Professor Tani Sanchez
AFAS 371
7 April 2017
Feel The Noise and Step Up
Cultural assimilation is defined as the “process by which a person or a group’s language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group”. (Webster) A good example of this is when someone from a foreign country immigrates to the United States and learns and eventually becomes a part of the American culture. Appropriation is defined as “taking something for one’s own use” (Webster). An example of appropriation is if someone builds a tree house but someone else takes all the credit for building it. Lastly, acculturation is defined as the “process of adopting the cultural traits or social patterns of another social group”. (Webster) This is similar …show more content…
Step Up is a 2006 film directed by Anne Fletcher and starring Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan. Step Up is about a young man named Tyler is sentenced to 200 community hours of community service. Tyler is sentenced to community service because he took the blame for the vandalism when it was actually his friends who vandalized a school. While completing his community service, Tyler peeks into a dance class where there is a girl named Nora. However, when one of the dancers named Andrew is injured, Nora is left without a dance partner. Tyler offers to be her dance partner in which she declines. When Tyler proves to Nora that he can complete the routine, she lets him practice the routine. Tyler and Nora rehearse their routine together and become closer to each other. It is during this time that Tyler becomes assimilated to a type of dance that he is unfamiliar with. Tyler and Nora are offered a chance to perform their routine in a showcase that would be Tyler’s first dance performance. Andrew comes back from his injury leaving Tyler to think that he is no longer needed. Unfortunately for Andrew, he hurts himself again and Nora is left without a dance partner again. Because of this, Nora decides to perform her routine solo. Right before her performance, Tyler persuades Nora to let her perform with him. They end up performing together successfully and make up at the end of the movie. Step Up demonstrates appropriation and acculturation. Appropriation is demonstrated in this movie in the beginning when Tyler takes the blame for something he did not do. The two brothers who vandalized the school should have been charged for what they did but Tyler took all the credit for the vandalism. Acculturation is also used in this movie because of how Tyler becomes a part of a social group in the movie. It was something that he was unfamiliar with and became a part of something