Deviation refers to any activity or behavior that violates society standards,
whether it be an officially regulated regulation (such as crime) or an unwritten
norm. Although deviance has a negative implication, it is not always a negative
activity; in some cases, positive deviation is also possible. Even if a standard or
norm is broken, a conduct can be categorized as beneficial or appropriate. On the
other hand, a violation of norm or laws whereby a central authority can issue a
punishment is referred to as a crime. Crimes can lead in warnings, rehabilitation,
or not being prosecuted at all.

The movie Catch Me If You Can clearly shows the
making of a 16-year-old boy name Frank Abagnale as a criminal in the film. It’s
Frank Abagnale Jr. narrative, who pretended to be a Pan Am co-pilot, a doctor,
and a legal prosecutor who, before turning 19, effectively and masterfully duped
millions of dollars in cheques. An FBI agent sees apprehending him as a
personalized duty. Frank, on the other hand, not only avoids the arrest, but enjoys
it too. Frank looks forward to his father and is overjoyed to see him honored as a
lifelong member of the club. Frank observes his father deceiving a woman into
buying him a black suit at a shop. Frank then dresses himself as his father’s valet
and takes him to a bank in an attempt to impress the bankers and acquire a loan.
The family is relocated after the loan is disallowed in response to a combination
of IRS tax crimes committed by the father. It all started when Frank pretended
himself to be a sub teacher at his new school including ordering the real substitute
instructor away, alleging a blunder. When the mistake was found, Frank’s parents
was summoned to discuss the situation.

Although Frank’s mother was furious and
mad at him, but his father was delighted with how far his son was capable of
taking the con or scam. Soon after this Frank learns that his mother is having an
affair with Jack Barnes, a friend of his father’s and that his parents are separating.
Frank departs the house when asked who of his parents he chooses to live with,
swindling his ways into conveyance and shelter with his checkbook. When Frank
gets into trouble, he tries to make bogus cheques using his own checkbook and
then tries to fool bank employees using confidence techniques, but he fails
horribly. He claimed to be a school reporter to gather data about Pan Am co-pilots
hoping to draw his parents’ notice and reveal his true identity. He went to airline
tailor to get his own set of Pan Am co-pilot outfit made for him.

He began to
impersonate a co-pilot and cash in counterfeit checks under the name Frank
Taylor. Carl Hanratty was the man who pursued Frank in the movie. When he
thought it was too dangerous to remain as a pilot, Frank assumed the name of
Frank Conners and created a fraudulent professional qualification. Besides
imitating a doctor, Frank then became an authorized lawyer in the southern
United States. He possessed a forged Harvard diploma, yet he passed the bar test
on his third and last attempt but then Frank was caught by Carl. He subsequently
spent six months in a French prison until being moved to a Swedish prison.
Eventually Frank was deported to U.S. where he escaped, only to be caught
months later. Carl convinced FBI to give an offer to Frank a deal in which he
could serve the rest of his life sentence working for the FBI’s bank fraud division,
which he accepted. Frank has aided the FBI in capturing some of the world’s most
tricky checks counterfeiters and fraudsters after his release from prison in 1974,
and is regarded as among the world’s greatest authorities on bank fraud and
forgery.

As per what I read and understand by watching the movie, the theoretical
perspectives involved in this story was Merton Strain Theory, Agnew’s Strain
Theory, and Social Control Theory. Robert King Merton was an American
sociologist who believed culture might, to a significant extent, promote deviation.
Merton felt that individuals are pressured to comply by widely accepted ideals.
When faced with strains, individuals respond in five different ways, according to
Merton that are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Frank
was an innovator means one who accepts general societal aims yet developing
their own technique of accomplishing them, including adopting socially
inappropriate or unorthodox ways to attain culturally acceptable aims. He wanted
to live the American Dream but he didn’t want to pursue the traditional route. So,
he started down a path of fraudulent behaviors to reach his goal. Frank’s father
had died at the end of the film, and his mother was blissfully happy to her new
spouse. Frank caves up to the cops and begins existing in what Merton refers to
as conformity, assisting the FBI catching more scammers. Conformity is the most
common way of response when a person is faced with strain which means
achieving cultural aims in a socially acceptable manner. Merton’s strain theory
has further derived theories like Institutional Anomie Theory. According to the
thesis, an institutional arrangement with a market in which the market/economy
is permitted to operate without limitations from other social intuitions such as
family will almost always result in criminal behavior. Anomie is a sensation of
being outside of the norm, which can lead to criminal behavior. Frank was trapped
in anomie after his parents revealed about the divorce, so he ran away and began
committing fraud. According to the strain theory, obstructed institutional method
can lead to criminal activity. Despite the fact that Frank’s family had lost a lot of
money, they weren’t so destitute that he could not complete his high school. They
were still able to get by. The strain placed on Frank was exacerbated by obstructed
institutional methods, although it was not the primary cause. Next comes the
Agnew’s strain theory which states that strain theory could be important in
explaining crime and deviance, but it has to be re-focused on the norms rather
than social class or contextual influences. Agnew proposed a general strain theory
that is neither systemic nor logical, and instead individual and irrational, to
achieve this goal psychologically with a focus on persons immediate or local
social context. He said strain caused by an individual’s projected inability to
achieve positively desired goals, the actual or expected elimination of positively
valued stimuli, and the actual or anticipated appearance of negative stimuli. Even
though Frank got his job in FBI he was not happy with the work and again wanted
to live the fraudster life like he one more time ran away from the office to the
airport and was again tempted to board flight as a co-pilot when Carl found him.
Brenda was both positive and negative stimuli in Frank’s life. The two were about
to get married when Frank confessed Brenda who he really is as he trusted her
and requesting that they could connect at the airport someday. He was devastated
when he saw, at the airport, a lot of FBI agents in undercover are keeping an eye
on Brenda. He was concerned more with material success rather than spiritual or
intellectual values. On the negative side he tended to became more reckless and
spend too much. Frank had an inability to achieve positively valued goals and
was quick to blame others and was less concerned about hurting others. There is
one more theory name Social Control Theory that was mentioned by Travis
Hirschi. This social control theory claims that having ties to one’s family, school,
as well as other component of community reduces one’s proclivity for deviant
behavior. Human are risk takers who want to satisfy their goals using the simplest,
and often illegal, means available.

If an individual’s social links are strong, he
need not commit any crime; yet, if his social links are poor, he will be vulnerable
to egoistic inclinations. There are mainly four social bonds. These bonds,
according to Hirschi, are based on attachment to people both inside and outside
the family, like friends, teachers, co-workers. When a person had a close
relationship with their parents, they may avoid engaging in illegal activities so as
not to dishonor, embarrass and shame their family. Frank’s parents’ separation
had a detrimental affect on him, causing the social bond to be broken, allowing
him to simply and openly commit crime. Next is commitments to actions or
activities in which an individual has decided to invest his time and energy, such
as educational and career goals will not engage in criminal behavior.

Involvement in things that help to both strengthen bonds with people and limit time available
for aberrant behavior because they will spend their free time in sports; and last,
belief in broader social values. Belief referred to as moral imperatives. Talking
about religious belief, if a person is religious, committing a crime will make him
feel terrible since it is ethically wrong. During Frank’s boyhood, he had a wide
selection of activities to select from, and they were not limited by the process of
socialization and social behavior or leanings. Frank made the decision to drop out
of school rather than continue his education, which was the first step on his path.
There was no commitment in his life. Secondly, he was not involved in any of the
sports activities or any other positive activities that could have diverted his mind
in positive direction. And lastly, Frank was not shown as a religious person,
therefore he did not have any moral or religious belief. And I think these were the
factors that were responsible for Frank being evolved as a criminal or fraudster.
It would be an error to view crime and deviance solely from a negative
perspective. Any culture that acknowledges that people have different beliefs and
concerns must provide room for individuals or organizations whose activities or
behavior do not reflect the majority’s norms. Social control refers to the methods
used by a society to prevent and punish behavior that violates social norms. The
circumstances in which a behavior occurs decide whether or not it is considered
aberrant. Within the same group, the designation of some behaviors as deviant
changes from one civilization to the next, as well as from one century to the next.

REFERENCES

www.rogerebert.com

en.wikipedia.org

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