Background Information on Boyz in the Hood
2. Why is this movie seen as an important film at the time, especially with regard to race? gender?
3. Provide a brief history of South Central Los Angeles (now known as South LA).
4. Finally, give us some background info on who produced/directed/wrote the film (John Singleton) - if you can find any interviews to post - either from the actors or the director in which they discuss the film that would be great.
The University of Southern California has been apart of South Central Los Angeles since 1880. As much as I love Usc I cannot ignore the rough neighborhoods that surround our campus. Coming from suburbia I’m not use to hearing police sirens waking me up every night and hearing about the area that I live in being reported on the news because of its crime rate. People often wonder how USC ended up in an area that isn’t comparable to its beautiful campus. My goal is to share the inequalities that helped to produce such an unstable atmosphere in South Central.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning to the middle of the 1900’s South LA was well known for its beautiful architecture and wealthy homeowners. It was one of the most desirable and affluent parts of Los Angeles, Ca. Successful individuals (from both the black and white races) eagerly settled down in this popular part of town. In the 1950’s, when there was a significant amount of racial segregation, many of the white people from this area fled to the suburbs (this was known as the white flight). Because much of the area of South Central Los Angeles was cleared out by the white race and there was more housing availability, people of lower social classes began to move into the area. The middle class minorities were unable to move to the suburbs because of a concept called red lining. Red lining is a racial discriminatory practice that entails denying loans to racial minorities in certain areas. Because these individuals were unable to receive loans they were forced to stay in the city (in this case South Central Los Angeles). The middle class racial minorities served to be what sociologists call “social buffers”. They were able to keep the economy going because of their financial stability. Many were in the service industry (teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc), which helped to provide services to lower class individuals. They were also able to serve as positive role models for the younger generations to look up to. However, once redling became illegal in the 1980’s the middle class racial minorities moved to the suburbs as well, which completely removed the concept of “social buffers”. The lower class racial minorities were left without positive role models, an economic stimulation, and members who could help them from the service industry. Instead of looking up to doctors, lawyers, and college professors, kids from lower income households began looking up to members of gangs, drug dealers, and other individuals who don’t serve to be positive role models.
Disenfranchisement was another consequence of what was going on in South Central. Because of the low income of most of the individuals who lived in South Central things like grocery stores were replaced with liquor stores (which also increased alcohol consumption). Banks were replaced with establishments like “Check into Cash” where people are unable to have savings or checking accounts. Fast food restaurants replaced family style seating restaurants because it was more affordable and convenient for many of the people living in South Central at the time.
All of the information that I just shared with you came from one of my sociology classes titled Race, Class, and Gender (it was taught at Marymount College). I was extremely upset after learning all of this information and it is still difficult for me to grasp the concept of such blatant acts of racism (like redlining) and segregation (like white flight). Now when you step outside of campus, I hope you will have a better understanding of why South Central Los Angeles is the way it is. If you are interested in helping the surrounding neighborhoods of USC our university does provide a lot of different services like JEP and other mentoring programs to elevate the current situation.
...that was for question number four btw.
ReplyDeleteugghhh i mean 3. sorry it's been a long night of studying.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHistory of Director (I had to continue this in a second blog because it wouldn’t all fit)
ReplyDeleteDirector: John Daniel Singleton
John Singleton is from South Central LA and graduated from USC in 1990.
He released Boyz in da Hood in 1991.
He is the youngest person and first African American to receive an Academy Award.
As well as having produced and been involved with several films, he is also the co-author of a book published in 1993 titled "Poetic Justice: Film-Making South Central Style."
Interesting questions/responses from three interviews with John Singleton:
Wilson Morales: Can you comment on the state of black films now? You sort of started the third wave almost. Obviously, Hustle and Flow is doing okay ,but why do other independent movies like Baadaasss do not fare so well?
Singleton: I love that movie. I mean, I think there's not really too much of a third wave, because there's not that many films that have been really topical. A lot of people are getting work. People are doing blockbuster movies now, which is great. Employment is good for everybody. There's no resonance of doing films that are saying where the condition of where people are; and the interesting thing is I think that movies are becoming more American in the sense that they're becoming more multi-ethnic. The studios are making mandate that you have to have different types of people in even a commercial film and that's trickled down that even to the smaller films and that's great, because movies... America is a big melting plot. There are different stories to be told, but what I really loved about Hustle and Flow is the sense that it's the contemporary South. It's not that South that people in L.A. and New York are going to lose attitude towards as it being what's happening right now? And they're like basically everyone's on an even economic till, you know, and so the stories are just laid bare to what they are. http://www.blackfilm.com/20050805/features/johnsingleton.shtml
Morphizm: I remember way back, when you and Spike Lee and Matty Rich were on the "They've Gotta Have Us" New York Times Magazine cover. How do you think the industry has adapted or not adapted since then, say, 1991?
JS: I think it has adapted commercially, but you know, it's not so much of a revolution that black directors can do big budget movies with stars that don't have to be black. It's not so much of a revolution as it is an issue of commerce. They might agree to hire you, but it's in the interest of giving the same engine a slightly different spin. Yeah, of course it's different to hire a black director, but he's doing the same old same old. In terms of women, or doing pictures that have any type of depth to them, it's dismal. There's very little in the way of films that question why we do certain things, challenging the contemporary. Like Crash, whatever you believe about it, has done so well because, "Wow, it's a movie about something." It's a movie adults can go to and talk about afterwards. And for a certain segment of the audience, that's revolutionary, because there are so few films that attempt even that much today. That's what I'm kind of counting on for Hustle & Flow, that it's has material in it for adults to discuss. Plus, it's hip
http://www.morphizm.com/recommends/interviews/fuchs_singletonint.html
BSN: What about the fact that you set so many of your movies in the ghetto?
ReplyDeleteJS: Nobody can get on me for making ‘hood movies because I’m from the hood. And I’m the only one who has made ghetto movies that are classy, and that inform upon what people are going through. My films are not just excuses to make a rap soundtrack. And they’re not these chitlin’ movies either. Baby Boy and Boyz N the Hood, as far as I’m concerned, are classics. Those movies have our relatives in them, and for better or worse, I’m showing a different side of reality, of how people are living. And I’m not doing it in a nihilistic fashion, showing dysfunctionality for the sake of dysfunctionality. I’m showing why things are this way.
http://blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=3595
1. Give some historical context for the film, specifically, what was going on at the time that this movie was made? How can this movie be seen as a reaction to those events?
ReplyDeleteHere are some major happenings before the Rodney King beatings:
January 12 U.S. Congress gives George Bush authority to wage war against Iraq
January 16 U.S. and 27 allies attack Iraq for occupying Kuwait (U.S. time)
January 17 Operation Desert Storm begins - U.S. led allies vs Iraq
March 3 Four Los Angeles Police severely beat Rodney King, captured on amateur video
March 15 4 LA police are charged with beating Rodney King
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Here are some youtube videos of the Rodney King beating, LA Riots, and Rodney King:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROn_9302UHg
→ Beating of Rodney King
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw2pRnBgeBU&feature=related
--> LA Riots
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgiR04ey7-M&NR=1&feature=fvwp
→ Rodney King speaks out: “Can’t we all just get along?”
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Background:
Rodney Glen King was a Black male who was pulled over by LAPD allegedly speeding on the 210 freeway in San Fernando Valley while intoxicated. The video footage, taken by a man from his apartment, shows around a minute of police brutality. Four LAPD officers are seen continuously beating King with their batons. As he lays restless on the ground, more officers come and stomp on King giving him a broken leg, fractured facial bone, and various bruises. Although this incident settled for a year, the major uproar occurred in 1992, during the famous Rodney King trials. Known as the L.A. Riots, this civil unrest occurred on April 29, 1992, after the four LAPD officers, who were videotaped beating Rodney King, were all acquitted for the crime. After the decision was made public, in the evening the citizens of Los Angeles began rioting. After nearly six days of chaos in Los Angeles, 52 people were pronounced dead and there were around $1 billion worth of damage. Given L.A.’s vast area, most of the violence occurred in South Central Los Angeles and it was noted that the violence was comprised of Blacks and Hispanics.
Although Boyz N the Hood was released a few months before the L.A. Riots, this movie effectively portrays the racism between police and Blacks, especially in South Central L.A. Tension had been escalating for years prior to this movie. For example, one of the most controversial songs by NWA, titled “Fuck the Police” hits on the similar topics of racism and unfair treatment of blacks and other minority populations. However, through the years of racism, the Rodney King incident seemed to be the last straw-- as the South Central community broke out and protested for six days straight.
How can this movie be seen as a reaction to events surrounding the time frame of the movie (LA riots)?
ReplyDeleteA simple background of each is required at first to give a good response. Firstly the movie's background is set in South Central Los Angeles where crime amongst African Americans and other minorities is prevalent. So as not to give away any major part of the plot this will focus mostly on the idea behind the story. The story is based on 3 African American males who each have different lives, one who is a football star, one who wants to go to college, and one who leads a life of crime in the streets. Throughout the movie there are a lot of events where violence is the main response. The movie is in a way a history of the types of violence that is seen throughout South Central LA. There are drive-bys, murders, and drug deals to name only a few.
The LA riots were a response to the brutal beating of an African American male by the name of Rodney King by four white male officers. Allegedly Rodney King was resisting arrest, but there was no concrete evidence of this in the video that was taken. The response to this by the community is the most important aspect for our purposes. The response to the acquittal of the officers was followed by six days of rioting, looting, murders, and a myriad of violence by the LA community. In these six days there were shootings and plently of beatings, as well as robbing, arsen, and assault.
Although the movie Boyz n the Hood was released a few months before the riots it can be seen as a response to the violence that is widespread throughout a great part of LA at the time. It uses the movie as a method of sending out the message of the kinds of hardships that African Americans face each day in the hood. All the beatings and murders that go unannounced by the media and the newspapers. The Rodney King beatings may be only one of thousands of beatings that went on every day back then, or even now. This movie was a way to describe to audiences what was actually going on behind the false curtain put up by the media to "shelter" people. It allows a close look into what the real ghetto (home) is for some people.