and Z-Boys details the story of a group of surfers turned skateboards who h the Zephyr skate crew, later to become known as the Z-Boys throughout California and the world of skateboarding. The film was directed by one of the founding members of the Z-Boys, Stacey Peralta, who would go on to be one of the most influential skateboarders of all time due his self-taught knowledge of film making, most specifically as a director. Around this time, there was a stigma surrounding the new sport of skateboarding, and many saw it simply as a thuggish lifestyle that was set to corrupt the streets of California. Much of the reason that people saw only the negatives was that the sport was pushing boundaries and taking a step away from a conformed society. …show more content…
Stacey Peralta’s film was released at the right time to counter much of this negativity, showing the ingenuity of the people who started up skateboarding and returning viewpoints of the sport to original focus, setting up a community of likeminded people who would push boundaries and continue to further what it is possible to achieve. This is one of many situations in which film making has diffused a negative situation. As well as this, Stacey Peralta had previously directed a film, The Bones Brigade Video Show 1983, using their young team to create esoteric images conveying the culture's sarcasm and disenfranchised dark humour’ to laugh in the face of the negative stereotypes, even making their logo out of a military motif, re-interpreting it as a piece of skateboarding history. Peralta weaponized consumer VCRs by directing The Bones Brigade Video Show, the low-budget amateur skateboard video was the first of its kind and sold 30,000 copies, re-establishing skateboarding in the public domain. This film popularised bowl and pool skateboarding, which led directly to the idea of vert skating, which would later revolutionise the
Although Boyz n the Hood helps to resist the stereotypes of young black men, and shed light on the real, lived experiences and institutional oppression of black people and young black men in particular, the film also reinscribes a stereotypical narrative that all black people are impoverished and become incriminated in gang activity. Not all black people experience poverty and gang activity. One could see this film as perpetuating the single black experience as if all black people are exactly alike and have exactly the same
I say this because it better informed me on issues that I have known were present in the hip hop/rap culture. One of the main points in the film was the manhood in hip-hop culture. Before I dig into this topic one thing to understand is that hip-hop was created in the slums of New York. People grew up in very tough times; poverty was the norm, violence was high, and drugs influenced people’s lives. As you watch the film you can clearly see that all of the artists portray a tough “don’t mess with me” image. When asked why Hip-Hop promotes these images artists responded almost unanimously. They said that when you grow up in tough conditions you can’t be a punk. People see anything that’s not toughness weak. Anybody who isn’t perceived as tough is looked at like a bitch. Another big topic in the film was the way hip-hop victimizes women, and African American women in particular. The culture of Hip-Hop reduces women to sex objects. They’re half naked or more in the music videos and dancing explicitly. An issue in the film was when popular rapper Nelly swiped his credit card down a woman’s butt cheeks in a music video. This lead Nelly to cancel a bone marrow donation event at Spellman College after students said they were going to protest. Another issue in the film was homophobia. When a rapper named of Busta Rhymes was asked about homophobia he didn’t even respond to the question he completely walked off set. That
“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 this film we see many typical high school behaviors such as cliques, cattiness, and popularity (or lack there of) issues. Many scenes in this movie have an array of stereotypes. Sometimes they are clearly stated and others just seen through attitudes of the actors/actresses character. Also through out we follow the main clique “the plastics” and they have this image they have to uphold. Be perfect, skinny, the best at everything, and in sync with everything they do; or they wont uphold their status. I chose this film because I think it shows a lot of what we have learned in this course and how it is in real life. Clearly the film is exaggerated but much of
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,
Among the numerous movies in this film genre, ‘Boyz N the Hood’ and ‘Menace II Society’ are the two classic movies and are the best examples of Hood Films. Speaking of ‘Menace II Society’, the movie is a directorial debut of Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes which was released in 1993. The movie is a very good example that exposes the city of Los Angeles and its culture. Not only does the city has
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.
The first skateboards were made in the 1950’s being used as an exciting activity to take part in when the waves were down. From then and now the sport has changed tremendously, thanks to a group of young skaters from a slum area of Venice Beach or Dog-town, as the locals called it, known as the z-boys in the 1970’s. Even though skateboarding was already known and invented, the z-boys are the ones who made skating famous and took it to new heights in popularity. But how did they do this? The Z-boys made this sport what it is today, and played a very important part in the history and evolution of skateboard style and quality.
The protagonists in the documentary, the bra boys' (surf gang), are presented by the antagonists (the media and the police) as a violent surfer gang. The filmmaker does this by using original news reports and police interviews highlighting that they are violent outlaws. However, from the Bra Boy’s perspective, their group is “brotherhood” who just love to surf.
Gina Marchetti, in her essay "Action-Adventure as Ideology," argues that action- adventure films implicitly convey complex cultural messages regarding American values and the "white American status quo." She continues to say that all action-adventure movies have the same basic structure, including plot, theme, characterization, and iconography. As ideology, this film genre tacitly expresses social norms, values, and morals of its time. Marchetti's essay, written in 1989, applies to films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rambo: First Blood II. However, action-adventure films today seem to be straying farther away from her generalizations about structure, reflecting new and different cultural norms in America. This changing ideology is depicted best in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), which defies nearly every concept Marchetti proposes about action-adventure films; and it sets the stage for a whole new viewpoint of action in the '90's.
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
Hood: slang for neighborhood or black area/life. Before 1991 this concept of hood life was never before portrayed or looked into until John Singleton produced the black social drama Boyz N the Hood. This is the first film by a black director that actually goes deep inside the ghetto or inner city. Singleton carefully directs this film so that it appears to mirror the real world “having value as a kind of anthropological study of an unfamiliar way of life'; (Thompson 2).
People put the label “thug” on skateboarders, but do skaters really gang bang? No they don’t, they just wear baggy clothes and ride around with a skateboard so that brings the wrong perspective to someone. People also put the moto “skateboarders are stoners and have no job” but that is not the case as skateboarders have many other talents like painting and a skateboarder claimed, “Toy Machine decks are painted by Ed as a way to show his artistic ability. He said that he got into painting because he liked it even though he said his first paintings were crapy. He said it was better than getting into drugs and that he really doesn’t drink.”
In West Side Story, as the camera swings grandly down out of the sky, the audience discovers the Jets, a gang of tough kids, twitching restlessly in a playground park. As the camera continues to descend it captures bodies moving gracefully and fiercely in frequent spontaneous bursts of dance. As the strong blend of drama, dance, and music unfolds, the story of the Sharks and the Jets and their endless fighting begins to unfold as West Side Story. The film tells the story of two of New York City’s rival gangs, the Sharks (a Puerto Rican gang) and the Jets (a white European Immigrant gang), and their endless feuding. Both gangs are continu...
Turner, Graeme. Film as a Social Practice. 3rd ed. of the year. London: Routledge, 1999.