Outsiders

Ellie Soriano
HCOM214
April 2, 2015

Movie Night Assignment

                The greasers in Outsiders all had their fair share of problems, all of which affected their interpersonal communication with others including their friends, family and enemies. The prompt my group decided on doing discussed what would be different about the movie and how the characters would benefit if they took a course on interpersonal communication.

            In class my group presented all of the main boys problems, those boys being Dally, Ponyboy and Johnny all of whom had similar problems. The three of them were very prone to violence due to their situations and despite their age, they were all very capable of violent acts.

            In the beginning, it was apparent that they would all run into trouble in their lives, especially since the beginning scene was Ponyboy getting mugged by a rival gang. As the movie progressed I felt sorry for the boys considering they all had family issues and I believe that is where the roots to all their problems begin. If Johnny had a better family that didn’t abuse him, he might’ve been more inclined to make better choices. The same goes for Ponyboy whose brothers could’ve handled arguments better and given Ponyboy more guidance so he wouldn’t stray in making good choices in life. The lack of family in Dally’s life is definitely the cause of a lot of his problems, if he had a family to care for him, he would have definitely had handled a lot of situations better as Sodapop pointed out later on in the movie.

            There were moments in the movie that were outraging, most being ones that involved Cherry and the Socs. The Socs are very stuck up and spoiled, the way that they pick on the greasers, more specifically Johnny and Ponyboy, are what I see as unforgivable and I believe that they could use interpersonal counseling to find better outlets for their boredom than beating up poor children. Cherry was a very rude young lady, despite what little kindness she showed, she still ended up ignoring Ponyboy in the end and I think she should give herself more self-respect in order to do what she wants to do rather than what everyone expects her to do.

            I think the movie was most impactful for families, siblings and very close-knit friend groups and that the movie teaches to cherish those that you have and are close to you. Even though all of the greasers are ‘outsiders’ they still have each other and I think that that means that bonds among friends and family will always be very important. When I watched the movie with my friends and group members, we all enjoyed the movie very much but were all in agreement as to how the greasers and all of the other characters could’ve handled situations better if it were to be in real life. Seeing as to how many problems the greasers have and how poorly they handle situations, a lot about the movie would be different if they learned how to cope better. However, it wouldn’t be a good movie if they were all perfect and had no troubles.