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Raymond Fong

Professor Lookholder

Sociology 1

19 March 2017

Project 1 Video Analysis of Sandy Hook PSA

This Sandy Hook PSA video is about this boy who writes on the desk at his school.

After writing on a desk, he gets a reply a couple of days later. He writes who are you on the

table and never got a response. After that, he tries to search for the mystery person who wrote on

the table. The boy searches through the gym and wonders if it can be any individual close to him.

The boy goes on social media to get a clue of who the girl might be. However, with no luck, the

end of the school year came near. While signing, yearbooks a girl said: Hey Bored referring to

his writing on the table. Then a kid opens the gym door with a gun and shoots up the school. The

video goes on to show the boy planning the attack all along throughout the school. The message

is that it shows how we ignore the people who are close to us and how we werent even aware

the whole time.

Auguste Comte would study society like science. Comte would look at the social static to

understand how society was constructed. We can look at this in the way of how Congress passes

laws. The boy in the video has broken the law by shooting up the school. The boy with the gun

would most likely be using a type of gun that can rapidly shoot plenty of rounds in a few

seconds. We can apply Comtes view of innovation in industrialization and urbanization to how

society has developed better weapons that can cause mass casualties. In the early 1900s guns

could only shoot one bullet and would take time to reload. However, times have change and
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politicians would have to decide on how to pass better gun restrictions to guide us to a better

society. Comtes views can be put into the context of this video of how something bad must

happen to progress social change.

Through the lens of Karl Marx, the shooter would most likely turn into a killer from a

poor background. The inequality of how he is being raised would be a factor in determining his

future. Growing up and not having resources could be a factor in the shooter hating the

institution. Being born to a low-income family living in a rough neighborhood, while someone is

born into a stable community plays a role in shaping the shooters life. The shooter must have

faced alienation in the school which leads him to want power. At the end when he shows up with

a gun which we can symbolize as power. Whereas the school once hold power now, they are

powerless. Through this show of force, it reminds us that the capitalistic economic system could

be causing these changes in peoples behavior.

This video would most identify with Emile Durkheim's theory. While we view society at

equilibrium, we need something to disrupt society to make dramatic changes in our laws. The

boy in the video must have been growing up in an institution where he felt neglected. The fact

that no one noticed him or even noticed is depressing. This shooter most likely fell into a state of

despair and felt isolated before having thoughts on killing others. The sad feelings leads the

shooter to a state of anomie. Durkheim also did research on suicide and found that in a society

that is constantly innovating will lead a higher rate of suicide. We can relate the suicide studies

with how the boy is probably not interested in the institution he is put into. Social factor such as

feelings of social integration will determine if someone will suicide. If the shooter is living in an

environment where he feels neglected or hopeless than he would have low social integration with

friends. The fact that the shooter planned to shoot up the school and friends not noticing might
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suggest that he doesnt interact with his friends that much. This might lead the shooter to be a

loner.

The functionalist paradigm best fits the video because of how the institutions played a

role in how the shooter caused a mass casualty. We see how social order can be maintained

through talking and the shooter was most likely was ignored by society. A functionalist would

view this shooting event to reinforce laws on how to progress society in the right direction. This

can be related to how functionalist is like a living organism working together to create better

norms and values to keep society stable. This violence of gun control is a threat to society which

makes it a wake-up call to keep guns out of reach of minors and schools.