In the film Boyz in the Hood, there are several depictions of masculinity that varied among the different characters. The gender norms of masculinity within the African American community were portrayed as either a man who was tough, uneducated, and resorted to violence to solve issues or a man who was stable, educated, and thought before he acted. The latter image of masculinity was promoted as positive and the easiest example of this image is Tre's father. He was often the voice of reason when his son, Tre, and his friends were in trouble and he guided his son and his friends' through their problems without forcefully telling them what to do. On the other hand, the masculinities that were seen as "dangerous" were the men who were tough, uneducated, and resorted to violence to solve issues. The easiest example of this image would be Doughboy. Doughboy recently got out of jail for dealing drugs and later on in the movie, his brother, Ricky, was murdered by local Bloods, a gang in their town. After Ricky was murdered, Doughboy wanted to avenge his death and did so with two of his friends. An interesting contrast in the movie is between Doughboy and Tre. Since Doughboy, Ricky, and Tre were good friends and after Ricky was murdered, Tre wanted to avenge Ricky's death as well, Tre decided to back out of this violent act. This could be because Tre had a father that helped him understand the important things about life and because Tre was a high school senior aspiring to obtain a college career. On the other hand, Doughboy did not have a fatherly image to follow and became rather independent and involved with the gang culture. Although at first, Tre took on the "dangerous masculine image" at first when he decided to avenge Ricky's death, he took upon a more positive image the moment he asked to be let out of the car on the way to avenge Ricky's death.

Race plays a great role in the depiction of African American masculinities in the film because the film focuses on the culture of this one neighborhood with an African American population. The happenings and murders that happen in this neighborhood are kept within the neighborhood and even neighboring cities do not know about it. The fact that neighborhood is so separated from the rest of the cities may be because the African American culture seems so fixed that it is hard to change. Furthermore, the woman characters in the film plays passive roles in the film. Tre's girlfriend and Ricky's mother both were supporting roles to Tre and Ricky's life but did not actively change it. Tre's girlfriend was there to support him and Tre even mentioned that he "couldn't believe he was crying in front of a female". Ricky's mother, on the other hand, believed that Ricky could obtain the SAT score that would allow him to go to the University of Southern California, and thus, became a support for Ricky.

One of the characters that seems to be an "outsider-within" is Tre and Ricky. Tre, a high school senior aspiring to obtain a college career, and Ricky, an all-star football star that had a chance to attend the University of Southern California, did not seem to be like all the other boys involved in gangs, violence, and drugs in the neighborhood. They had goals that were realistic and attainable while being surrounded by people who were not. One of their close friends, Doughboy, was the exact opposite of them, just getting out of jail for drug dealing and being involved with the gang culture. Furthermore, seeing the neighborhood that was mostly uneducated and resorted to violence to solve issues because most of the teenage boys thought that having a gun meant power and control, Tre and Ricky were socially pressured by their peers and their environment. In the end, Ricky folded under the pressure and gave into the violence which costed him his life while Tre realized that he did not want to get involved and changed his mind before he made the wrong decision.