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In Class Writing 2

​ When someone discusses the hierarchy of communities, they may begin with the base unit of a family. Multiple families build up into a community, which may become a town, or city. These towns are united as a state. In the case of the “City of God”, the base unit could be a gang. Mathematically speaking, the equation for a favela could be the following: gang + gang + innocent working civilians = a favela. Objectively, this is the lifestyle and societal makeup of this favela. Life is built upon the gang lifestyle. Social interactions as well as economics are largely under control of the local gangs. Either you’re working behind the counter at a supermarket, or you’re on the other side of the counter, holding the store up. In both cases, this is no life to live. Many civilians relied on the drug trade to provide income, while others relied on due to their addiction. Along with the strong presence of the drug trade came organized crime, which ironically helped to lower crime rates in the slums (thanks to the infamous Li’l Ze). Overall, the baseline of these favelas is drugs and violence.

​ In the film “City of God”, having connections could bring you to the top of society. If you knew the right person at a young age, you could begin a job as a drug dealer. Eventually, you could get promoted to manager, and possibly even begin running the operation. By the end of the movie, the amateur photographer Rocket scored a photography job because of one man: Li’l Ze. This fact is indisputable. Rocket first made a connection with a girl who he was very interested in. However, the helpful connection turned out to be the man he envied most: this girl’s boyfriend. Towards the conclusion of the film, this boy had vouched for Rocket’s photography ability, and gave him the opportunity to take a very valuable photo of Li’l Ze and his gang. These connections are made possible by the gang lifestyle; it had taken over the society of this particular favela. The children are surrounded by shootings, robberies, and drugs, which in turn leads them to join the gang race. They see the older boys as role models, even though they are making money by firing shots at innocent shop keepers. In the movie, one gang known as the Runts, is made up entirely of kids toting firearms. In this case, the connection in focus is between the children and their role models. Another example of this connection Li’l Ze as a kid with the older boys in a gang. They leave him on watch duty while they hold up a motel, and this triggers a series of events that leads Li’l Ze to pursue becoming his own boss. Soon, he is the one making connections, drafting other kids to join his and up-and-coming gang. In this society, one could visualize a gang as a crime-based fraternity. The values of brotherhood and camaraderie are held high. You shoot together, and you’ll die together. This is yet another effect of the gang-lifestyle, which as at the heart of society in the City of God: life is worth much less. There is hardly a pause when ending someone’s life. If you look at the roots of society here, you can see that the gang lfiestyle is built upon fear.

​ While fear is one economic tool (or even currency), another would be drugs. Li’l Ze had formed a violent corporation of drug running, similar to how Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo (or El Padrino) united Guadalajaran gangs to form one empire built on drugs. In this favela, you are either a worker or a hoodlum; the only difference is which side of the gun you are on. The most heartbreaking part of this is how those who live honestly do not seem to be rewarded. Rocket even mentions this fact. Initially honest, “Knockout-Ned” would become head of the gang war, opposing Li’l Ze, all because Li’l Ze happened to choose Ned’s girlfriend as a target, and thus Ned as one too. Soon, society began picking sides for the war. The silver lining to this situation is how Li’l Ze was actually able to reduce crime in “his” slums. What did he buy this with? Not money, but rather the other currency: fear. This is also the reason many kids joined the war. Their thought process is as follows: “If I join a gang, they can protect me and my family.” If they pick a side, they at least have a 50% chance of being on the winning side, whereas if they do not pick a side, they will likely get caught in the crossfire anyways, similar to how Rocket is (multiple times). The gang-lifestyle had a strong influence on the economy and culture, as well as on society as a whole.

​ “The most brilliantly designed machine, the most creativley designed company, the most beautifully evolved organism cannot escape this grimmest of grim reapers. To maintain order and structure in an evolving system requires the continual supply and use of energy whose by-product is disorder,” (West 14) states one author on scaling. In this case, the “machine” is a gang, and the disorder is manifested as violence. For Li’l Ze to keep control of his territory, he had to continuously instill fear by making examples out of those who failed to follow his rule. Another case of this disorder manifesting is how one is restricted to his fellow gang-members. Once you join, those are your brothers. This severs the ability to make connections outside of the gang. The number of links between people increased at a slow rate, as it is rather difficult to branch out from your gang. An additional scaling correlation is seen between the number of members of gangs with deaths. As more and more people become involved in this lifestyle, more people are removed from this life because of it. More guns on the streets means more bullets leaving a family crying for their loved one. Also, if fear could be quantitatively viewed, fear scales with money. If you are feared as Li’l Ze was, you could do whatever you wanted, including robberies.

​ While it may seem like this gang lifestyle is inescapable in this slum, I believe it is possible to escape. At many points throughout the movie, characters attempt to escape and are halted by the same system they wish to escape, such as when Benny almost makes it out before getting shot. According to Tobler’s First Law of Geography, the best way to escape is to distance yourself enough from gang lifestyle, which is what Rocket planned to do. The problem is, “In the City of God, if you run, they get you, and if you stay, they get you too.” I believe the best approach is to run as soon as you can, before connections can be made that solidfy your place in that society. No one’s destiny is predetermined; these people have not been chosen to endure this lifestyle. They have been presented the challenge of escaping the treachery of the favela. One specific factor makes it very difficult to escape, and that is the economy. Since most people make fair money by working in the drug trade, it becomes harder and harder to get out. This quickly leads to involvement in the gangs. In conclusion, the social networking of gangs took a toll on the favela’s society, economy and culture.