War dogs

An American movie, War Dogs is a black comedy-drama that was written, produced, and directed by Todd Phillips. A contract worth millions of dollars to supply rounds of ammunition to the Afghan National Army is awarded to two gun dealers, Efraim and David, in the movie. The drama in the movie is heavily fabricated, with some of the scriptwriter's own experiences serving as inspiration.

A situation known as "power distance" occurs when people are aware of the authoritarian leadership, tolerate it, and even anticipate that power will be distributed unfairly. They all believe that each and every person in the society has their place and need no any justification of the same (Wang, 2009). The cultural practices in the film War Dogs clearly outline aspect. David, a massage therapist, lives with her wife Iz in Miami, Florida. He is determined to source for additional income through other means upon receiving news of here pregnant wife.

David decides to spend all his life savings on high Egyptian cotton sheets, which he plans to sell to homes in Miami. This venture, however, is met with several setbacks which lead to its failure. At a funeral service for his friend, he bumps into his high school friend, Efraim, who had relocated to Los Angeles where his uncle had offered him a job. Their business specialized in making supplies to the US Army who were fighting at war in Iraq. This was a contract between them and the government.

Efraim, now a developed business person, owing a munition warehouse offers David a slot in his business. He disagrees on the offer claiming that such kind of businesses is not meant for people like him. David eventually accepts the offer and lies to his wife that he will be selling the cotton sheets through Efraim’s business. Efraim explains to David how he makes his orders. He states that orders are posted on a public website where anyone can bid for any order. But for small scale businessmen like them, they major on the small orders which large contractors do not bother with. This clearly outlines how people are conscience of the inequity in power distribution and are still comfortable with it.

War dogs clearly outline how culture shock exist among people of several societies. Culture shock is the feeling of disorientation one experiences when he or she is taken to a new environment, culture or way of life of other people (McInnes, 2012). David accepts the offer made by his friend Efraim to work in his AEY Company. This is a totally new field of adventure David is getting involved in. He totally knows nothing about the firearms being supplied. He is totally amazed by how simple Efraim makes his orders through the public website, selects the small orders but still gets paid a huge amount of money for the small deliveries made.

The AEY finally gets an order to supply thousands of Beretta pistols to a troop of US army based in Baghdad, a deal which would make them famous. On their way, they are blocked by an Italian embargo, forcing them to use the Jordan route to make the deliveries. In Jordan, they manage to bribe the officials who release their supplies but are still denied the permit to fly them to Baghdad.

They resolve to travel by road as no permits were required. They bribe officials at the border with packets of cigarettes as to be allowed to cross the border. David being new in the business was still shocked with the mode of operation of the business. He soundly utters to himself, ‘I wish I knew what I was involving myself in.’ They finally deliver the supplies to Captain Santos who pays then in turn. David experiences a culture shock when he ventures into this new business as it is totally different to what he had thought of.

Paralinguistic is the study of paralanguage. This involves the aspects of oral communication that do not comprehend words and majors to put emphasis or meanings to what people say (Anton Batliner, 2014). Todd clearly brings to light this aspect of culture in his film, War Dogs. David shows frustrations upon receiving the news that his wife is pregnant. The news comes at a time he is badly off financially after investing all his life saving on the Egyptian cotton sheets yet still it fails. This disappoints him as he saw this as his breakthrough in life.

David gives a sigh of relief when he bumps into his high school friend Efraim because he is assured of work if he requests on. He is offered a slot by Efraim in his business AEY Company. Even though both his wife and he oppose the offer, he lies to her that he is selling the cotton sheets through Efraim’s business. Iz shows her disappointment in David who lied to him; she finds out the actual business David involved himself in by overhearing their conversation with Efraim. She, therefore, decides to go back home and live with her mother.

Demographics involves the quantifiable characteristics of people originating from the same society. It is the study of a given population based on their age, sex or even activities conducted by them (Wenke, 2014). War Dogs clearly outlines this cultural practices. David meets a different kind of people upon joining Efraim’s business. The AEY company gets a contract of supplying AK -47 rounds of ammunition. Since they cannot deal with the government directly, they employ Henry who however overprices the supplies for them. Efraim, therefore, plans on kicking him out of the deal. David shows discomfort in working with people who are on the terrorist watch list.

Efraim, therefore, plans on taking out David by destroying the agreement contract between them which served as evidence. Henry learns of the discomfort David has and receives information that he plans on taking him out. He kidnaps him, beats him and leaves him at gunpoint almost killing him. David realizes that Efraim hasn’t paid Enver, the guy who was responsible for repackaging of the ammunition.

Cultural enclave is where someone migrates to a new place and still practices his cultures, beliefs, and traditions (Geoffrey, 2017). Philips portrays this aspect through characters like David, Efraim, Henry, David’s wife Iz and the Chinese embargo. David upholds his virtue of honesty even though he is working for an illegal company. He disapproves Efraim’s actions of not paying Enver his fees. He cooperates with the FBI in their arrest by snitching all Efraim’s illegal actions like falsifying the company’s documentation.

Henry and Efraim survive by means of bribing people to get what they want wherever they went to. Back in Miami, Henry bribes a gang to kidnap David upon receiving news that he is planning to kick him out the contract. In Jordan, Efraim bribes the officials for his supplies to be released. On the way to Baghdad, he bribes the officials at the border to enable them to cross. The Chinese embargo reports AEY company’s illegal actions to the FBI, as a result of not being paid. David’s wife disapproves his acceptance to Efraim’s offer, leaves the house and goes to her mother’s house yet still she turns down David’s offer of taking him back.

War dogs are film engraved with several cultural aspects as discussed above. It majors on the power distance, culture shock, paralinguistics, demographics and cultural enclaves’ aspects.

Work cited

Apt, Wenke. Germany's New Security Demographics: Military Recruitment in the Era of Population Aging. , 2014. Internet resource.

Moss, Geoffrey. Artistic Enclaves in the Post-Industrial City: a Case Study of Lawrenceville Pittsburgh. , 2017. Internet resource.

Schuller, Bjorn, and Anton Batliner. Computational Paralinguistics: Emotion, Affect and Personality in Speech and Language Processing. , 2014. Internet resource.

McInnes, Will. Culture Shock: A Handbook for 21 St Century Business. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2012. Print.

The film ‘War Dogs’

Wang, Yimei. The Relationship of the Cultural Dimensions of Power Distance, Individualism-Collectivism, and Face Concerns, and of Immigrant Status on the Conflict Management Styles of Chinese Managers of Enz Subordinates in the New Zealand Workplace: A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of International Communication, Unitec New Zealand. , 2009. Print.