Gerh Gerhar ard d Lens Lenski ki saw saw the the soci societ ety y as a prod produc uctt of the the devel developm opment ent of tech technol nology ogy.. Accord According ing to him, him, it is the technol technology ogy which which shapes shapes one’s one’s societ society. y. Lenski Lenski’s ’s socioc sociocult ultura urall evolution evolution consists consists of five societies, societies, mainly, mainly, the hunting and gathering society, society, the horticultural horticultural and pastoral society, the agricultural society, the industrial society, and lastly the post-industrial society. These societies evolved through the creation of new technology that enables us human to increase production and to sustain a larger amount of population. The movie, Apocalypto, features the first four type of society in Lenski’s sociocultural evolution. Jaguar Paw’s tribe in my opinion is a hunter-gatherer society but it is having its transition to the horticultural-pastoral society. Jaguar Paw’s tribe belongs to the hunter-gatherer society since they hunt for their food as seen in the very beginning of the movie wherein they caught a wild boar in the middle of the forest. forest. The tribe of Jaguar Paw also has a shaman shaman who is in the person of the dad of Jaguar Paw, Flint Sky. Their tribe was also family-centered since it was like they treated each other like brothers and sisters. They are concerned with each other like a family does with each other. In the movie, the dad of Jaguar Paw once told him that he shouldn’t show his fear to the neighbourhood since it will greatly affect the whole tribe. If we are to compare it to the present, usually, people won’t take into consideration the feelings of others. It is like people mind their own business; unlike before, everyone is concerned on the everyday lives of each individual. The tribe of Jaguar Paw is also an example of a horticultural-pastoral society since they already had the concept of forming settlements. They already had a small village village wherein the tribe tribe of Jaguar Paw’s stays. Also, they have a more advanced advanced technology technology of hunting hunting animals. They already formed traps wherein it will be easier for them to catch the wild boar at the beginning of the movie also in killing the leader of the Aztecs, Zero Wolf. For the early Aztecs, they already have an agricultural society. The early Aztecs already had the concept of slaves and rulers. rulers. They also had a certain religion which which they give reverence to. The community of the early Aztecs exemplifies great social inequality not just between the slaves and the rulers, but also between the men and women. As seen in the movie, a great number of people in the Aztec community are poor but the rulers of the place aren’t doing anything. In fact, they were just misleading the people that they are having draught and famine because of the thirst of their God. People were still rejoicing even innocent people were killed since their rulers are telling them that it is the only way to end their great depression when they can just help the poor people in order for them to have good lives instead of them killing innocent people. There was also inequality among the women since when the tribe of Jaguar Paw reached the place of the Aztecs, the women were sold to the people as slaves or maybe as a source of their entertainment. They also had a more advanced technology since there is scene in the movie where they were using machines to produce cements out of the rocks they got. The Spaniards on the other hand already had an industrial society. As seen in the movie, they already had large ships which they used in order to travel to the place of Jaguar Paw. They also have a distinct religion, which is the Christianity, since it was shown that the Spaniards held a cross while they were approaching the island of Jaguar Paw.
Karl Marx sees the society differently from Lenski. Marx saw the society as a product of the different conflict in a society which is called the social conflict. Social conflict is wherein people from different classes of society struggle over a certain resource. Karl Marx states that this social conflict is just caused by one evil thing which is Capitalism. Capitalists are people who own and manage businesses to have profits. Marx said that because of the want of capitalists to earn big profit, it is the workers or the poor people who suffer a lot. Capitalism is evident and the main reason why there were lives killed and the main conflict of the whole movie itself. The main conflict of the movie is the captivity of Jaguar Paw to the hands of the Aztecs. These Aztecs were to use these captives to satisfy the so-called thirst of their God. Because of the want of the rich people to just get richer instead of just sharing their blessing, the people of the Aztec community are mislead that killing lives of innocent people is good since that is a way for them to recover from the depression they are having. Families were also separated from one another because of capitalism. If the Aztecs didn’t capture the tribe of Jaguar Paw, then the kids that they left behind would still have parents to live with. Jaguar Paw wouldn’t also be separated from his wife and two children. The father of Jaguar Paw was also killed because of this. Many families in the movie were destroyed because of the desire of the elites in the Aztec community to get richer. Another effect of capitalism is that the captives or slaves’ health kept deteriorating. There was a scene in the movie where a person vomited blood maybe because of great sickness he is experiencing yet nobody helped him in any way. These slaves weren’t treated as humans anymore but were treated as machines that they need in order to construct or do something for them without them experiencing any hardships. To sum it up, the effect of capitalism in this movie didn’t just affect the lives of the tribe of Jaguar Paw, but also all of the lives of the people in the movie. The whole conflict of the movie wouldn’t have happened if not because of the want of the elite people of the Aztec community to keep more money for themselves rather than sharing their wealth to the least fortunate ones to lessen the poverty happening in their place.
Eunice Chung
11224053 “Apocalypto”
The movie starts with Jaguar Paw, together with his other tribe mates went hunting for their food. After they have hunted for their food, Jaguar Paw suddenly realized something strange with their surrounding and a man appeared and asked him if they could allow them to pass since their land was ravaged by unknown people. Upon hearing this, Jaguar Paw was so scared. Flint Sky, the father of Jaguar Paw told him that he shouldn’t be scared since it won’t do him any good. That same night, Jaguar Paw had a dream wherein he encountered again the same guy he encountered in the forest earlier. The man was very scared and he was holding his heart out and the guy told him to run. Jaguar Paw woke up after having the dream and he noticed that a strobe of light came across. When he finally saw that a group of people were about to attack his tribe, he took his wife and his child to a cave-ish place to keep them safe. Jaguar Paw then returned to his place to defend his other tribe members. After a close encounter with one of the members of the Aztecs, the leader of the Aztec tribe, Zero Wolf, caught Jaguar Paw. The member whom Jaguar Paw almost killed wanted to kill him but Zero Wolf stopped him since he wants Jaguar Paw alive. Jaguar Paw then asked for forgiveness from his father. The member whom almost got killed by Jaguar Paw heard it and immediately had the idea to kill his father instead of killing Jaguar Paw. The last words that Flint Sky told him was that he shouldn’t be afraid. After saying those words, he was immediately killed b y the member of the Aztec group. When they were travelling, the group had an encounter with a little girl with a very contagious disease. The girl asked for their help but all of them rejected her because of her disease. Suddenly, the little girl acted and spoke strangely. She asked an Aztec member whether he wanted to know how he would die. The little girl told them that the man who brings the jaguar would be the one to end their world. When they arrived at the place of the Aztecs, the body of the captives were fully painted. After which, they were taken to a place where everyone was rejoicing since people were beheaded and killed. These people believe that the people who were killed were like offerings to their God in order for them to recover from their great depression. Two of the members of the tribe of Jaguar Paw were first beheaded. When it was Jaguar Paw’s turn, the sky suddenly turned dark and an eclipse occurred. Jaguar Paw wasn’t killed anymore since they believe that they have already satisfied the thirstiness of their God. Zero Wolf was then told to dispose the other captives. They were told to run across the field of corn and if they were able to do it, they are free. Everyone who attempted to escape got killed by the Aztecs. When it was Jaguar Paw’s turn, he ran in a zigzag motion that’s why the members had a hard time to injure him. When Jaguar Paw was almost near the finish line, Zero Wolf was able to shoot him. When the son of Zero Wolf was about to hit him, he stabbed him on his neck and Jaguar Paw was able to escape. Zero Wolf was so angry that is why he chased Jaguar Paw to seek for revenge. Jaguar Paw on the other hand was weak so he had to rest on a tree which was the habitat of a jaguar. Jaguar Paw was then chased by it and the troop of Zero
Wolf saw him. A member of the Aztec tribe was attacked by the jaguar and of course the other members had to kill the jaguar to help the other member of the tribe. After that, series of misfortune events happened to the Aztec tribe which caused the death of several of the member of the Aztec tribe. He then returned to the place where he kept his family. This is where he had an encounter with Zero Wolf who immediately shot him with an arrow. When Zero Wolf was about to reach him, the trap which they used to catch their prey came into place which caused the death of Zero Wolf. The two members of the Aztec tribe who were left then chased Jaguar Paw to the shore of the island. There, they saw large ships which were owned by the Spaniards. The Aztec members were all astounded by it and thus Jaguar Paw had the chance to escape from them and return to his family. Jaguar Paw was then finally reunited with his family and sought a new beginning in the forest rather than choosing to start a new life with the Spaniards.
