Oj Made In America Sparknotes

Ezra Edelman’s documentary, “O.J.: Made in America,” portrays the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson. The scope of this paper will focus on the first segment of Edelman’s three-part documentary that follows the trajectory of O.J. Simpson’s life from an unknown athlete to an American superstar. Edelman skillfully demonstrates the world in which O.J. was able to flourish and rise, while setting the scene of black Los Angeles at the height of the Civil Rights era and the fight against police brutality. The focus of the first part “O.J.: Made in America,” shows the rise of O.J. and concludes with the beginning of his fall when the public persona he has created for himself gets chipped away from the very dark nature hidden within him. My focus in this

paper will be to show how O.J.’s story is one of immense importance in todays political context as societal tensions feel like they are at all time high.

I will highlight this by showing the importance American cultural places on celebrity and the racial tensions felt in the second half of the twentieth century are still present today.
O.J.’s story follows the trajectory of what we would consider the American dream, a black man who migrated from the Deep South with his family out west for a better life. He had a poverty stricken youth living in public housing, but his extraordinary physical abilities and determination was able to change his circumstance and become a member of the elite society of Los Angeles. The seduction of fame and fortune are continuously highlighted, Simpson is able to gain immense success and become submerged in the world of the rich and famous. Simpson is reduced by the white America and

references his desires not to be seen as a black man, but simply as O.J. He has no ambitions to use his celebrity as a platform for the gains of the black community. Edelman contrasts the immense success of Simpson by showing the reality for most black Americans living on the other side of Los Angeles. As the civil rights movement became a national conversation and other prominent black athletes felt the need to use their platform to ignite social conversations, Simpson did not want to use his celebrity to benefit anyone other than himself. As the film shows the growth of O.J.’s life in the spotlight it also shows the backdrop of Los Angeles for the majority of its black residents. Removed from the glamor and celebrity the Southside of Los Angeles was riddled in racial tensions as the Civil Rights movement gained momentum and changed the national dialogue. The first part of Edelman’s documentary focuses on the role of black athletes in being a voice for civil rights and the outrage ignited in black America upon the not guilty verdict of the police officers who beat Rodney King.
The reality of the world depicted in the film is not far from the reality we are living in today. The country is facing immense social tensions as everything has become a political fight and the celebrities of the world need to decide how they will use their platform. We still are living in a culture that places substantial importance on the ideal of being a celebrity and the importance of fame. We are also now living in a highly partisan time where many in the public eye have had to make the decision on how they will use their platform. In the past it was the norm for mainstream celebrities to keep their personal ideologies and beliefs to themselves, but we see more and more these days celebrities using their fame to fight for things they believe in.
When we think of the civil rights movement we think of it as something in the past, however over the past few years as movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement take hold and change the national conversation we must realize that the conversation did not end when the movement was considered over.

Los Angeles was engulfed in rioting following the Rodney King trial and now in modern times we have protestors marching the streets for the Black Lives Matter movement to give a voice to the men and women like Eric Gardner and Sandra Bland.
The ending of the first part sets the stage for the fall of O.J. Simpson. In the last minutes of the film the audience is shown the darker side of O.J., the batterer. The reluctance of society to acknowledge this wife beater persona because of the character O.J. created for himself. His celebrity and fame gave him a pass that regular civilians in America do not possess, even today. We are still living in a culture where one’s career does not come to a screeching halt when revealed to be a batterer. That is how men such as Chris Brown and Johnny Depp continue to thrive in their

careers.
This is a documentary film that is focused on one man’s rise and fall, highlights key aspects of American culture that we find important. The film does not simply show O.J.’s life in a simple timeline, but demonstrates how life does not occur in a vacuum. As O.J.’s fame and celebrity rose the civil rights era was in full swing. O.J. distanced himself from the label of blackness. He didn’t have an agenda to change societal views of all blacks, but was on a quest to erase race as a defining factor of his character. O.J. Simpson was made in America and he grew to become all that we find important in America: rich, famous, and commercialized. This growth also highlights the negatives of what that exactly means: immunity for your crimes because of your status and a removal from the community that bore you, but you find yourself ashamed of.