David Anderson

Criminal Behavior

Essay Paper

4/22/2005

City of God

The City of God is based on actual events that occurred in Rio de Janeiro during the 1960's and 1970's. The movie is about the rise and fall of a fearsome sociopath gang leader Li'l Ze, who reigned as king of the drug lords during the 70's. The first part of the movie illustrates some of the forces that mold Li'l Ze into the man he becomes, while the second half shows his ruthless leap to power, followed by the war he wages against opposing gang leaders Carrot and Knockout Ned. The film is narrated by Rocket, a photographer who exists on the outskirts of Li'l Ze's circle of dominance and control. In the film the city is filled with ruthless acts of
In the movie he stays on top of rocket about doing the right thing and focusing on his school. He explained to Rocket that he had a chance to do something with his life because he was smarter. In this scene you can see how the deviant path he took was a result of not achieving his personal goals. People simply replace personal goals and achievements with deviant acts.
Both the social disorganization theory and the strain theory do an excellent job in explaining the deviant behavior in the movie. The city's lack of community's based controls may be the reason that the city has such a harsh and deviant environment. With this being the case the residents of the city of God are forced to adapt to this type of environment in order to survive under these conditions, even if they really don't want too. Personal strain could have also played a big role in turning the city into a deviant nightmare. The residents in the city because of their poor class and situation feel that they will never be able to accomplish the goals and dreams that they have had all of their lives. It is this loss that leaves a gap in so many of their lives that desperately needs to be filled. According to the strain theory this gap is filled with deviant acts to balance out the loss and the stress of not achieving these goals turns them to