Apollo 13 Analysis

Apollo 13 is a movie based off of the real space mission that took place in 1969. The space mission had many complications, but luckily with the help of many different members of NASA working together, the space ship was able to land back on earth safely. The men of Apollo 13 had always dreamed of landing on the moon. Not long after the astronauts launched into space did they realize that the task would be near impossible. Getting home safe became their next mission. Apollo 13 is a movie where many of its aspects can be related to the three sociological perspectives.
Symbolic Interactionism is the theoretical perspective in which society is viewed or it can be symbols that people use to establish meaning. Symbolic Interactionism occurs throughout Apollo 13. A huge symbol for the mission is the moon, where the astronauts want to land and discover new things. Apollo 13 is also associated with bad luck; some people consider thirteen as an unlucky number. At the beginning of the movie, Jim Lovell says lucky 13 and then his car stalls. The astronauts are also scheduled to land on the moon April 13th and the mission is scheduled to take 1300 hours and 13 minutes. Jim Lovell’s wife’s wedding ring also went down the drain on the day of the launch which could symbolize that bad things were going to happen. The mission was called “A successful failure.” The success represents the fact that the astronauts made it back safely, but it was considered a failure because several things went wrong throughout the mission.
Functional Analysis occurs when society is a whole unit that is made up of several different parts. This plays a major role in Apollo 13. Without many people working together, the mission could not have been completed safely. An astronaut is part of a very large team. There were many different teams working together to make the mission possible. Before the astronauts even go up into space they are examined very carefully by the medics. The launch control center...