Boyz ‘n the Hood 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. …show more content…
Ricky is the athlete of the two, while Darrin succumbs the life of violence, alcohol, and crime. The third friend Trey “Tre” Styles, is the only one of the three to have a father in his life to teach him how to become a man. This paper will review Boyz ‘n the Hood by discussing the ways race/ethnicity are addressed which include intelligence and crime, social disorganization and general strain theory. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray are authors who published the book The Bell Curve.
The book was based on people’s intellectual determinism, and how their IQ’s was linked to all the crime they were involved. The two authors thought the development of intelligence and crime are linked. For instance, people with low IQ were more likely to be involved with crime, and people with a much higher IQ were not involved with little to no crime at all. Both authors argues that people with low IQ’s had failure in school, and also had a hard time following ethical principles. One example from the film is how Ricky was involved at school and sports, so he had no time at all to be dealing with any crime. Also from the film we learned that one of Ricky’s main goal other than football was finding a way to get into college so he could further his education. On the other hand, Doughboy was not involved with school so he was in and out of jail, and he started early in age. His brother always seemed to outsmart him when it came to staying out the way of crime and violence. Also, the boys friend Tre seemed to had a very good intelligence. We learned this in the beginning of the movie from his teacher after she has a parent conference with Tre’s mother. Tre was also concerned more about getting into …show more content…
college. Social disorganization refers to any area that characterize significant number of families on welfare with high levels of unemployment, and several ethnic groups in one area.
Boyz ‘n the Hood demonstrates the challenges the boys have to live with not only in their home, but also in the town they live in. The violence and discrimination the community face make the residents live in exhausted conditions. Also, not being exposed or having any contact with something can cause an individual to develop their own norms within these isolated areas. Tre is able to make it through the violence that surrounded him because he had someone like his father who showed him how to be a leader, and overcome the situations Tre and his friends endure throughout the film. However, Ricky and Doughboy did not have the same opportunity as Tre did having a father figure around in their life. Even though the two boys had their mother around, her main focus was on Ricky because she saw more potential in him. This causes Doughboy to head in a negative direction of alcohol and violence. Most welfare areas have better access to alcohol, and having alcohol being sold at every other corner of his neighborhood doesn’t help Doughboy’s
situation. General strain theory believes that strain does not need to be tied specially to economic status, because it is actually a psychological reaction to any perceived negative aspects of one’s social environment. Since Doughboy wants to take the path of violence and crime to deal with the pressure of the hard times he’s enduring, there is a good chance that his older brother has to take when hanging out with Doughboy. For example, during a party on the street Doughboy stands up for Ricky when a gang member passes through and bumps Ricky on purpose. The gang member asks Ricky, “Fuck you lookin’ at nigga?” Ricky wants to be a big guy during the altercation and responds with a smart comment, “I’m still trying to find out.” During this scene there were also guns involved. Both Doughboy and the gang member showed their guns to one another. These problems are what causes violence in the black neighborhoods, and ultimately gets Ricky into some really bad trouble towards the end of the movie. According to general strain theory, anger is the primary emotional response leading to crime. Crime is not the only way that people will respond to strain. During the movie, everyone was also tempted by sex and easy money. The economic structure in America is harmful to majority of people especially black families who live in poverty conditions. Boyz ‘n the hood displays the struggle young teens who choose two different paths about their situations: either work through the struggle and find a way out even if its education or talent, or just get involved with all the crime and drugs that is around you. Tre learns early in his experience in the educational pipeline that he has some potential to further his career. Ricky, who is a star athlete with a lot of potential to make it not only to college but professional. Then there is Darrin “Doughboy” who latched on to the street life.
The kids became gang members for many reasons. Some needed to find what their place was in the world, and they needed to know who they were as human beings. Joining the gang gave them a feeling of being involved in something and made them feel better about themselves. They felt that as a gang member they received the attention, emotional support, and understanding that they couldn’t get from their actual family members at home.
The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not
Boyz N the Hood is a classic film for African American culture and depicts juvenile delinquency in the tough streets of L.A. They can relate all too well to the situations these three best friends went through. To apply this movie to the life-course perspective and strain theories we have to analyze these three boy’s realities from a structural, social and cultural level to determine why they ended up deviant and they way they started off. Sampson and Laub’s theory was, criminal activity as well as elements preventative of crime, change throughout the life-course. While all of the criminals have some form of a shared beginning. While Merton’s strain theories revolve around five different types, that puts people into certain categories; conformity,
In the novel “Black Boy” by Richard Wright, Richard’s different character traits are revealed through multiple different instances of indirect characterization. Indirect characterization is a literary element commonly used in the novel. It is when the author reveals information about a character through that character's thoughts, words, actions, and how other characters respond to that character; such as what they think and say about him. Richard is put into many circumstances where the way he acts, the things he says and thinks, and the way others respond to him clearly show his character. Richard shows his pride when he refuses to fight Harrison for white men’s entertainment, principles when he doesn’t take advantage of Bess even though he has the opportunity, and ignorance when he sells KKK papers.
“Boyz in the Hood” was a film that displayed how chaotic African Americans communities were in Los Angeles. The film explored how violence is real with black on black crime and how the youth neglected by the community. The entire film displays a moral, mental and eagerness for one endures, conquer and defeat their demons. However, each in the movie enhances the quality of today’s world and the environment. Enthralled with the hope for life encompass the thought and desire to secure one's enter most fears and desires. Tre Styles were a character in the film that was an intelligent young man. In a perfect world, a mother and father share the responsibilities of raising children, but nothing is perfect. When Furious Styles come into the picture with his son, Tre develops into a person of understanding. Tre mother felt it was best that
In the 1992 drama Boyz N the Hood Furious Styles, the father of main character Trey Styles, is in Compton, California giving a speech on a hill to the local residents of the neighborhood, which include the elderly, middle class workers, and youth. During his speech Furious asks the small crowd, “Why is there a liquor store on every corner in this community?” He then answers his own question: “I’ll tell you why, for the same reason that there is a gun store on almost every corner in the black community. Why? They want us to kill ourselves. The best way you destroy a people is if you take away their ability to reproduce themselves.” That is a bold statement to make, and it is also a statement that provides an example of the Marxist theory of
The film that interested me for this assignment was “Boyz n the Hood”. The movie was about a Los Angeles neighborhood expanding of drug and gang culture, with increasingly tragic results. It was about how one teen had family support to guide him on the right path in life regarding the social problems around him. The other two teens in the film wasn’t as fortunate and fell into the social problems of drugs, violence, and gangs; where one ended up dead.
They studied the criminals lives and show how the link as juveniles and the factors that led them to become a criminals. Statically showing, most people that become criminals fail high school. Showing if a person continues their education the likely hood of becoming a criminal become less and less. These individuals come from broken homes, little education, little money and lack of resources. Growing up in a broken home or family, the child begins to suffer because of either neglect or lack of supervision from a parent figure, either they are not home or work low wage jobs just to make it. Since there is a lack of family support, the child will look for support from another source. The supports they usually find are products of their environment, usually gangs or other bad influences. Even with places that helps less than fortune kids have a role model or after school activates, but most of the time, they do not seek these programs which could help the child on a better path, rather than a life of crime joining a gang or even just commit crime altogether. The main influences on our lives are our families and society that we grow up in, and has a great effect on the individual which can dictate what they do with their lives. When looking at the theory, the effects come from homelessness, abuse neglect, subcultures,
The inner city can be a good thing or a bad thing, for African Americans it is often a bad thing as they get caught up in gangs thinking that this is the only way they will have family. This is true in some aspects, because depending on the family, children can be abandoned due to drugs or be subject to violence. In the movie, one of the children, who lives around the pizzeria, is a little girl is abused at home. This often happens in broken homes, like the ones depicted by Spike Lee. In other cases children come from good homes. For example, if one comes from a prominent African American family, they know that everyone takes care of everyone, they work together to take care of each other. In the film, there are several older black men that act like grandfathers to the people on the block. This is reminiscent in of one of the class readings, Family M...
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,
In the movie “Boyz in the Hood” director John Singleton, paints a clear image of the problems that happen very often in the African American communities. The movie deals with issues such as: the importance of a father in a young man’s life, the ongoing violence of black on black crime, and how black people are put in situations where they are put to fail and not succeed in life.
The torn down neighborhood, graffiti on the walls, gun shops and abandoned houses are what people living on the wrong side of 8 miles in Detroit saw in their everyday lives. Social disorganization theory according to Freda, Mueller, and Laufer (2013) is “A theory of criminality in which the breakdown of effective social bonds, primary associations, and social controls in neighborhoods and communities is held to result in the development of high crime areas” (p. 124). In the movie 8 Mile (Curtis Hanson, 2002) B-Rabbit lives in 8 mile where he is surrounded by delinquents that commit crimes, bums around the neighborhood and the alcoholic drunk of a mother he lives within a trailer park in the duration of the movie. He is a blue collar worker who does a lot of physical labor in a steel cutting factory where he tries to make a means to help support his mom and sister. But what he really hopes is to be a rapper, make a demo and sign to a label. So he goes where all other rappers go to get noticed, the “Shelter.” Rappers go and have battled to become a highly valued individual in the residential district. With such a large population that attend and participate in those battles there are less chances of any of them being sought out for a record deal. Others that lived outside of the 8 mile district thought less of the people that did live in that location. Even though they stayed together as people from the 313 there was always a better neighborhood or somebody who had it better. So who better to pick on than the white boy who survives with his alcoholic mother in a trailer, taking care of his sister, playing in a distasteful factory, and failing against the “Leaders of the Free World?” He was the perfect target just like many others th...
All in all, Boyz N’ the Hood seems to be the epitome of deviance and social control examples. The whole premise of the movie relies upon it. Through the various theories such as: Differential association, Control-bond theory, Labeling theory, Rational-choice theory, and the Strain theory Boyz N’ the Hood can be seen through a new scope. Certain aspects of the film become more apparent when compared to just watching the film for entertainment.
Media is a focal reason for the evolution and formation of masculinity, especially black masculinity. Men are at the forefront of media, and the men that are portrayed in media are almost perfect in every fashion. The media has stereotyped black men, which ultimately leads to the evolution of the black man. The evolution of the black man is formed through a stereotype because, it affects the expectations of what black men are supposed and not supposed to do. Starting in the early 1950s the image of black men started to change. Elite black jazz men started to withdraw themselves for the stereotypical black man.
Hip-Hop: from the live performances to the lyrics this here brought up many thoughts in my head. I attended a concert on April 2016 and several other old school concerts at the Queen Mary, front row VIP area which included; Debbie deb, Cover girls, Vanilla ice and so on. Going to an old school/hip-hop concert the songs and experiences as a whole are different with every time. New school hip-hop is narrative and with this you can receive the same lyrical experience every time, as for the concert the experience is the same as the next. I am not saying that an old school concert isn’t different in its own way but I do think their not so far apart performance wise. Example going to a “Drake” concert is more narrative compared to an old school