Introduction
Freakonomics, a movie released in December 3 2010 originates from the book with a similar name. The directors of the movie are Heidi Ewing and Alex Gibney among others. Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the authors of the book Freakonomics discuss social issues like abortion, parenting and the impacts they have on the life of an individual. The main themes of the film, which are both socially and economic oriented include sexuality, drugs, power/money and crime among others. Although the film is in form of a documentary, the themes, characters, literary elements and presentation qualify as, not only entertaining, but also corresponding perfectly with the novel.
The origin of the movie
Different writers contributed to the success of the movie Freakonomics. For instance, Steven Levitt explores the part of natural or innate world, Morgan Spurlocks writes on the aspect of child naming with the impact in adulthood while Gibney concentrates on the theme of corruption especially in sports like wrestling. In addition, Eugene Jarecki’s part concentrate on social issues like abortion legalization and the subsequent decline in crime and Grady and Ewing concentrate on the issue of corruption in education or schools using the ninth graders as the study case. Through the characters in the movie, which comes in form of a documentary corresponds to the social issues in the novel Freakonomics. Nevertheless, the aspect of bribery by ninth grade students to pass exams is inexistence in the novel. Therefore, although the film’s name originates from the word economics, the movie seems to concentrate more on the social part of life.
Major themes highlighted in the movie
The movie presents a variety of themes such as sexuality/abortion, corruption and crime among others. Spurlocks seems unable to understand why racism exists even while giving names. The African children have different names from the white children. Therefore, what is the social impact of the naming especially to the child’s later life? Thus, the naming system is for identification of each person origin, which subsequently promote racism and affects the socio-economic implementation in the society. The second theme is corruption whereby the state police practice extrajudicial killings and live freely without facing the law. Similarly, education has become a business affair because the children pay for their grades instead of working hard for them. Finally, poor sexual education among women and young girls leads to abortion, which has drastic aftermaths to the lives of the women. However, with the acceptance or legalization of the abortion, the level of crime has not only declined but also the level of deaths due to illegal abortion has decreased. Therefore, the Freakonomics movie highlights the strategies needed in promoting good social practices, which subsequently lead to the improvement of economy or lifestyle of individuals.
In summary, though the movie is in form of a documentary originating form the novel Freakonomics, the film concentrates more on social issues rather than economic aspect as perceived in the topic or heading. Social themes affecting both the traditional and contemporary world prevail in the movie. The movie condemns social obstacles hindering unity in the community like abortion, extrajudicial killings and corruption among others. Finally, the aspect of racism or discrimination, which existed since the slavery times up into the current society, is the major social problem or barrier the movie solves.