Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:

Relationship Between Media and Society 1

Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:

Relationship Between Media and Society
Output – Film Review 1

Gigawin, Rayvelyn G. | 2019-12456-MN-0

Polytechnic University of the Philippines
CORE 30033: Media Construction and Deconstruction
October 28, 2020
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 2

Spotlight is a real-life story film released in 2015 and directed by Singer and McCarthy.

The film is about the Spotlight Team − investigative journalists of Boston Globe (an American

daily newspaper) who found out about the scandalous issue of the pedophilia priest, John Geoghan,

in the Diocese of Boston. According to their history, during the late 90s and early 2000s, the

majority of the population in Boston were Catholic, and the Church was the city’s most powerful

institution and the Archdiocese as its head. But Boston Globe’s story has the potential of unsettling

the city of Boston at its core. (Mizner, 2009). The argument that I am trying to posit is that the

function and relationship of media (Boston Globe), the church (Archdiocese of Boston), and the

Spotlight Team in the community of Boston are interconnected. To analyze this assumption, the

theoretical framework that I am going to use is functionalism.

Functionalism

Auguste Comte, Emil Durkheim, and Herbert Spencer are the prominent proponents of

functionalism from Sociology. According to them, functionalism is visualizing particular social

structures as the one affecting the use and value of the social organism in its environment. Spencer

used human anatomy as an analogy; just like the body, each part has a particular "function” for

stability and sustainability. Similarly, functional analysis posts a series of needs that must be met

if it persists to exist in its environment.1 In this perspective, Comte and Durkheim's major element

is structural interdependence, while Spencer distinguishes ‘organism’ between ‘superorganism.’

Mentioned above are few and basic information about sociologists and their functional perspective.

To fully understand the film, I used Talcott Parsons’ Theory of A.G.I.L. (AGIL Paradigm).

Initially, Parsons only followed Spencer’s idea and write books about it. Eventually, after 13 years,

1
Turner, Theoretical Sociology: A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories, pp.8.
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 3

he was able to write his first functionalist book, The Social System. In this book, he formulated the

idea of Systems Levels. It is composed of four (4) systems that are interrelated and dependent upon

each other. It works and interacts together at some level that helps us to have a social structure that

we can all agreed to live in. It is considered as the building blocks of society.

Below is Parson’s paradigm of General Action System:

Figure 1 Requisites of the Overall Action System and Its Constituent Subsystems2

The systems are cultural, social, personality, organismic (behavioral). [1] The cultural system uses

“meanings” like values & language. These meanings are formed through socialization. [2] Social

systems use “role interactions” that individuals play in society. These interactions are based on

“expectations” inherent to the role. [3] The personality system uses “individual” as the units of

measurement. It focuses on ‘how’ society is influenced by the action of individuals, based on

needs, and motives (e.g., religion). [4] The organismic/behavioral system uses “biology” or the

physical environment and physical body. Parsons is concerned with ‘how’ the structure of social

2
Turner, Theoretical Sociology: A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories, pp.18.
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 4

work & ‘what’ basic components of that structure are. Every society tries to fulfill four (4)

functional imperatives which are the AGIL: Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration, and Latent

Pattern. Adaption is the capacity of society to interact with the environment. Goal Attainment is

defining primary goals and attaining them or the capability to set goals for the future and make

decisions accordingly. Integration is the coordination in the society, cohesiveness or harmonization

of the entire society is a demand that the values and norms of society are continuous and

sufficiently convergent. Lastly, the Latent Pattern maintains the motivation of individuals to

perform rules according to social expectations (pattern maintenance).

For a comprehensive discussion of the model, according to Parsons:

“by discovering the location of an institution in the AGIL box, one first learns
what requisite an institution functions to meet. Then, by examining the generalized
symbolic media developed within an institutional domain within a given functional
sector—that is, A, G, I, or L—it becomes possible to see the terms of discourse,
exchange, and ideo-logical formation among actors in an institutional domain, thereby
integrating actions within the domain. Parsons argued that for any social system—a
group, an organization, a community—the analysis for a societal system can also be
performed for these subsystems in a society.”3

Theoretical Application

To understand the function of media (Boston Globe), the church (Archdiocese of Boston),

and the Spotlight Team, as well as their relationship with each other in the community of Boston,

I used Parson’s AGIL.

Systems Levels Social Institutions present in the Film

Organismic/Behavioral Media (Boston Globe & Spotlight)

3
Turner, Theoretical Sociology: A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories, pp.21.
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 5

Personality Religion (Catholic Church & Archdiocese of

Boston)
Social Law/Government (lawyers are included)
Cultural Community of Boston
(Family & Parishioners)
Table 1. Identifying Social Institutions that will use in AGIL Paradigm

From the details of Figure 1, I looked for the equivalence of its elements to the movie, and so, the

result in Table 1.

A G
9
10
Religion
Media (Catholic Church &
8 (Boston Globe & Spotlight) Archdiocese of Boston) 5

7 6
Boston Community (Family) Law/Government
12

L 11
I

Figure 2. Requisites of the Overall Action System and Its Application

Key Inter-Institutional Exchange

1–2 Catholic church serves as a home for the Bostonians and they give care in return, the
majority of them are raised Catholics.
3–4 The media has the role to abide by the government's legal actions in exchange for the
safety and security that the law provides.
5–6 The law gives contingent support to religion in exchange for imperative coordination.

7–8 The media gives truthful information/content in exchange for the readership’s trust.

9 – 10 Religion gives support for media’s loyalty.

11–12 The family gives motivation to pattern conformity in exchange for pattern content of
family forms.
Table 2. A brief discussion of Institutional Exchange
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 6

Parsons defined the social system as a system of the actions of individuals, and the principal unit

of those are the ‘roles' (Turner, 2014). Society is an organization that is responsible for the

fulfillment of the life of every individual. Media in a society has a significant role and one of the

other institutions within society. Its main function, other than disseminating information,

entertainment, education, promotional messages, is being the source of the immense number of

information. It includes broadcasting and narrowcasting medium: print such as newspapers,

magazines, books, etc., radio, television, and digital mass communication. (Mehraj, Bhat, &

Mehraj, 2014). In the film, the major institutions are Archdiocese of Boston (represents religion),

Spotlight Team and Boston Globe (represents media), Law or Government (as is), and Boston

Community; family, parishioners, etc. (represents family). Figure 2 shows the inter-institutional

exchange between and within institutions.

The vital theme portrayed in the film is the classical "individual vs. society" type of story

since the team is against the authority. In the movie, it is evident that the church is powerful and

holds enormous control in Boston. Consequently, the reason why I used a functionalist perspective

is because of the Spotlight’s natural flow of the story. It presents the step-by-step process of how

to do an article/newsroom. It showcased the daily routine and real-life work of a journalist. The

story plot is about the accused priest who has molested children in Boston, and the team is eager

to unwrap the story. Initially, the focus of the article that they must publish is about Fr. Geoghan

(a pedophile) that molested kids. Digging deeper, they found out that it is not just an isolated case

but also involves a large number of priests that have done a similar monstrous thing. The big story

does not end there, but instead, it branched into knowing how the church did its best to cover the

crime and let the priest roam freely and transfer in different parishes in Boston. In functionalism,

society must work harmoniously to attain stability. But, in the film, there is what Durkheim calls
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 7

“pathologies” or illnesses of society. It happens when disorganization in the system takes place

because of deviant behavior. The church has failed to meet its fundamental role; to be the home

and shelter, especially for the hopeless. Instead, they are the cause of dysfunction of other

institutions like family and law institutions. The common target of perpetrators have been members

of broken families, and it affects their victims, resulting in internal struggles without the presence

of authorities that can be trusted. Lawyers should assure the security and safety of the people

through a just and objective decision, yet they turned out to be the opponent because of personal

greed. Another institution is media, specifically the Spotlight Team. Globe’s investigative team is

composed of four reporters: Robinson as the team editor and lead reporter, Matt Carroll, who

specialized in computer-assisted reporting; Michael Rezendes, a political reporter and Sacha

Pfeiffer, an experienced court reporter. Oversaw by Ben Bradlee Jr., and Marty Baron, as the new

editor-in-chief (Mizner, 2009). It is mentioned earlier that the media’s role is being the leading

source of information. It is particularly true in 2001 when newspapers still reign and have a

tremendous impact on the community. The problem that the team must confront is both internal

and external. Their external battle is the difficulty of collecting data and shreds of evidence they

need for their article. On the other hand, their internal struggles are the emotional impact of the

things they have discovered, including the numerous victims; others died, some survived, and the

perpetrators have lived their lives the way they wanted, without accountability for their mistakes.

Additionally, their confusions about their faith were apparent since all of them are raised as

Catholics, but none are practicing the values in real life.

Democracy, before and after the story was released, were vastly different. Before the events

are published, the victims were quieted, guilt-tripped, and shamed. They have no courage of

recounting the tale to other people. Like the story of Patrick, he is a victim of molestation when he
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 8

was a kid, and it was his first time telling that story to someone (Michael). He is scared that his

sons would find out, or even other people, because of the fear of judgment and the probability that

no one will believe him because it is the ‘church. 'After the article is published, they received calls

from victims and their families. They are willing to participate and to give further details about the

scandal. It gave light to the victims and the parishioners as well. In terms of media ownership,

undeniably, the church has a substantial impact because the scandal perpetrated several years

before it is disclosed to the public. Even the Globe and the Spotlight work for the truth, however,

have been viewed as ‘elitist and anti-Catholic church.’It adds to their external problems. After all,

there is no assurance that their readers would believe them because most of their readers are

Catholic, and it is hard for the parishioners and reporters to accept that story. Hence, it requires

them to conduct an in-depth investigation of the case. Because of that, the Spotlight Team and the

Globe have taken the risk of digging and releasing the story.

It is worthy to note that the individual and institutions have a role to play in society. It is

an important idea to explore in any functional analysis. The deterioration of institutions in Boston

means that the entire society is not operating normally based on what functionalism is deemed as

‘functional society’. In short, an institution’s dysfunctionality affects the other institutions because

it is interrelated and interdependent, thus, it is essential to determine what are the institutions, the

members in it, and their relationship to one another for the analysis to be effective.
Spotlight Film Review using Functionalist Perspective:
Relationship Between Media and Society 9

References

Mehraj, H. K., Bhat, A. N., & Mehraj, H. R. (2014). Impacts of Media on Society: A Sociological
Perspective. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 56-64.
Mizner, D. (2009). Reporting an Explosive Truth: the Boston Globe and Sexual Abuse in the Catholic
Church. Columbia University.
Turner, J. H. (2014). Theoretical Sociology: A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories.
California: SAGE Publications.