Anthony LaCorte
Dr.Ceballos
9/23/12

“A Better Life” 9/13/12

The movie “ A Better Life” is about a father and a son who live in a bad neighborhood in East Los Angeles. Carlos Galindo, the father, is an illegal alien. Who works as a gardener day laborer. Luis Galindo, Carlos’ son, is in a high school, which is very high in gang activity. Carlos wants better for Luis, he wants them to move out of the neighborhood, put Luis in a better school, keep him away from the gangs and all the violence. It is very difficult for Carlos and Luis because of the very little income Carlos brings in. Carlos’ sister decides to help them out and gives Carlos some money. Carlos uses this money to buy a truck to help him get more business as a gardener. The next day Carlos picks up a fellow illegal alien to help him work but he steals the truck from Carlos. After a full day of searching Carlos and Luis find the truck and steal it from an auction lot. But soon after they are pulled over and Carlos is arrested and deported. Luis is sent to live with his aunt. The ending scene is Carlos making the journey back to the United States from Mexico. In the movie there is a great deal of things we have talked about in class. Including stratification, environment, and socialization. Looking at the movie in a sociology perspective it is a very good way in understanding what it is. It has many good real life examples of what these things are that we have talked about in class.
The stratification is seen from the first scene. The house that Carlos and Luis live in is in very mad shape. It is very small, due to the fact that Carlos is an illegal alien and cannot get a legitimate job. It also is in a bad part of Los Angeles, where there is a lot of gang activity. You can see that a lot of the people who have low income live in this part of town. The neighborhood is very run down and has a lot of violence due to the gangs, they are dealing drugs to make more money than they are making with the less than minimum wage they get because of there immigration status in this country.
Due to this environment Luis is prone to do things differently than his dad. After they find out the truck has been sold, Luis attacks the man who stole it and until Carlos has to pull him off the man. Their different views of