Overview

This post involves the discussion of the movie “Set it Off” and as it relates to my experience in my CRJS-215s class this spring semester. “Set it Off” revolves around the story of four female friends as they deal with struggles of going through life in the projects of California. The movie starts off with one of our protagonist named Frankie as she becomes the victim of a bank robbery at her job as a bank teller. As one of the assailants threatens her at gun point after shooting her coworker, she hesitates to follow the bank robbery procedure that the workers are supposed to employ in such situations. After a shoot out occurs and two of the assailants die (one escapes to come back later in the story, Frankie is lectured on not following the procedure by the detective and her boss which leads to her being fired from the bank. She is also suspected of being an accomplice to the robbery as she was familiar with one of the armed men. After this event with Frankie’s knowledge of the bank system, she proposes to rob a bank to our other protagonist who have mixed feelings on the matter. When Stoney loses her brother due to a mistake of identity and T.T loses her son to child protective services for putting him “danger” at her work place because of a lack of funds for a baby sitter the group of females decide to rob their first bank. The bank robberies are successful until the police start to gain a some traction on the investigation. After the final bank robbery which was supposed to serve as their last, three of the females are killed unceremoniously leaving Stoney a the last person alive to take her portion of the money and leave for an unknown location. This is my first time watching this movie in my life and it resonated with me as I come from a project in Jersey City, NJ. The characters struggles are a dime a dozen for the type of environment that they are placed in even to this day (as the movie is a lot older). People being misrepresented by the police system, society failing its people who are labeled with stigma and the desire to make a better life for oneself leading to people committing crimes that they otherwise would have avoided if their circumstances were different.

Social Structure Theory

Social Structure Theory is the idea that instead of focusing solely on the actions of the individuals, a critical lens should be put on the structure of society itself and how environments influence one’s decision to participate in crime. This Theory is a very prevalent in this movie from both a broad and individual sense. The main characters seem to live in a Zone Two area of their neighborhood by certain hints in the movie such as rampant graffiti on the walls of the project that Stoney’s brother was killed, the presence of gang members like Lorenz and the industrial factories that are seen in the background of Stoney’s house. This type of environment is usually filled with people in low income situations such as our main characters and the circumstances of this low income lifestyle leads to two of our characters wanting to participate in bank robbery. One character is Cleo who wanted the money for personal reasons but was fully convinced once T.T’s son was taken away after she was forced to take him to work due to her lack of funds for a babysitter. A large rift can be seen by someone who does not live in a Zone Two area being Keith as he acts as a voice of reason for Stoney later in the movie. We do not know what zone Keith lives in however we can see that he lives in a nice house that is funded by his high paying job working at the bank. He contrasts the main characters view point allegedly due to his environment which is pointed out by Stoney herself when she says that they essentially live in two different worlds and would not work out as a couple. We also see examples of crime before the events of the story as Cleo steals the get away cars due to her experience in the past with hijacking cars which lead her to get a criminal record. The influence that environment has on an individual it immense and can reflect in their actions. I have learned in this class how crime is still committed in places that have better living conditions however the types of crime vary. While a Zone Two are would have more issued with people committing blue collar crime, Other Zones will have more issues with people committing more white collar crime. Characteristics of the zones in general was something that I had to dive deeper in this class and it put things into perspective.

Social Process Theory

Social Process Theory suggests that no matter the person anybody can fall into crime. Socialization plays a huge role in how criminal behavior is developed in individuals. This Social association can be seen in the relationships of the females in their reactions with each other as well as the people close to them. T.T falls into the Social Learning Theory due to the fact that she is influenced by the Laws of Close contact. Though she has the most plausible reason for committing bank robbery with the seizing of her son (the catalyst for the group) at the beginning of the movie she remained the most reluctant to participate since the beginning, she is influenced by her close circle of friends to participate in bank robbery. Stoney is linked to the Social Bond Theory. Stoney remains the most reluctant out of all of the main characters to rob the bank throughout the entire movie. She however gives in to the pressure after her brother, whom she is the main caretaker, is killed by the police after a case of mistaken identity. Losing this bond leads to her giving into said pressure by her friends and committing bank robbery. It is seen that her interactions with Keith who is another bond leads her to not wanting to commit crimes again as she receives another bond. Frankie fits into the Control Theory specifically Containment Theory. Once she loses her job to what she deems as unfair circumstances she gains a certain disdain for society. This falls into the external pressure portion of early control theory in which unemployment plays a role in people becoming disillusioned with societies rules. Cleo falls into the idea of Behavior Theory because she sees only the positives robbing the bank without seeing negative. This can be seen in how she is the one who is the most adamant about committing more bank robberies after the first one to the point of threatening Stoney at gun point in one scene. She also has a complete abandonment of personal safety when committing crimes as she is the one who provides the police evidence of her stealing a car by throwing out CD’s with her fingerprints on them. I had no idea of these theories before this class. As we moved further along I could see links in my persons life with people who are close to me that have gone to prison. Slowly but surely behaviors that they showed and their end point started to make sense to me.