Societal Issues in A Single Man Amelia Botting 10th Grade

As a society we are less likely to change when given a mirror image of ourselves in a text. In A Single Man directed by Tom Ford, 1960s society provides a modern audience with events and people that are not in the contemporary world, but the issues tackled within the film are still heavily prevalent within our society. The film undertakes the issues of stigma within societies, the fear of the unknown and finding happiness past grief. The cause of these problems have changed and altered throughout history and the 1960s setting allows the audience to look more objectively at the issues raised and compare these to the modern society.

It is human nature to fear the unknown as we have no comprehension or ability to predict the consequences. Within the 1960s A Single Man society, fear controls and influences the population's actions and decisions. With the Cold War continually on people’s minds, it is no wonder the society is controlled by fear. The fear of nuclear annihilation, the fear of communism taking over the world and the fear of communism already infiltrated into American society. This fear causes selfishness within the masses and a lack of concern for anyone but themselves, “there will be no time for sentiment when the...