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Theme Of The Urban Ghetto In Boyz N The Hood

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Decisions to Escape the Pipeline: Portrayal of the Urban Ghetto in Boyz n the Hood In different genres, from different perspectives, there is a definitive subset of city-bazed movies that are united around the theme of the urban environment as a determinant of personality. The stories of these movies center on thinking through the role the cities and sociological entities play in a life of a person (Mennel 23). In some cases, a protagonist may be in an angry conflict with a dark underbelly of the city, as in Taxi Driver (1974), in other he may be a comical embodiment of his surroundings, like Woody Allen in virtually all of his movies, including Anny Hall (1975). Either way, the urban regions, and communities appear to be a natural environment …show more content…

A role of the ghetto as an actor is underlined constantly by the narration of protagonist’s father played by Laurence Fishburne narration: in a manner that shifts between socially critical and conspiratorial, he constantly refers to the ghetto as a system that is specifically designed to swallow up its citizens into the underbelly of crime. He describes it as an influence of the racist system designed to destroy African American community: the liquid stores are opened at every corner, the weapon traffic is high, police is brutal and fail to stop dealers of crack. From another perspective, however, unwillingly and unintentionally he himself is a part of a problem, and in the very beginning of the movie he gets a possibility to become a part of a solution. As a divorced parent of a son who received unexpectedly a change to prevent his misfortunate and rebellious son from the path of the crime. Either a sign of systematic oppression or a result of demand and offer equilibrium, the ghetto is a neighborhood-to-prison pipeline, a system of violent socialization the result of life in which is statistically …show more content…

He fights against gentrification in the neighborhood and recognizes the need for accumulating capital inside the African American community in Compton, thus understanding the very principles of a successful grassroots urban development. Nevertheless, the obstacles of systematic tendencies inside ‘the hood’ work against him: his plan is impossible because of a paradox inside the black community that works against its own well-being by spawning crime and participating in early sexual behavior. The first tendency ruins the security and economy of the community and the second prevents the changes in a long-term perspective, ruining the lives of the youth and forcing the new generation to be born in poverty in a single-mother

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John Singleton’s film, Boyz N the Hood, displays the challenging upbringing of adolescents who have to live with harsh conditions around not only their home but also their surrounding town. The film compares the differences between the lifestyles of Tre Styles and his friends’, Darren and Ricky Baker. Darren and Ricky are half-brothers who are nothing alike. Singleton demonstrates the importance of male leadership in a home in the ghetto of Los Angeles by comparing the difference between the lifestyles of Tre and his friends. While many adolescents in the hood have close friendships, some form close relationships by assembling gangs and create a world of violence due to alcohol abuse, which together ultimately breeds discrimination.

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Many of the boys pretended that negative interactions and stereotyping did not affect them, but their bravo personas only masked the fear inside. Fear made the boys feel weaker and less masculine, so they would deviate from social norms to regain respect and dignity among their peers and for themselves. Routine patterns of punishment eventually lead the boys to develop an altered view of thoughts, beliefs, and ways of behaving in order to survive the tough life set them. Chapter two concentrates on the history of Oakland, incarceration rates, youth systems of control, and the boy’s resistance to punishment and brutalization. The Oakland ghetto consists of a multiracial community, predominantly African-American and Latino, that are equally targeted and brutalized by police

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There were a number of problematic themes throughout Dr. Mary Pattillo’s book, Black on the Block, but the most taxing was the criminalization of the poor from the black middle class and majority of the “actors” working towards the revitalization of North Kenwood-Oakland. Dr. Pattillo addressed these issues to the reader, however my quandary was connected specifically to the responses from the black brokers and outside participants in repairing NKO. Throughout the reading, there was little to no deeper analysis of the conditions, which caused the decline of the neighborhood from the black gentrifiers and decision makers. Instead, there were numerous mentions of the ill behavior, influx of drugs and crime as well as lack of community pride

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The movie “Boyz N’ the Hood” is a story centered on the issues that are seen in the urban areas of Los Angeles every day. Tre (the main character) is raised in a way that seems to be correct but he still ends up being a part of criminal activity. While watching this film in an academic setting it is easy to see the social and political reform messages that are being communicated to the audience. On the political side it is easy to see the race and ethnicity of the film maker while on the social side the audience can tell the filmmaker is spreading a message. All together “Boyz N’ the Hood” is a very good film that depicts the type of stuff that happens in the poorer parts of Los Angeles.

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The film Boyz N’ the hood follows the lives of a group of young African American men growing up in the hood where poverty, crime and violence are rampant. The three main characters are Darin (Dough boy), Ricky (Darin’s brother), and Tre. In this this film there are many schools of criminology’s that help explain the roots of the criminality portrayed.

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He speaks about the story of Clyde Ross, a black man who fled horrible conditions in Mississippi to find work in Chicago. Like many Americans Ross dreamed of owning a home. However, the only way for a black person to buy a home in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century was to buy from predatory “contract” sellers who charged unbillable rates with few legal protections for buyers. Clyde said “To keep up with his payments and keep his heat on, I took a second job at the post office and then a third job delivering pizza.” Like many blacks in Chicago at the time he got two jobs just to keep up with the payments of the house, overall being kept away from his

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The author brings up an African American’s ability to “alter space in ugly ways” (Staples 542). The word “ugly” in this line serves primarily to indicate how afraid people are and how Staples’ surroundings can change drastically in negative ways to support his message. Additionally, Staples uses diction in a contradicting way to help support his message. In order to illustrate the difference in societies, the writer employs contrasting words such as “affluent” and “impoverished” to emphasize the difference between the little park the author introduced to us in the beginning of the narrative with the overall city of Chicago and why a woman might have been afraid of him. This supports his message that stereotypes, even those placed on cities and races, can influence how people act.

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The film Boyz N the Hood is a story about life in South Central Los Angeles. The film was wrote and directed by John Singleton in 1991. I chose this movie because of its relevance to the course and how it reflects pop culture in that time period. The opening line in the movie “one out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime” really catches the audience attention (Nicolaides & Singleton, 1991). This movie goes into detail and shows the life of three young males living in the hood of Los Angeles battling a life surrounded by drugs, violence, and questions of race.

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In the movie “Friday” it displays a typical day in the ghetto and what obstacles two young black men had to go through just to get through one day. Ice Cube a famous American rapper from LA’s popular 90’s hip hop group NWA wrote this historic black comedic/drama film and along plays the main character Craig Jones. Craig plays the neighborhood hero after a chaotic day where he deals with bullies, his love life, annoying neighbors, and scary drug dealers. The film is based in south central LA in the mid 90’s where Craig and his best friend Smokey who is played by comedian/actor Chris Tucker find themselves in trouble after thinking it would be a typical Friday in the ghetto. Craig a young black man in his early twenties lives at home with his parents is determined to leave the ghetto but there 's just some things holding him back.

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Lance Freeman, an associate professor of urban planning in Columbia, wanted to investigate if there was any displacement going on in two predominantly black neighborhoods that was briskly gentrifying. Much to his dismay, he couldn’t find any correlation between gentrification and displacement. What was surprising to Freeman was his discovery, “poor residents and those without a college education were actually less likely to move if they resided in gentrifying neighborhoods”. (Sternbergh, 19) Freeman adds, “The discourse on gentrification, has tended to overlook the possibility that some of the neighborhood changes associated with gentrification might be appreciated by the prior residents.” (Sternbergh, 19)

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