School Daze is a musical drama and comedy film that was produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee in 1988. The film was disorganized and satirical yet enlightening. It addresses the varieties of the black experience. Initially, I reflected on the title itself. A school is an institution for instruction; one’s formal education. A daze is a state of confusion, typically characterized by a lack of clarity. This school daze is indicative of an identity crisis.
The opening track is “I’m Building Me A Home” accompanied by images of the African Americans transition into the new world and the efforts of those to find a place within it. Like many Negro spirituals, the content of this song has a religious theme. It expresses the lamentations of a
…show more content…
Half-Pint as a pledgee). “You’re not niggers!,” Dap exclaims when the Fellas where challenged over race and class. The student body at Mission College is experiencing what sociologists have termed role conflict. For example, Dap renounces Greek life but assists his cousin, Half-Pint with the intake process. Essentially, there are four distinct groups in the film: the wannabe’s (a.k.a Gamma Rays), the jig-a-boos, the members and pledgees of Gamma Phi Gamma, and the Fellas. The wanna-be’s are light-skinned, permed hair African Americans while the jigaboos are dark skinned natural hair Blacks. The Fellas are comprised of Dap, a Black Nationalist and his fellow conscious friends. The Gammas are current and aspiring members who display comraderies in unawareness. These groups represent the divisive attitudes and behaviors that foster divergence and obstruct Black unanimity. According to the text, “school is an ideal place in which to change intergroup attitudes.” Baumeister and Muraven (1996) thought of identity as an adaption to a social context. Taifel (1981) identifies identity as a part of one’s self-concept that is derived from the membership in and adherence to the values associated with it. The wanna-be’s and jig-a-boo’s have conflicting perceptions of beauty signified in the ‘Good or Bad Hair’ ballet. The Gamma’s have internalized slavery tactics by branding, chaining,