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Mira, Jessica
Sociology 001
Professor Ortega
March 25, 2018

Would You Appreciate a Gift If It Was Standing Right in Front of You?

The short film “Gift” directed by Zsófia Zsemberi, is an eye-opening story that can be

sympathized all over the world. It is as unexpectedly enlightening as it is disheartening. This

powerful video conveys the gentle reminder that one must love and appreciate all the living

creatures in our lives. The video begins when you see a man drive up a driveway and appears to

be picking up his daughter. He embraces her with a hug and begins to help her into the car. The

playful music carries the happy feelings that are being shown. A father enjoying the time he is

spending with his daughter. Moments later you see the father and daughter enter their home to

find a mother and another little girl. A family enjoying the time they have amongst one another is

what is being depicted. You see the celebration of a birthday. However, the happy feeling leaves

as quick as it arrived. The little girl that was first introduced accidently tips over a glass of wine

and a conflict arises between the mother and father. The joyful music subsides, and you are

greeted with silence. You see a little girl trying to get attention by tugging at her mother’s shirt

but is being ignored. You see the little girl laying down alone while playing with her plush doll.

The little girl then seeks out her father in hopes that he would play with her but is rejected once

again. Later, the mother finds the little girl in a room that has been turned into a huge mess. The

mother begins to argue with the father and being displayed is their facial expressions that seem

they have come to a decision. The father is then seen luring the little girl out of their home by her

plush doll. He is seen driving off to what looks like an abandoned road. He lures the little girl out
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and throws her plush doll far away from the vehicle. They little girl runs after it and attempts to

run back to her father, but her father is driving away now. As the father drives away you see he

looks at his rearview mirror and the audience is being showed that the little girl was not really a

little girl but a dog being left behind by its family. The dog is being abandoned and left to fend

for himself. This video is trying to convey the message to be responsible when adopting a dog. It

is a message to encourage people to think wisely about the strong commitment that adopting an

animal brings. An animal is as big of a part of the family as any other member. This video proves

to be a public service announcement depicting animals as a lifetime commitment and not

something that is temporary and easily removed.

August Comte was a French Philosopher that developed sociology to explain his own

modern approach to social phenomena. Comte believed that only through empirical sciences

could things be studied. Things could only be taken into consideration when experienced through

the five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, and sound/hearing. I believe that Comte would explain

this video to be a good depiction of the scientific method used for observation. Often individuals

in a society can be unware of the effects that take place in the abandonment of an animal. For

others, being told and being shown a scenario can have different emotional triggers. For instance,

in the film “Gift” you are not being told at the beginning that abandoning your pet is wrong, but

your being shown a child being left and forgotten and being led to believe that this was about a

child, a human being, rather than an animal. Comte would claim that being able to observe this

scenario allows you to experience it in a different and concrete way while still be objective in

regards to the scientific method.

Karl Marx was a German philosopher and sociologist, amongst other things. Marx was a

firm believer in the conflict perspective. Conflict perspective is a “sociological paradigm that
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focuses on power and the allocation of valued resources in society” (Witt, 401). Marx

emphasized the human societies struggle to keep two class groups unequal. There would always

be a working class and there will always be the wealthy upper-class. Marx believed that the

upper-class benefits from the hard work of the working class without putting much work

themselves. However, throughout this struggle he thought that this motivated the drive for

societal change. I believe that Marx would view this video and agree that this is a representation

of conflict theory. However, it is not specifically labeled towards the lower and wealthy class but

the classes between humans and animals. Animals being depicted as the lower class and the

human beings depicted as the wealthy class. The animals are being neglected and being treated

as if their lives had no value, whereas the human beings are the ones to make those

classifications and labeled as the wealthy upper class. The human beings are the ones classifying

the animals as being inferior to them and unworthy of being protected and with human beings

having no intention on bringing light to rights that animals may have.

Émile Durkheim was a French Social Scientist that believed in the functionalist

perspective. The functionalist perspective is a “social paradigm that sees society as like a living

organism in which its various parts work together for the good of the whole” (Witt, “403).

Durkheim held true that all aspects of society had to work together for society to function, one

not being able to exist without the other. I believe that Durkheim would view this video and

explain that actions like abandonment and things that do not necessarily produce happy emotions

are needed to appreciate and fully value the things and opportunities that we are given. I believe

that Durkheim would argue that you can’t have the good without the bad. Public services

announcement like this showcase the harsh realities that sometimes take place in the world, but

these harsh realities must be documented and brought to people’s attention for it to be
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understood and fixed. Durkheim would argue that instead of looking towards the actions of these

single individual abandoning this poor animal we would have to look beyond to the societal facts

that allow these individuals to feel that they are okay just leaving behind an animal.

In my opinion, conflict theory is the paradigm that is most represented in the video

above. Conflict theory is “seen as reinforcing and perpetuating those inequalities and differences

in power. Conflict theorists view social structure as inherently unequal, based on power

differentials”. A form of conflict theory can be interpreted when relating to speciesism.

Speciesism is the “assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals”

(Dictionary.com). The video can display how we perceive animals to not having emotions or

feelings and neglecting them as if their lives have no importance. However, I also believe that

symbolic interactionism is also represented because the way we interact with members of our

society, even if those members are animals. To some individual’s a dog is more than a four-

legged furry friend, a dog is like another member of the family. Someone that they love and

cherish, and they obtain those symbolic meaning from the environment that they are surrounded

by and vice-versa. When taught to disregarded animals by members of your family throughout

your development as an adult, you will learn to not value the life that an animal has.