W6.1 The movie "THE STING" —JIA YUAN

     The Sting is a classic scam movie that tells the story of two con artists plotting a clever "serial scheme," gradually guiding their target into their meticulously crafted scheme. This film is not only known for its tight rhythm and inverted plot; from a sociological perspective, it is a typical "self-presentation" show—just as Goffman points out in "The Self-presentation in Daily Life," where everyone plays a role on stage, and The Sting pushes this "performance" to its extreme. It shows us that trust between people is often built on a carefully crafted "performance." In reality, we may not be far from this "performance." Every job interview and social gathering brings out an "ideal self," carefully managing external expectations and impressions. Through Goffman's theory, what we see in this film is no longer just a scam, but a suite of complex social interaction mechanisms.

1. Stage and Performance: Scam as Theater

       Goffman compares society to a theater where people present images that meet societal expectations in their daily interactions, much like actors do at the "front desk." In The Sting, the entire scam is a meticulously crafted "theater": from fake underground casinos to those playing "FBI agents," to fake communications and gambling schemes, every环。 seems like a performance. The main characters Johnny Hooker and Henry Gondorff are not just frauds; they are directors and actors who go to great lengths in set design, costumes, language, and character arrangements to ensure that the target character Lonnegan is "true."

        This echoes Goffman's theory of "stage management": the front stage is an audience-oriented, rehearsed, and controlled performance, while the backstage stage is a space for strategic discussions and genuine emotions. The frequent switching between "behind-the-scenes preparation" and "front-stage performances" in the film vividly illustrates the boundary between front-stage and back-stage operations.

2. Impression Management: How to Make Others Believe in You

       The core of the scam's success lies in impression management—making Lonnegan believe they are trustworthy "partners." From attire, tone, to social settings, Hooker and Gondorff both precisely portrayed themselves as "professional gamblers" or "law enforcement officers." They thoroughly controlled the perception of the "audience," exercising control over the definitions in interactions—what Goffman referred to as the "defining context."

       And Lonnegan himself was also engaged in "impression management" — he tried to present himself as a calm, authoritative, and unchallengeable gang leader in front of outsiders, but in the scam, he gradually lost this "role control" and was gradually led by others.

3. Group performance and collaborative deception

        Goveman notes that people sometimes form "performance teams" that collaborate to play consistent roles in interactions. In The Sting, the entire scam relies on a large number of well-coordinated "actors": messengers, backstage instructors, informants disguised as gamblers... ...They formed a perfect "stage performance team" to jointly uphold that false interactive reality. This highly coordinated "team presentation" directly embodies Goffman's theory in the film.