The Definition of a Conflict
Conflict is a clash of interests of various groups, communities of people, and individuals. Both sides of the conflict must recognize this clash of interests (Ryan 43). The most common cause of social conflict is the unequal position that people occupy in a system of public relations in which some manage and command, while others are forced to obey and follow the rules.
The reasons for conflicts and tensions are power, resources, individual or social values; discord between expectations, practical intentions, and people’s actions; lack of understanding of each other’s actions; all sorts of misunderstandings; logical fallacies and semantic difficulties in the process of communication; lack or poor quality of information (Kuhne et al. 82). Four types of conflicts are identified: conflicts between individuals (role conflict), conflicts between the individual and society, conflict between social groups, international and inter-state conflicts.
Also, it is essential to include an aspect of feminism that is a phenomenon that can be viewed from at least two sides. First, it is a political movement associated with the struggle of women for equality. This point is often associated with classical feminism, in particular with the suffragists’ movement, who demanded that women be given the right to vote in elections. Secondly, this term can be considered from the perspective of philosophy. Feminism is a conflict stemming from gender discrimination, domination of one sex, social, and economic inequality.
The Scenes of Conflicts in The Road to El Dorado
The first and the central conflict that can be seen in the movie is a conflict between the chief of the El Dorado tribe Tannabok and the priest Tzekel-Kan. The craving for power of the priest, his desire to raise his status, and the value differences between Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan are the main reasons for the struggle. The priest secretly plots to topple the chief and become a leader of El Dorado’s lands. He fails in his attempts to take power and decides to use black magic to destroy El Dorado, kill the chief and heaven-sent gods Miguel and Tulio, who are con men that escaped from imprisonment.
The second conflict illustrated in the movie happens between two protagonists Tulio and Miguel. Tulio falls in love with Chell, a girl from El Dorado, and wants to take her away with him. In contrast, Miguel intends to keep living in El Dorado as it is the perfect place to spend the rest of his life. Two best friends decide to separate and not to see each other anymore as Miguel was able to go through the process of accommodation to a new culture; however, Tulio was not.
The third conflict partially regards feminists’ ideas and their views. El Dorado, as a social system, clearly suffers from the conflict between the authorities and the local population. This raises the issue of inequality typical for feminism that can be seen in a few scenes: sacrificing ordinary men’s life to gods by killing them (people in power believe that they have the right to take life and sacrifice it), severe actions committed by the security forces of the tribe (abuse of power), and the priest’s monologue about people’s true evil intentions, the necessity to sacrifice lives as they are not worth much, and control everything.
Works Cited
Kuhne, Weber, et al. “The Productive Potential and Limits of Landscape Conflicts in Light of Ralf Dahrendorf’s Conflict Theory.” Società Mutamento Politica, vol. 10, no. 19, 2019, pp. 77-90.
Ryan, J. Michael. Core Concepts in Sociology. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2019.