SOCIOLOGY

BATCH -2020-2025
COURSE- BA LLB
SUBJECT- SOCIOLOGY
YEAR- 1ST YEAR
SEMESTER- 2nd

TOPIC-
THE MAKING OF FRANK ABAGNALE AS A CRIMINAL IN THE
FILM - 'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002).

SUBMITTED BY- Bhuvneshwari Rathore

SAP ID-81012019491

SUBMITTED TO- Prof. Arunoday Majumdar

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 INTRODUCTION-

‘Catch Me If You Can’ is a 2002 American biographical crime film based on the life of Frank
Abagnale, a con artist who managed to con a lot of people using a lot of different personas
created by him. His main offence was check theft, and he became so skilled at it that after getting
arrested the FBI sought his assistance in catching other check forgers. In this essay I will be
analyzing the making of Frank Abagnale as a criminal as in the film- ‘Catch Me If You Can’
(2002) with recourse to schools and theories of crime and deviance in sociology.

 SOCIALIZATION-

The first aspect is socialization; it is how a living organism turns into a social organism. The role
of socialization is to introduce people to the riches of society. Socialization is crucial for young
people who start with family admission and continue in college. It is a means of conveying
values, beliefs, and behaviours to future cluster members. Frank Abagnale Jr. learns deceptions
from his very own parents. This can be seen when his father asked him to play as his father’s
driver when his father wanted to make a bank loan.

When Frank was caught red-handed by the school disguising as a substitute teacher to teach a
bully in his class, his father did not punish him or give any advice to him but just laugh it off as
something funny. From the incident, Frank might have believed that what he was doing was right
and funny as his father did not say otherwise. Later, his mother was caught by him having an
affair with his father’s friend, Jack Barnes. She tried to deceive his son by saying that Jack is
looking for his father and she is just giving him a tour of the apartment but Frank was sharp and
realized the truth of what had happened. When the FBI came to his mother’s new house she tried
to pay off them with money to save Frank. In an incident where Frank's father drags him out of
bed one morning and leads him to a store, where he watches as his father cons a woman with a
gold necklace into giving him a black suit for Frank, he then dresses up as his father's driver and
takes him to the Chase Manhattan Bank to impress the bankers and obtain a loan. The family is
forced to move from their large home to a modest apartment after the loan is denied (due to a

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series of IRS tax scams committed by his father), causing conflict between Frank's parents. From
these entire scenes, it is clear that Frank was desensitized to deception by his own parents’
actions and believed that deception is a way to get something in his life which later will lead him
to a life full of fraud and crime. This is a clear example of children learning from their significant
others in this scenario, which are his parents. A life full of crime and fraud to get what he wants
is an example of self-centred behaviour that still retains his younger self.

Life is full of ups and downs a lot of unfortunate events happened with Frank Abagnale in his
past before he started indulging in delinquency and crime. His childhood was full of traumatic
events which he had experienced; there was a social breakdown in the family such as divorce and
financial breakdown, which influenced his development which led to his criminality. At school
the incident where he was sitting out while his parents were talking to the headmaster and he
helped a girl by telling her to told a girl to fold her medical note, to look as if it is given by her
mother because of the crease in it. It says about the kind of environment he grew up in and
helped him learn the tactics to con people.

He turned to crime as a child, growing up in a broken home. By imitating some of the sins he
saw his father commit, he followed in his father's footsteps. Frank's father's company was
initially booming, but he quickly fell behind, as the IRS was pursuing him for tax evasion. He
tried to secure a business loan from the bank but was unsuccessful in doing so, forcing the family
to move to a small apartment. Frank's parents got divorced because of his mother's adultery, and
Frank chose to flee rather than choose a parent to live with. Instead, he goes to a hotel and lives
alone, paying for his stay with bogus checks and makes up his mind to put things back the way
they were until the I.R.S. stole his father's possessions, and he began acting erratically to fulfil
this purpose by conning and spreading fraudulent checks.

 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION-

In this movie, social classes or an element of class can be seen between Frank’s family and
Frank’s supposed-to-be-wife Brenda whom he falls in love with when he disguised as Dr Frank
Conners. Brenda’s father is a lawyer which means Brenda’s family is upper-middle-class while

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Frank’s family is working class. We can see the difference between their wealth when Frank’s
wedding with Brenda; they have a big and lavish wedding that invite a lot of wealthy people.
Brenda was seen bringing a lot of checks from her father’s friend that she said were gifts for their
wedding. Brenda’s father, Roger strong was presented like someone who cares about social
status. This was shown when he gladly accepted Frank when Frank told him that he is a doctor
and he also had gone to law school for a year. Brenda dark past which made her kicked out of
her house seemed to be forgotten easily by her parents when someone with high social status like
Frank wanted to marry her. In the movie, social classes seem to be an important thing that cannot
be left behind unsaid. Frank caught his mother in an affair with a friend of his Father’s and after
the divorce of his parents; his mother gets married to that guy as he is rich. Being in school he
did not have enough money to take a girl out on a date, which brings a feeling of denial in him.
The incident where he was sitting out while his parents while talking to the headmaster and he
told a girl to fold her medical note, to look as if it is given by her mother because of the crease in
it.

 DEVIANCE-

It may be defined as a behaviour that violates social norms and is condemned by the majority of
society and arouses negative social reactions. Crime and deviance are not biological factors. As
we can see in the movie, Frank repeatedly violates the law by doing crime and transnational
crimes like check fraud in France and United States. This is an example of violating the
standards of conduct, showcasing a deviant behaviour or expectation of society, as society
expects people to follow the laws, rules, and regulation.

 INTERACTIONIST THEORY OF DEVIANCE-

The idea of primary and secondary deviance comes from the interactionist, Edwin M. Lemert. 

 PRIMARY DEVIANCE-

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Primary deviance is a violation of norms that do not result in any long-term effects on the
individual’s self-image or interactions with others. Individuals who engage in primary deviance
still maintain a feeling of belonging in society and are likely to continue to conform to norms in
the future.

When he changed his school and started going to a public school, on the first day of school an
incident took place where, he got bullied by a boy named Bart who pushed him in the hallway,
by the time they got back to the class he took up the role of the substitute French teacher and sent
back the substitute teacher who’d come up, and taught the students of the class French for over a
week. He even held a PTM and planned on taking a class for a field trip. It did not make others
view him as a bad person or alter his self-concept.

 SECONDARY DEVIANCE-

Secondary deviance occurs when a person’s self-concept and behaviour begin to change after his
or her actions are labelled as deviant by members of society. The person may begin to take on
and fulfil the role of a “deviant” as an act of rebellion against the society that has labelled that
individual as such.

Frank was labelled as a con artist after his actions were taken into notice by the FBI and after an
incident where he came across Hanratty for the first and got to know that he is an FBI agent and
was searching for him to arrest him. That led to him changing his personalities several times so
that he could con the FBI and escapes from them and not get caught.

 FUNCTIONALIST THEORIES OF DEVIANCE-

They believe that structural tensions and a lack of moral regulation in society cause criminality
and deviance.

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 ÉMILE DURKHEIM’S ANOMIE THEORY-

Durkheim coined the word "anomie" to describe the anxiety and disorientation that comes with
contemporary society's collapse in conventional life. Individuals experience stress as social
expectations clash with social facts, according to Robert K. Merton. Subcultural explanations
focus on communities like gangs who oppose mainstream traditions in favour of norms that
celebrate rebellion, delinquency, and non-conformity.

In my opinion, Durkheim's discussion of anomie is more metaphysical than literal. Alienation

causes deviant conduct, including criminal activity. There are no total, widespread periods where
the standards are absolutely and undefined. Instead, it appears on various occasions in various
communities, individuals, and contexts. Frank, I think, is one of those people who go through a
period of anomie. Anomie is a sense of being outside of the ordinary, and it can lead to criminal
behaviour. Frank felt trapped in anomie after his parents split, so he ran away and began
committing fraud. This happens in waves, but he pushes it off the edge when he first fools
Hanratty into believing he is a US Secret Service agent. Frank is in the shower when Agent
Hanratty enters, weapons blazing. To relax Hank's character's head, Frank emerges from the
bathroom calm and composed and starts to speak about himself in the third person, rattling off
some stuff about falsifying tests.

Carl is persuaded when he investigates the wallet Frank leaves with him and discovers no Secret
Service badge or identity. But it is too late by then, and Frank is fleeing a few stories down.
Frank falls into anomie after this scene, and quickly transitions to a career as a pilot, where he
meets women and deceives his coworkers, then to a hospital, and eventually to a job as a lawyer
working for his fiancé’s aunt. In Frank's culture, social conventions do not apply, but rather than
driving him to despair, it contributes to the development of the notorious Frank Abagnale and his
aliases. The reality that his peers' standards do not follow his own, but seem to on the surface,
serves as a motivator for him.

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 ROBERT MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY-

Merton tried to explain the relationship between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized
means available to achieve these goals. In the United States, one important cultural goal is
success which is measured largely in terms of money. This is what people say is the American
dream. Frank was trying to achieve success and wealth, but he did not use the institutionalized
means or proper and legal ways to get them. Frank is an innovator according to Merton’s Theory
of deviance. He rejected institutionalized means but accepted societal goal.

The strain placed on the Abagnale family before the parents' divorce is an important one. Frank’s
father is under investigation by the IRS, and their family is struggling financially. Frank had to
reach outside of his means, do something illegal, to maintain their quality of life. This is where
Frank realizes the possibilities in front of him. If he can work outside of the system then he can
succeed. This directly displays the concept of social strain theory that Merton introduces and
adds to the discourse of strain theory. Maybe the realization wasn't outwardly shown, but the
social strain theory suggests that Frank comes from a lower-middle-class background which he
rightly observes the struggles his parents face, wants to be successful, economically sound, and
powerful. He cannot achieve this as Frank and he instead begins to adopt other disguises to
further chase the American dream.

Next, I would like to discuss agent Hanratty and his role in the film with strain theory. Hanratty
and Frank have a unique relationship, a cat and mouse type struggle. Hanratty is primarily the
one to chase Frank, and he almost shares the screen equally with DiCaprio. At the end of the
film, and also throughout as they emerge from the flashbacks to the present day, it is apparent
that Hank's character has a connection with Frank Abagnale that is not the typical secret agent-
criminal relationship.

 SUBCULTURAL THEORY-

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According to Albert Cohen's subcultural theory, criminality is the result of young people joining
so-called subcultures where deviant beliefs and religious ideas predominate. Cohen's
fundamental premise is that most young prisoners belong to delinquent subcultures. Subcultures
are societal subsystems or anti-systems of beliefs and norms that often oppose the majority
society's normative principles. Delinquent gangs are an example. The merger of young people
into subcultures, according to Cohen, is the result of their members' transformation and status
problems, which are compounded by the new class society's disparities.

As a result of tax problems with the Internal Revenue Service, his family was forced to downsize
from their large home to a small apartment. On the other side, Frank must go to a public school
now. He wants to adapt to higher social strata due to a lack of opportunities and his frustration
with what happened to his father and his present position in life but is faced with expectations
and goals that he cannot fulfil due to his social conditions or achieve due to the rigid social
structures. By contrasting himself to the upper class, he preferred to emphasize his low status,
lack of reputation, and small prospects of advancement in business and society.

The subsequent self-esteem issues eventually lead to Frank's merging into alternate subgroups,
which are characterized by their separation from the unattainable middle class. These subcultures
oppose middle-class ideals in favour of standards that celebrate deviances like delinquency and
other delinquent actions. The film suggests that Frank is the kind of man we all want to be
successful in our self-presentation. But it also suggests what we should be if we want to embody
the American dream: segregated units that represent right-wing individualism. At the same time,
Frank poses a threat to established social hierarchies and mocks right-wing belief in individualist
dogma—if a teenager can successfully take on the role of pilot, doctor, lawyer, or teacher, aren't
the "legitimate" occupants of those roles already seen to be "all front," using "smoke and
mirrors" to gain respect, recognition, and reward from others?

 CONFLICT THEORY-

Conflict theories analyze crime and deviance in terms of the structure of society, competing
interests of the structure of society, competing interests between social groups, and the
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preservation of power among the elites. It posits that crime occurs when there are inadequate
social or physical controls to deter it from happening.

He committed his crimes in the pursuit of power and wealth. He felt pressures from culture and
his peers to make something of himself and to be successful. He was able to use his knowledge
and the weaknesses in society to make financial gains and have success as a criminal. Frank
Abagnale was raised in a lower-middle-class family from a rich family and did not have many
chances for success in his early life. Because of this, he had to fend for himself and make a way
to gain success. In socialization, I have explained his relationship with his parents and how he
learnt about deception from them. He did not have any skills or education so he had to turn to a
life of crime and deceit to survive.

 LABELLING THEORY-

It assumes that labelling someone as deviant will reinforce their deviant behaviour is important
because it starts from the assumption that no act is intrinsically criminal or normal

The incident where he gets a free ride into an aeroplane by imposing as a pilot and then the pilot
tells him about the workings of the plane and then the other man says that he is not in the mood
of telling as in the newspaper there is this news of a young man impersonating as a pilot and
travelling around in planes for free and has been given the title of a sky man, or as the James
bond of the sky and by hearing this news Frank feels proud and the next scene shows him
dressing up nicely. So, he was labelled by society but his real identity wasn’t discovered yet.

 CRIME

Deviant behaviour that violates prevailing norms or cultural standard prescribing how humans
ought to behave normally. A crime is therefore an act of deviance that breaks not only a norm

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but a law. In society, you can only go so far without money so with no job and no money he
started forging checks. Standard backed by the law; no longer remains deviant but assumes the
status of crime.

 CRIMES COMMITTED BY FRANK ABAGNALE-

The crime that is committed by Frank does not only stop in spreading fraudulent checks. By
using his checks, he also cons people and pretends to be somebody else he is not and gains a lot
of benefits from it. He promised to his father that he will bring things back the way it was before
for that he started doing crimes, so he pretended to be a pilot who faked Pan American Airline’s
checks and a federal pilot's license. Frank impersonates a Pan-Am co-pilot, complete with (fake)
airline identification, FAA pilot's license, and uniform. Then, impersonated as a lawyer and then
as a doctor and he continued to lie to his father about getting into various colleges and
occupations. By spotting as a Pan-Am Airlines pilot, he committed the felony of "paperhanging"
(cheque theft and forgery). He travels the United States as a ‘deadhead' (getting complimentary
free rides on the planes of other airlines). He is now using forged paycheques to extend his bogus
cheque schemes, which he began with his pilot's identity (complete with pasted on Pan-Am
logos, obtained from model aircraft kits). His adventures as a phoney pilot and his check frauds,
however, bring him to the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty. Frank reinvents himself as a
Harvard-trained paediatrician to avoid the sun. Frank adroitly reinvents himself once again when
he meets Brenda's father Roger, a State Prosecutor in New Orleans, and claims to have a law
degree from Berkeley. Frank gets a job as an Assistant Prosecutor thanks to his prospective
father-in-law, and he passes the state bar exam.

 WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES-

White-collar crimes are those that are committed by deception and are driven by monetary
gain. Various forms of bribery, embezzlement, tax avoidance, and money laundering are the

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most prevalent white-collar crimes. The use of middle-class or educated status to participate
in criminal activity is the most common form of white-collar crime.

Then, he worked as a master con and scam. Frank relocated to the city and embarked on a career
as a sophisticated criminal. Abagnale created several schemes over the next five years, ranging
from check fraud to impersonating different practitioners. Pilots for Pan Am and Trans World
Airlines (TWA), a lawyer working in the Louisiana state attorney general's office, a paediatrician
(children's doctor) in a Georgia hospital, and a businessman pointing to a phoney search on a
computer screen were among the many impersonations.

Abagnale then went on to commit mortgage fraud. He would overdraw his account by writing
personal checks he could not afford to pay. This only lasted for a brief period before the banks
demanded payment. To continue the act, he opened new accounts at various banks and assumed
new identities. He developed various methods of defrauding banks by trial and error, such as
copying out his versions of payroll checks. He would deposit the checks and then lobby the
banks for cash advances depending on his account balances. He also invented a method of
magnetically printing his account number on the bank's blank deposit slips, then reintroducing
them to the bank's actual blank deposit slips warehouse. Customers of the bank were completely
unaware of the situation when they entered their details on these deposit slips, believing that their
funds would be routed to their accounts. Their money was deposited into his account.

 SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY-

Crime behaviour, according to Travis Hirschi, happens when a person's attachment to society is
compromised. The strength of social ties that bind individuals to society determines their level of
connection. Attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief, according to Hirschi, are the four
social ties that tie us together.

Another theory that I see present in this movie is the social control theory. Social control theory
is when people commit illegal acts when the bindings of the society, they live in are either

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weakened or broken. When we see Frank when he was younger, he was in a private school living
in a big house with his parents.

Self-control is improved because of social learning, which serves to decrease the desire to
engage in inappropriate behaviour. According to theory, people are risk-takers by birth, to the
point of being egocentric. Deviant behaviour is associated with moral codes. During his youth,
Frank had a wide variety of things to choose from, and he was not bound by the mechanism of
socialization and social learning. Humans are risk-takers who attempt to fulfil their needs by the
simplest, often criminal means available. But, if the person is well-connected to society, he or
she would not commit the crime. If a person's social relations are fragile, he or she is vulnerable
to 'egoistic urges.'

1. COMMITMENTS-

Individuals have a vested interest in behaving in a certain way. A student who wishes to further
their studies, for example, would not partake in illegal behaviour. Frank chose to drop out of
school rather than further his education.

2. BELIEFS-

Religious convictions are referred to as 'moral imperatives.' When a person is religious, he or she
may feel bad for committing a crime because it is morally wrong. Frank was not seen to be
devout, because he lacked values and principles.

3. ATTACHMENTS-

It occurs when a person has a tight relationship with their parents and does not partake in
criminal activity to avoid causing embarrassment or shame to the family. Frank was harmed by
his parent's divorce. As a result, the relationship was broken, allowing Frank to commit crimes
with ease.

4. INVOLVEMENTS-

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It is a term used to describe athletic tasks. Take, for example, organized sports. Since they spend
their spare time participating in athletics, youth interested in sports teams are less likely to be
involved in violence or drug use. Frank was not a member of any sporting teams and did not
have many mates.

 CONCLUSION-

Many sociological theories of crime and deviance were seen in the movie which contributed to
the making of Frank Abagnale a criminal but, no psychological, biological or physical evidence
was present. Even after committing crimes and having deviant behaviour he conquered his past
and became a good person his father dies by the end of the film, and his mother is happily
married to her new husband. Frank gives in to the cops and begins to live in what Merton refers
to as "conformity," while still assisting the FBI in catching other fraudsters. He begins to adhere
to societal expectations and begins working with the FBI. This movie tells us the struggle of a
boy trying hard to unify his broken family and create a happy family of his own but fall deep into
the criminal world because he thought money and status is everything. Frank’s socialization with
his parents and that taught him the world of deception. When the FBI came to his mother’s new
house she tried to pay off them with money. Frank turned into a conman to get money and status
as he thinks that these two can help him unite his broken family. Thus, he lost his goal to unite
his family. Accepting his fate, he turned to the police and helps the FBI to catch fraudulent check
forgers.

The social function of deviance includes social change and social conservation which can be
seen in Frank. Carl gave Frank a check from a case he was working on during one of their visits,
and Frank instinctively recognized the bank teller as a suspect. Carl got so impressed that he
persuaded the FBI to let Frank work for the FBI's bank fraud unit for the rest of his sentence.
Frank has been married for 26 years and lives in the Midwest with his three friends, according to
the closing credits. Frank has made a living as one of the world's leading authority on financial
theft and forgery, and he and Carl remain partners.

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