An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary film developed in the United States by the producer Davis Guggenheim, which aimed at portraying the harsh reality of global warming. As elucidated, the documentary was developed as retaliation for an unsuccessful campaign ran by Vice President Al Gore, whose call for environmental conservation fell on deaf ears. The campaign was based on a slideshow, which depicted images of environmental changes. The focus of the film is to depict the impacts of industrialization and other human activities on the natural environment, and the effects that these changes have had on the people. In this regard, the film helped educated the masses on the dangers that were being posed by the continued destruction of the environment, and the need for change and reform of the social structure. The film was a major success, and played an indispensable role in nurturing the idea of environmentalism and care for the natural world.
Some of the impacts of the film are evident today, as most people have understood the consequences of the degradation of the environment and continued global warming, which is as a result of carbon emissions, among other forms of pollution. The aspect of sociology evidenced in this film is environmentalism, with a focus on global warming. It is apparent that the need to stop global warming is an objective condition, whereby the film aims at empowering the society with knowledge to help them rise up and stand against the menace of global warming. The film aims at garnering a public outcry, in a bid to promote environmental conservation, which has a fundamental impact on the life and survival of humanity and life in general. Regarding the social problem, the subjective concern is the fact that environmental protection is evidently a necessity for survival of life, and the continued trend will only amount to destruction of the planet. The documentary film immensely succeeded in its quest for empowering the public in regards to knowledge on global warming, which has amounted to a sort of a revolution in relation to the idea and the social structure.
Theories and Concepts
The overarching sociology theory is global warming, and the need to preserve the environment. The film attempts to educate the masses on the changes that the planet is undergoing, as a result of the activities of human activities. The film starts by elucidating the accrued challenges in spreading the message across, which the producer depicts as a failure, owing to the minimal reception of the ideas by leaders and the public. The film is elucidated as a narration of the former Vice President, Al Gore, who has invested a lot of time and energy into empowering and creating awareness of the menace among the people, but has failed to succeed, with minimal appreciation and acknowledgement of his research and observations.
Macrosociology
The theory of macrosociology is the core of the film, as it embarks to depict a problem that is in no way individual, but rather fundamental to the survival of life and the planet earth as we know it. The film skillfully applies the concept in conveyance of the message, which is in part the reason for the success of the documentary and its message.
Climate change is an apparent theory in the film, which, at the time, is relatively new, and has not spread to many people. The film succeeds in its illumination of this concept through the depiction of before and after photos of various places on earth, managing to show the viewers how much the impacts have altered the face of the earth. The producer also captivates the use of comparison between industrialized and non-industrialized, which makes the problem evident and factual.
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Through both quantitative and qualitative research the film attempts to present facts and figures that clearly depict the global warming impacts on the world and livelihood. Through depicting the changes in climate, the film succeeds in the utilization of these concepts, presenting new knowledge to the audience.
Truth vs. myth
The truth vs. myth theoretical concept is adopted in the presentation, in a bid to alleviate the viewers from previously held misconceptions, as well as arming them with scientific facts. The application of this concept is exemplary, and plays a vital role in informing the audience, eradicating the existence of any form of doubt.
Theory and concept Application
The application of the four major theoretical perspectives of sociology in the film is evident and conducted in excellent fashion, an attribute that vastly differentiates the film from the norm. The concept of global warming as presented by the film is an aspect of Macrosociology, as it focuses on the bigger picture, namely the social structure and the held perspectives by the public, in regards to environmentalism. The environmental change is not a matter of human interaction, but rather survival of not only humanity, but also entire life as well. The greater theory of functionalism is elucidated, as the film explains how continued environmental degradation will gravely impact life, which may amount to inexistence in the future. The film promotes the need for social stability through environmental protection and conservation, attributing ignorance to grave consequences on overall life on earth. The underlying disadvantages of failure of adoption are immense, and there is thus a need to adopt these changes, which is in line with the utilitarianism theory that suggests that humans are in a constant strife to better their position by lowering disadvantages and maximizing advantages. In this regard, there is thus a need for the public to enact social reform in relation to the treatment of the environment, adopting better strategies to help quell the dangers of global warming, thereby impacting the groupthink.
Another vastly applied concept is truth and myth, whereby the film attempts to discredit myths through skillful use of facts and scientific proof. An example is the depiction of the prevalent myth that the world is too large, that humans can have no impact on it whatsoever (Guggenheim, 2006). The film discredits this myth, using scientific proof via imagery to depict the changes that have occurred in the world. Through separating facts from myths, the film manages to inform the viewers, helping them throw away previously held misconceptions and lies. This is crucial part of the presentation as it does not only present a hypothesis, but rather a scientific fact based on research and with admissible proof. In this way, the film succeeds in presenting its position, which is shared by the new learners who garner new knowledge that was previously unavailable or present to them.
Conclusion
As a summative, it is evident that An Inconvenient Truth is an informative documentary, which plays a grave sociological role, through its application of relevant theories. Evidently, the skillful adoption of concepts and theories prevalent in sociology plays a critical role to the success of the film, which manages to convince the viewer on the need to protect and conserve the environment. The success of this film is apparent today, with the growing appreciation for environmentalism, which has traversed borders and promises to protect humanity and life on earth.
Reference
Guggenheim, D. (2006). An Inconvenient Truth.
