Boyz in the Hood is a statement of how urban youth have been passed a legacy of tragic indifference, and the writer has shown that it is an almost inescapable fate for those born into racism and poverty to repeat the patterns they wish to escape. The movie’s characters are clear representations of how the system fails young black youth in the United States, and the difference one mentor can make for these kids. During segregation young black children became targets for white brutality. This movie reflects what the European mentality and what it has done to the African American culture. Chris and Doughboy, two brothers in gangs, live with a single mother. Chris is headed for an athletic scholarship and there is hope he will escape gang life, however, with no mentor this does not happen. Tre is a young gang member whose father is always there in the background, and this is what keeps him alive and gets him out of gang life eventually. The movie makes a clear the point that if a child is watched by some adult who cares from early childhood, they stand a better chance of surviving the urban gang life they cannot escape otherwise. Scenes from the early childhood of the three boys foreshadows this as Chris and Doughboy are in juvenile hall as children, while Tre is spared this as a result of his father looking over him. This theme will continue throughout the film. The landscape of the urban ghetto and the legacy left to black youth, and the death it brings upon them is well portrayed in the film. The film Boyz in the Hood opens with the kids that will be followed throughout the movie. It is foreshadowing of the events that will follow them all their lives. Ricky and Doughboy are without a father and having committed a crime, are on th... ... middle of paper ... ...s, this makes them feel like they have a family. As this was true for them as children, all three characters seemed predestined to their final fates. While this is not the only outcome it is the most probable outcome for America’s poverty stricken black youth. The fact that Boys In The Hood was shot in 1991, prior to the hollywoodization of the black experience, there is a legitimacy to the film that is hard to find now. This makes it a valuable piece of cinema for those who want to understand what life in the ghetto might really be like. Works Cited Boyz in the Hood. 1991, dir. John Singleton, Per. Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishbourne. Columbia Pictures. Film Conley, D. Race the Power of an Illusion, 2003, Interview with Dalton Conley, Class Readings 2014 Kruger, B., Mariani, P. Black Culture and Postmodernism 1998, Class Reading 2014.
The West side of Chicago, Harlem, Watts, Roxbury, and Detroit. What do all of these areas have in common? These areas, along with many others have become mine fields for the explosive issues of race, values, and community responsibility, led by the plight of the urban underclass. Issues such as violent crime, social separation, welfare dependence, drug wars, and unemployment all play a major role in the plight of American inner-city life. Alex Kotlowitz's book: There Are No Children Here, confronts America's devastated urban life; a most painful issue in America. Kotlowitz traces the lives of two black boys; 10 year old LaFayette, and 7 year old Pharoah, as they struggle to beat the odds growing up in one of Chicago's worst housing projects. Their family includes a welfare dependent mother, an alcholic-drug using father, an older sister, an older brother, and younger triplets. Kotlowoitz describes the horrors of an ill-maintained housing project completely taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings are an everyday thing. Kotlowitz does a fine job at portraying ghetto life; those who are outside the American dream. He succeeds at putting a face on th people trapped inside the housing projects with virtually no hope of escape. One can truly feel a sense of great loss for the family, and a great deal of hope for the two young boys. You can truly feel yourself hoping that things will work out for them, and you can really feel like you know these young men on a personal basis. Kotlowotz spent a great deal of time with the boys so he could portray the world from the eyes of a child growing up in the ghetto, and he does an amazing job.
Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,
Everyone is unique, every group consists of different individuals who are even though brought to group by similarities and similar interests, however each of them differences from one another. In this example group so called “Greasers” has a very tight relationship, and are ready to help each other because they were raised basically by the same environment. In my opinion Dallas one of the characters plays important role in this movie that even though is older than his boys and not participating too much with in his group is still helps younger boys and teaches them life tricks. He feels very comfortable with boys and he doesn’t really feel more important than they are. He knows if something bad happened they are going to him like
This movie is one of a group of New York City gangs that have been called together by Cyrus leader of the Riffs. At the meeting Cyrus is killed by Luther which is the leader of the Rogues. Luther frames the gang the Warriors for the killing. The movie is based around the Warriors having to make it back to their turf Coney Island. During the journey, several of the group die during the altercations with the other gangs. Many gang characteristics are shown in this film. The main theme I believe is the group hazard hypothesis. The groups in the movie follow their leader no matter what.
Boyz n the Hood has been on my “to-watch“ list for quite some time now, but I never got around to watch it. I knew that the plot of the movie involved black characters dealing with the struggle that most black people living in the ghetto neighborhoods of Los Angeles have to go through. Such as racism, police brutality, robbery, same race violence and peer pressure. I am a big fan of 90‘s West Coast Hip Hop, Ice Cube being one of my favorite rappers. After I watched the movie Straight Outta Compton a friend of mine recommended this movie to me.
He represents the man who embraces his circumstances. From the very beginning, he was always in trouble, constantly challenging authority, and falling into the lifestyle represented in his surroundings. His relationship with his mother is barely present, with her obvious favouritism to his other brother, Ricky. The words he receives from his mother aren’t kind, they are demeaning and hurtful. Singleton documents the correlation between the mutual lack of respect between Do’ Boy and his mother and Do’ Boy’s future lack of respect for women in general. This was an intentional statement aimed at motherhood in black communities and parenting in general stating that kids were the product and reflection of their parents. Tre shared traits with his father and Ricky and Do’ Boy mirrored the treatment they received from their mother. I would argue that Do’ Boy’s character is perhaps one of the most complex and tragic characters in Boyz. He always demonstrated an ability for deep thought and an intelligence that he could never harness due to the neglect and demoralization from his mother. When a young boy has no support from his household, he ends up being strongly influenced by his surroundings which was drugs, alcohol, and
Set in South Central Los Angeles, Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton, 1991) portrays the struggles, fears, and choices of three young friends growing up in the midst of the Crenshaw neighborhood known as ‘the hood.’ Through a seven–year time gap from 1984 to 1991, the film suggests and addresses two prominent social problems associated with Crenshaw’s environment – fatherless children and gang culture. Ultimately, Boyz N The Hood is about the utter significance and salvation of fatherhood among the lives of young, vulnerable, and violence susceptible children of Crenshaw and how the presence of a true father figure can influence their decision to either succumb to the cycle of violence, alcohol and crime or to strive for something greater than their roots.
Boyz ‘n the hood is a portrayal of social problems in the inner city of Los Angeles. The film displays the struggle of adolescents who make decisions while growing up in the hood, and these decisions will impact their lives. As the teens reach adulthood they will choose two different ways to get out the hood. Furthermore, the goal of the determined parents to motivate their children to leave the surrounding hood and one day succeed in college. This movie is about three friends who grew up “in the hood”. Each have three different lives coming from the same “hood”. Half-brothers Ricky Baker and Darrian “Doughboy” Baker present very different approaches even though they were brothers who lived and came from the same household.
MASLIN, JANET. "Boyz N The Hood (1991) Review/Film; A Chance to Confound Fate." Movies. The New York times, n.d. Web.
To begin, Tre learns to display loyalty to his family from his father. Black men are stereotyped as not wanting to work and having an inability to care for their children or their families. However, Furious seeks to prove this as a myth. The film illustrates Furious’s dedication to raising his son to be a respectable young man and provide for him. Not only does he instill self-responsibility in Tre but also, communal responsibility. Tre learns
males dealing with family, sexuality and the harsh reality of living in the urban ghetto. Young
Conley, D. Race the Power of an Illusion, 2003, Interview with Dalton Conley, Class Readings
Choices make people who they are, and often times, children who inhabit societies practically run by gangs make the mistake of joining one. Coolio captures this in his song with the lines, “I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the streets/ So I gotta be down with the hood team.” He portrays that once a person is in a gang, there is no escape. They can either live with the gang and its ways, or get killed in the brutal reality of things. Life as a gangster is a tough one, even from the perspective of a veteran.
In the summer of 1967 four friends were sent to the Wilkinson Home for Boys, in up state New York. In Hell Kitchen an old man was hurt during their childhood pranks of stealing a hot dog wagon and rolling it down to the subway steps. The four boys sentenced to serve six months up to one year in Wilkerson center. Where the guard molested them sexually and physically regularly. During the sexually and physical abused the boys try to avoid there family from visiting them. As for Michael he had try to void his family. In the other hand, Tommy's mother couldn't get it together to visit him and for John's mother she came up once a month. However, Father Bobby didn’t stop visit the boy in several occasion. (Sleeper) Since Lorenzo was released, thirteen years had past. The boys were now adult seeking for revenge. The trauma lead the four dealt with the trauma slightly different. As for John and Tommy were know to be the founding members of the West Side Boys and one of the deadliest member in New York.
Jealous white men are out to make an event of publicly assassinating a man, and the readers can only anticipate the role their character, Tom, will play in it. It is best that the story is told from a third party, because of everyone’s role, no matter how big or small, seems to be important to the cause. The young boy going around selling Coke’s for his father, only highlights how normal these events were. “There is nothing better to drink on a hot day if the dopes are nice and cool.” A man felt that it was safe enough to have his child out selling items to a large group of angry men killing an innocent man on a Saturday afternoon. Caldwell takes advantage of this role and inserts his own beliefs of learned racism and hate through the minor role of a young boy. The violence taking place in this town was just that