"Off the Map"

Conformity is the process by which an individual’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people. The film “off the map” challenges this in many ways throughout the movie. When I think of conformity, I think of everybody following a certain set of rules rather it be moral or lawful. The family was most defiantly a non-conformity family.

One of the ways the family challenged conformity is by living without money. Most people believe that having more money gives you a better life, but this the complete opposite for Bo and her family. They thought of living without money as having their life truly being theirs to live and not somebody else. I commend them for doing this to a point, yes, it would be nice not to have to worry about money, but there are something’s that you just need money for like doctors’ visit and stuff like that.

Even though Bo’s family lived one way she was the non-conformity in her family. She wanted to get away from the life style that her parents lived. She wanted to have a big house with sprinklers. She rebelled a lot against her family ways, for instance killing the coyote and buying the boat. Also Bo wanted a credit card so bad that she stole some else’s information, just so she can live what she called a normal life. I am not surprised by this since most kids go through this stage in their life, without the stealing somebody’s information of course. However, it did not help that her parents did not really give her any boundaries like most parents do. There are not too many parents that would allow their children to do the things that Bo’s parents let her do. This family lived by their own rules and did not care what others thought or had to say about it. Maybe that is the reason they lived so far out in the middle of nowhere so they can live as they please.