives when they are young. Then we see them again each year and it shows the changes in personality as well as in their beliefs and goals. In this movie Elements of structural functionalism were definately present. For example, each of these girls were from the same society, but all their religious and ethical backgrounds varied. Depending on their history and family each girl had a different view on topics like premarital sex or college goals.
I feel that because Raelene’s mom didn’t care much about raelene or how well she did in school, neither did Raelen. This probably led her to the path of dropping out of school and teen pregnancy. Then we meet Anna Chau who tells us she would never have premarital sex because it’s not allowed and she plans to someday go to college. Anna’s father and her culture would be the functionalist because they stressed education and religion. Conflict theory was also present in this movie when Anna’s parents were stricter on her than they were on her brother.
She said if she so much as looked at a boy she would be in trouble, and if she ever came home with a hicky on her neck her father would probably kick her out. When her brother comes home with a hicky they pretty much say “Good job, son” and he is respected. In this culture a woman is being treated differently because of her gender. Other conflicts include, Raelene and De’Yonna, white Vs. Vietnamese. Raelene came from a lower class home and De’Yonna came from a middle class home. Both girls end up pregnant and doing the same things. Chentevy and her Father also had a conflict. her father’s abuse let her to rebel.
She got kicked out of her house for havin a hicky on her neck and then she turned to drugs and disappeared. I was most interested by this movie to see how different these girls were just because of their different cultures. Then as we watched them grow up you see how each person’s family played a role on their own personal success. Raelene’s story interested me the most. I think that because her mom didnt care, Raelene failed. She has her first child at age 14 and dropped out of school only to later get pregnant again and engaged to someone who she says she loves because he doesn’t hit her.
It also interests me to hear her say if she could do it all over she wouldnt cahnge a thing. I wanted to hit her. This girl could go so far, she could get out of her town and go to college she could work and get her own money and not rely on her fiancee to give her money. I think she grew up way too fast and missed out on a lot. Another aspect of this movie that intriged me was De’Yonna. She says her main priorities at the beginning of the movie are to #1 do good in school and #2 Find a good man. Then her cousin dies, her grades begin to slip and she goes downhill.
She ends up working at KFC and pregnant. She had high goals set for herself but one little bump in her road to success throws her off course. It was amazing to see all that change in a matter of four years. It was sad. Implications in the movie for the science of sociology would be how Anna’s father’s strictness caused her to become the most successful of all four girls. Or how Raelene’s mother’s absence caused her to fail. It shows family really does play an important rold on weather or notl their children succeed.
Anna’s story has another example of this when she says she would get in trouble for kissing a guy, although she does have premarital sex, she says she doesnt like it, doesnt like her boyfriend and feels dirty afterwards. I think this is because she was brought up thinking it was wrong and will always believe that. Lisa’s mother has been divorced 3 times and then Lisa’s boyfriend cheats on her and she stays with him, they talk about marraige like its nothing. I think this is because she saw her mother do ti so many times it just seemed normal like it was no big deal.
Her mother did however stress school was important and Lisa has never missed a day of school and goes on to attend college. I really enjoyed the movie Girls Like Us. I liked watching these girls grow up and change their whole lives around. It showed how the science of sociology is present in everyday lives and relationships and how conflicts can change a person for the better or the worst. What a learned most from this movie was how structural functionalism really does play a major part of how we grow up no matter what our ethnic backgrounds may be.
