Supply & Demand: Drug Trade's Virulent Affect on Social Classes.

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Supply & Demand: Drug Trade’s Virulent Affect on Social Classes

        In Steven Soderbergh’s film Traffic, America’s illicit drug problem is examined through a series of intersecting storylines that view it as a business, a war, a high-level social a criminal activity and a painful family trauma. In the film, Soderbergh attempts to reveal that “with all these situations, somebody’s connection to the world of drugs, whether its through selling, using, or policing, brings them into something that is bigger than they are.” That “something” refers to the U.S.-Mexican drug war. As perceived by the general public in America, the drug trade is made out to be a misfortunate lower-class dilemma.  However, the film’s presentation of the drug trade reveals a much more comprehensive analysis that entails all classes in society. Traffic shows how the drug war is being waged from different fronts, how it crosses socio-economic lines, and how the consequences of the drug trade affect all those involved. As the lives of various people, from a wealthy drug baron living in upscale, suburban America to the U.S. President’s new drug czar, become intertwined, Traffic reveals that the illegal drug trade is a universal problem. Traffic gives an illuminating, although disturbing, depiction of the real world in which the drug trade embroils people of all classes. Furthermore, the film exposes the fundamental interplay between drugs’ supply/demand and social class.

By presenting the film through a series of muddled accounts, Soderbergh displays the complex links at play in the illegal U.S.-Mexican drug trade. Lacking a single plot, Traffic zooms in on three locations: Tijuana, Mexico, La Jolla, California, and the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. As the lives of the various characters unfold in the film, the vignettes eventually add up to an identifiable conclusion- players of all classes play distinct roles in the ongoing American drug war.  However, to understand the complexities of the real world drug trade, it is important to understand the workings of social class in the supply and consequent demand for drugs. These complexities involve the drug cartels and trafficking, the “war on drugs,” and the family traumas, all which contribute to the presence of social class in the drug trade. Traffic not only reveals the complexities but also argues that these complexities will remain as long as the supply of drugs persists.

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By exposing the supply-side of the drug trade, Traffic reveals the intricate ties that too often are not exposed or simply dismissed by the American public. One such tie pertains to the drug baron and his inner-circle of associates on both sides of the border. In reality, the public commonly affiliates druglords with a lower class background. . Furthermore, the perception exists that druglords’ only escape from destitution is through the illicit drug trade. However, Traffic offers a rude awakening to many oblivious Americans.  Traffic focuses closely on the tragic quality of corruption and corruptibility, and on the destructive power of ambition by ...

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