FILM 1F94: Introduction to Film Studies
Term Two Essay
The film Straight Outta Compton directed by (F. Gary Gray 2015) clearly illustrates that racism was the root of police brutality with the stem being Hip Hop in the late 1980s. F. Gary Gray conveys this theme in several of the scenes throughout the movie Straight Outta Compton. The three parts, which specifically highlight the subject of police brutality caused by racism leading to the rise of Hip Hop, are when Ice Cube is on the bus going home from school, when he leaves Dr Dre’s aunt’s house to go home, and when NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) leaves the studio to check up on Dr Dre. Starting in chronological order these scenes will be analyzed in order to grasp a better understanding of
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the delivered messages throughout Straight Outta Compton. In the beginning of the movie when Ice Cube makes his first appearance on the public school bus is where the first glimpse of all the themes are shown. Ice Cube is on the bus waiting for it to leave the school. He looks over to his window and he sees a lot of students happy and joyful in their brand new sports cars. Ice Cube also notices a Caucasian police officer happily waving to some of them in the school parking lot. This clearly exemplifies the contrast between how the majority of African-Americans and other small minorities live compared to Caucasians. Ice Cube and the rest of the poor African-Americans taking the public school bus home versus the portrayed rich Caucasians driving their exotic cars shows this. The bus is exhibited as very dim and crowded. The officer is seen waving to the Caucasians very friendly and cheerily and if it were compared to how African- Americans are treated in the film by law enforcement there is a complete difference. They were treated brutally and disrespectfully as supported in the following. ‘On top of this, he appointed conservative judges to a number of federal courts; these judges often ended and shut down programs that were originally designated to make amends for past discrimination against minorities. The lack of these programs led to an increase in racial violence against African Americans and gave them the impression that the nation was only becoming more separate and unequal.’ (Woodger, 2006) When Ice Cubes notices this you can see the lighting is really bright and the music used in this scene is very up beat as it synchronizes in to the happy mood. The bright colours tend to be cheerful, so F.Gary Gray often used on the desaturations especially when the subject matter is about on the racism in Compton. The colours are attractively submissive and reflect the conventional principle of the society itself. He then turns back to his book and continues writing his lyrics for his raps then the focus of the camera is on the happy Caucasians and the officer and then it turns back to Ice Cube as he shows a minor sign of distress. After Ice Cube has his second look at this, the happy music fades into a more serious slow paced low beat as the busses leave the school. As they leave the first bus’s muffler dispenses some black dirty smoke. The bus is on the go it gives a small preview of how the conditions were in the city of Compton by showing graffiti on the walls and guys playing gambling with dice. Also seen are barely people on the streets and Ice cubes turns back to the book because after seeing all this he is stumbled to write. Earlier in the film Ice Cube is leaving Dr Dre’s Aunts house to go to his house after a quick rap session, which is just across the street.
As he exits the home the time has changed in the same Compton neighbor hood setting. It is later in the night and as he closes the door to start walking he hears sirens and vulgar language used by police officers towards the African- American neighborhood boys. At this moment the only light is the reflections of the blue and red police beams on the door. Here telephoto are used lenses produce a number of side effects that are applied to by F. Gary Gray to symbolize the confusion of the random search. The scene is seen as that it is very dark and after he examines the scene of police officers handling these boys so disrespectfully and roughly. He then begins to walk towards his home attempting to cross the street but gets stopped by a Caucasian police officer. At this point Ice Cube forcefully gets pulled into the neighborhood search with the rest of the local boys. The Caucasian officer dealing with Ice Cube has treats him so disorderly and continues to use profanity towards him for no reason. The explanation to this officer practice derives from racism as evident to the shadowing of stereotyping. ‘Stereotypes of black people have been more consistent in that they are thought to be more prone to violent crime and drug abuse, to be incomprehensible, suspicious, hard to handle, naturally excitable, aggressive, lacking brainpower, troublesome and ‘tooled up’ (Graef 1989; Reiner 1991) (Ben Bowling, Alpa Parmar & Coretta Phillips, 2006,530). The camera then turns to another Caucasian police officer forcefully slamming another man onto the hood of a police cruiser while he screams about their rights. Instantly turns and focuses to Ice Cubes dad and mom walking towards the officers. His father starts justifying to the Caucasian police officers that these boys are good boys and grew up on this block. Immediately the camera shifts
a bit to his mom who exclaims in fear that that’s her son pointing at Ice Cube. The camera is going back and forth with Ice Cube and his parents at this point. A police officer unnecessarily warns Ice Cube’s mom using profanity with the out most disrespect that if she doesn’t get back he will ruin her night. The focus now goes back to Ice Cube when he yells out to the officer that he doesn’t have to speak to his mother like that and then he forcefully gets slammed to the cruiser and gets called a fucking nigger. His dad tells the cop wait a minute and raises his hands in peace and the police officer responds with one hand on his holster and the other pushing Ice Cubes dad back as he says wait a minute my ass mother fucker. The camera spins back to Ice Cube who asks the police officer that is dealing with him why they are being searched and the Caucasian officer replies he doesn’t explain anything to him in cursing words. The camera then rotates back to the parents who are asked rudely by the police officer to clear the street and Ice Cubes dad stands his ground and firmly states that is his property therefore he has the right to stand here. All the boys check out clean so they stop the search and the motion in the films slows down and all you can hear is echoes of the man who were searched for no reason rattling about. The camera then examines a top view while it transitions to the next scene. So many emotions were displayed in this piece of the movie that underline where the derivation of police brutality arose. Ice Cube came to just relieve some stress through the expression of music and ironically he gets hauled back into as he tries to go home. The slowing of when he stares down the police officer who handled him and leans down to pick up his rap notebook and the other officers tells him to stay out of trouble. Lastly following their first performance in Skateland in 1988 they signed with Priority Records and were in a studio working on a few songs. Dr. Dre’s younger brother rushes in to tell him that there is something outside that he has to deal with. He leaves the studio to talk to his girlfriend through the window who is in car ready to leave with his daughter for good. At this point he was very frustrated in the conversation with her. In this extract of the film you can a police cruiser pass by Dr. Dre with two officers strolling by and the Caucasian officer who is in the pass looks out the window to stare at him for a bit. Subsequently his girlfriend and daughter drive off so he starts making his way back to the studio upset but before he come in the rest of the group come out to see if everything’s alright with him. Shortly after a first cruiser pulls up as the boys are finishing their lunch and an African-American police officer steps out and questions if they are lost. He calls them niggers as he continues interrogating the boys. They try to inquire what they did and then another cruisers comes with two other polices officers. The African –American police officer demands the boys rudely to get on the ground but MC REN holds his burger and asks what is he suppose to do with it. A Caucasian officer slaps all their food to the ground and commands them to get on the ground again. The boys obey and ask why they need to be on the ground and get an illegitimate explanation. Jerry Heller instantly comes out to see them on the ground asks the African-American officer what is going on. He res ponded by asking him to get back inside and that they are checking these ”bangers” out. Jerry Heller tries to advocate for the boys by saying that they are rap artists. He introduces himself and the African- American police officer says that he is wasting his time, emphasizing that these rappers look like gang members. Jerry Heller questions the police authority by stating that he cannot come down here and arrest people just because what they look like, claiming that it is police harassment. This when the boys look up at Jerry. He then changes the tone of his voice to justify that they cannot come down here and harass these guys because they are black and that people have rights. Jerry instructs the boys to get up and a Caucasian Police officer tells them to stay down, as they look up at Jerry and the officer for a bit. At this moment tilts, like pans, are used personally in point-of-view shots. The camera incites the boys looking up and down in this part for an instance. As the eye-level camera slants downwards towards the boys on the ground it clearly validates their helplessness to the unjust police officers. After a few second the officer looks at Jerry for a bit then tells them to get up. The officer wanted to feel inferior here that’s why he acted in such behavior. As the boys walk back in the studio one by one they stare at the officers in disgust and MC REN calls the African -American Officer a sellout. The African-American officer attempts to provoke Ice Cube into saying something and Jerry sticks up for him. The African-American officer than says Fuckin Rap music, Jerry Heller replies by calling him fucking disgraceful. As they come back in to work Ice Cube comes to group with his book and starts rapping about the police. This is the moment he created the song “Fuck The Police”, which expressed all the struggles he faced with the police being African- American. This is backed up with the meaning of gangster rap being Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city American black youths. (Rap.about.com. 2009) Distinctly it is presented that race was the trigger to the gun being cruelty and savagery towards African-Americans and the bullet which shot in reverse was the rap portion of hip hop. In conclusion the film Straight Outta Compton directed by (F. Gary Gray 2015) evidently proves that racism was the cause of police brutality with the effect being Hip Hop in the late 1980s. F. Gary Gray expresses this theme in several of the scenes throughout the film Straight Outta Compton. There are three segments, which precisely focus on the issue of police brutality initiated by racism running to the intensification of Hip Hop. The first is when Ice Cube is on the bus going home from school while he gets a glimpse of why racism is existent and how the police officers behave with Caucasians as pose to African-Americans and why it puts him at ease when he writes it down. The second is when he leaves Dr. Dre’s aunt’s house to go home and is pulled in a random street search and cruelly treated by the law enforcement to walk away from it after the only he knows how by picking up his rap book. The last is after NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) leave the studio to check up on Dr. Dre when Police officers show up and treat the rappers inhumanly because they African-Americans, and to retaliate Ice Cubes creates the song ‘Fuck The Police’ as an expressive retaliation. This is one of the movies that vividly captured the origin and sole purpose of Hip Hop decades ago.
In the article “Gentrification’s Insidious Violence: The Truth about American Cities” by Daniel Jose Older, Older places emphasis on the neighboring issue of gentrification in minority, low income communities or as better known as being called the “hood” communities. The author is biased on how race is a factor in gentrifying communities by local governments. Older explains his experience as a paramedic aiding a white patient in the “hood” where he was pistol whipped in a home invasion by a black male. This is an example of black on white crime which is found to be a normal occurrence in the residence of his community. But that is not the case in Older’s situation because that was the first time he has
It is often the case that media and more specifically, film, perpetuates the stereotypes of black men. These stereotypes include not showing emotion, being physically aggressive, embrace violence, supposed criminality, associated with drug use, lack a father figure, sexually exploit women, and others. In the film, Boyz n the Hood, Tre’s father, Furious Styles, encourages Tre to demonstrate loyalty to other people in relationships, resist aggressive behavior, and foster and exhibit sexual responsibility. Thus, throughout the film, Tre challenges the society’s stereotyped norms of black masculinity and what it means to be a black man.
Chuck D, and Yusuf Jah. 1997. Fight the power: rap, race, and reality. New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press.
Plainclothes cops even pretend to be Clerks in the store, and they are so certain that he is black, looks unsettling that they even ask him to “holler” if he wants steal something, and they are ready catch him any minute. Additionally, Young writes about “Crowds gather/& wonder how/the spotlight sounds.” Here, “spotlight sounds” actually refers to the response from the narrator or black men to other’s attentions or treatments. Ironically, people do not listen to black people’s voice, and they simply judge from one’s skin
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
This movie was very sad but depicted the many social problems of struggling black communities in the early 1990’s. We learned in Adler, Mueller, & Laufer how criminal behavior as a result of frustrations suffered by lower-class individuals deprived of legitimate means to reach their goals are
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.
On March 3, 1991, Los Angeles police officers attempted to stop a white sedan traveling at a high rate of speed through Lake View Terrace, a residential neighborhood in northern Los Angeles. After a short pursuit, King was ordered out of his vehicle at gunpoint. King refused to comply and became belligerent and uncooperative. The use of open-hand controls, pepper spray and tasers were ineffective, as King continued to assault officers while resisting arrest. More LAPD officers arrived and King was finally subdued with the use of nightsticks. Investigation later revealed King was under the influence of a combination of PCP and cocaine.
Spike Lee is brand name when it comes to the film industry. When you try to ask any group of people their opinion about this man, you will probably receive numerous positive responses from the film community as well as the African American community. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) is a film that illustrates how racial conflict can become a reality while showing the repercussions that come with racial segregation. Spike Lee uses a number of tools to write and produce the film in order to ensure the message reaches his intended audience in the best way possible. The use of location, soundtrack, and dialogue is abundant in this film. Therefore, this film analysis paper is for Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989). It is a film in which racial segregation ignites riots in a neighborhood dominated by the black population. The heightened scene of this film analysis is where Spike Lee throws a trash can and it is from this that hell breaks loose and riots begin.
A father purchased a toy gun as a birthday gift for his young son. His son went outside to play and and encountered a police officer who shot him seven times. This incident occurred in Sonoma County in October 2013. A similar incident occurred in November 2014 when Cleveland police killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. Use of excessive force by police is common in impoverished "black" or "brown" communities.
George covers much familiar ground: how B-beats became hip hop; how technology changed popular music, which helped to create new technologies; how professional basketball was influenced by hip hop styles; how gangsta rap emerged out of the crack epidemic of the 1980s; how many elements of hip hop culture managed to celebrate, and/or condemn black-on-black violence; how that black-on-black violence was somewhat encouraged by white people scheming on black males to show their foolishness, which often created a huge mess; and finally, how hip hop used and continues to use its art to express black frustration and ambition to blacks while, at the same time, refering that frustration and ambition to millions of whites.
Jeffries, M. P. (2011). Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-hop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Two Caucasian police officers come to odds as one uses his authority to unnecessarily pull over a couple who they believe is biracial and therefore wrong. Throughout the entire film race, this is one of the most prominent themes. The film shows that racism is not one sided as the characters themselves are Caucasian, black, Persian, Iranian, and Hispanic. The film shows that race assumptions are not something that is just in existence, but rather society builds up these prejudices and ideas.