"Boyz in the Hood" - Racial Significance

It's not a difficult task to point out the significant effect that "Boyz in The Hood" has when it comes to portraying or dealing with race, but certainly at the time it was the cause of much controversy. The film depicts the violence, turmoil, and struggles of inner city gang life specifically through the context and lens of black american youths. In a way it also almost glorifies this lifestyle through the inclusion of gangsta rap and its effect upon the culture. Ironically enough - almost as a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy - the film caused much controversy and nearly a year after it's release riots and violence broke out within the neighborhood in which the film took place. Now, what's interesting about this is that the people that the film portrays seemingly does not do anything to prove the filmmakers and audience otherwise. Instead, they only prove the films depictions accurate by cause such violence and controversy. I suppose it would be fair to say that the films representation of gang life and the black american youth of south central LA is stereotypical at best, but when the film itself causes riots that echo the events in the film it's hard to argue that the filmmakers weren't too far off the mark. It's sad when you think about it really... you'd think the youth of the targeted demographic would want to prove otherwise and would want to show that they are better than what the rest of America may think of them. It's understandable that they would get angry but acting on that anger in physically aggressive ways only perpetuates the stereotypes that one may wish to demolish.

Here's an article/review of the movie that touches upon these topics:

http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Boyz-n-the-Hood