Blog #4 Boyz in the Hood

Blog #4
In the movie, Boyz in the Hood, there were many masculinities being promoted with some being a part of the black community while others were for males in general. Throughout the movie, the male parents were always the ones being authoritative towards their children, while the women were more passive. This was a positive quality because especially the main father was very influential towards his son and raised him very well. In the end of the movie, the son decides to skip out on getting revenge for his dead friend, assumingly because of how his father brought him up. Another positive masculinity portrayed in the movie is male loyalty towards male friends, such as in the gangs. In the neighborhood, too, the group of friends grew up together and was especially loyal when one of them died. They were willing to risk their lives to avenge him.
The masculinities seen as dangerous were the boys’ aggressiveness and anger that was prevalent throughout the movie. An example is when there was a street party and one of the main characters made a rude remark, causing the antagonist to become extremely angry and pull out a gun. In the end, the antagonist ended up killing him. There were constant fights and violence, causing aggressiveness and anger to seem like a normal part of masculinity. In the movie, this aggressiveness and anger seemed like it was portrayed more towards the African American characters. Also, the African American community, especially the men, were degraded and put down just because of their color.
The women, on the other hand, were very passive characters. They never had anything to do with the violence going on. Also, they were the ones taking care of the little kids and cleaning the house. Their lifestyle was definitely very domestic. The main character’s girlfriend was also passive in that she was always studying or sitting somewhere in the neighborhood or on the front porch of the house. The women were always waiting at home for the men to arrive. In Karen A Martin’s “I Couldn’t Ever Picture Myself Having Sex,” she talked about how boys just have sex to have higher status among their peers and to experience it. Women have sex a lot of times because they are convinced to have it, and they’re much more emotional about it. This was shown in the movie, adding to the fact that the women were portrayed as passive characters.