Topic > Social Darwinism in the 1920s and the Movie College of...

The idea of ​​Social Darwinism influenced Americans, especially in the early 1920s. The idea of ​​survival of the fittest shows that the body is more important to adapt to society. Furthermore, physical fitness is considered the key to success and a way to integrate into society, if someone is not physically fit they will be isolated. The film “College” (1927) by Buster Keaton, presents the idea of ​​physical culture in college life and how fitness is a key to success that leads to efficiency in society. In the 1920s people thought that if the body is fit reflect on the mind and if there is fitness in society, the result will be efficiency in society. This idea has led to a society that focuses on physical training more than the mind. As the movie shows, Jeff, the athletic boy is the most popular boy in school because he is physically fit and all the girls are around him. He also attracted the attention of the public and the children supported him as he received the athletics champion certificate. However, Buster, the “mama's boy,” who doesn't care about sports and all his concentration on books and studies, acts like a madman who knows nothing about life, from wearing clothes to opening an umbrella. Furthermore, he does not have any popularity among his schoolmates because he was against physical activity and did not play sports. During that time, anyone who was against sports and physical culture was considered a retarded person. Furthermore, if someone does not support or is not involved in sports, they will be isolated from society. Buster faced his first isolation when he started talking about books and studying while demonstrating that he is against sports and believes that people will not benefit from sports because... middle of paper... a big hitch and jump and get to the room and start fighting with Jeff until he runs away. While trying to save Mary, he did everything he couldn't do before, such as hitting balls in baseball, jogging, jumping high, and throwing the javelin. That's when Mary realized that being fit isn't everything. Then they decided to get married, at the end of the film we see that Mary was reading a book with Buster and this means that the period of social Darwinism had come to an end. In summary, Social Darwinism has influenced American society as far as its education. and it has become part of their culture making fitness the key to success in a certain period of time. The movie “College” presented in a certain sense the impact of social Darwinism in American society, especially in university life. By showing that Buster married Mary using his physical fitness he presented how physical fitness is a key to success.