A Bronx Tale- Groups in Sociology

The movie A Bronx Tale is a story about a boy named Calogero growing up in an Italian neighborhood in the Bronx. Throughout his childhood, he is influenced by many different groups that he is and isn't a part of. Sonny, Sonny's crew, Calogero's friends, his friends, his family, and his girlfriend are all groups that define him. Of these groups, Sonny has had the most influence.

Sonny acts like a father figure throughout the film. While at first he seems like a bad influence, he turns out making a huge positive impact on the main character's life. Sonny always tried to keep Calogero in school, and keep him out of trouble. Calogero is definitely a part of the small group that makes up Sonny and Calogero, because of their father-son-like relationship. I think Sonny plays an important role in keeping him of bad-influence groups like Calogero's friends and Sonny's crew. While these two other groups influence him, Calogero has been kept out of these groups, and as a result has kept out of violence, hatred, crime, and eventually death.

At the beginning of the movie, Calogero's master status is child. He screws around with his friends, and is still learning about the world and finding himself. He is easily influenced by the groups around him and is naturally a follower. Towards the end however, his master status becomes more of an adult. While he hasn't completely matured yet, Sonny has influenced him to be more responsible and think for himself. Instead of following along with things that he knows aren't right, he makes his own decisions and is more mature than he is at the beginning of the film.

I think most people's master statuses change in this way. Everyone starts as a child still learning about the world and their place in it. However, as we grow older, we turn into adults that make decisions based off our own beliefs and become less dependent on other.