The film Boyz ‘n the Hood, directed by John Singleton is more than just a Hollywood blockbuster. The film incorporates numerous criminological theories and also demonstrates the concepts of conformity and deviance. This paper will analyze the characters of Tre, Ricky, Doughboy, Furious and other friends and family and show how criminological theories and the concepts of conformity and deviance play a part in their lives.
“Boyz n the hood” takes place in South Central Los Angeles in 1984. The main actors in the movie are Cuba Gooding Jr as Tre, Morris Chestnut as Ricky, and Ice Cube as Doughboy. In the beginning of the movie it says, “One out of twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime” followed by “Most will die at the hands of another black male”. Later it shows the main characters in the movie Tre, Ricky and Doughboy as kids each of them having plans in life. Ricky’s dream is to become a football player and Tre going to college and doughboy still not deciding what he wants to do in life.
In the essay, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal Of Black Women”(221), by Jennifer McLune, she vents her feelings regarding hip-hop songs that are rhythmically diminishing the value of black women. She provides example on how the lyrics are being voiced and how hip-hop artists do not seem to care. Kevin Powell in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” writes, “Indeed, like rock and roll, hip-hop sometimes makes you think we men don’t like women much at all, except to objectify them as trophy pieces or, as contemporary vernacular mandates, as baby mommas, chicken heads, or bitches” (221). There have been apologizes for what the rappers have said but nothing to resolve the dehumanization of black women. McLune informs the readers that hip-hop singers belittle black women and make them invisible. Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop artist is brought to center stage by McLune. The essay shows the example of a part of Jay-Z song that says, “I pimp hard on a trick, look Fuck if your leg broke bitch hop on your good foot” (222). This lyric is a perfect example of how hip-hop artist have no remorse in the words they sing. The hurt feelings and loss of self-esteem black women suffer, is of no concern to the rappers. McLune expresses that those who are underground hip-hop artist follow the footsteps on being sexist and using crude words in their lyrics just because they yearn and dream of being in the spotlight. Upcoming rappers want to be loved like Jay-Z and other famous notorious rappers.
The Hot House Life inside Leavenworth prison was writing in 1987-1989 by Peter Earley. Leavenworth has been one of the oldest and most dangerous maximum security facilities in the nation. The author introduces us with 6 prisoners and a couple of wardens. The book captures all the problems prisoners came across and experiences they had to go through.
In the narrative: Boyz ‘r’ us by Scott Monk, we comprehend the author’s depiction of Mitch. That he is an incorrigible young adolescent with many obligations, upon his shoulders. We perceive that Mitch is confined within a gang, a gang that is pessimistically changing his life, it is also having disdainful influence on his deportments and it is carrying out that influence with him in his life. We are exposed to the theme of change in Mitch’s life when encountering some drastically different: characters, setting, situations and outcomes. The author certifies Mitch’s life one-step at a time, by exploring the depth of Mitch’s predicaments, in other accounts; inquiring into the theme of adolescent etiquettes and by positioning us in the centre of the contingencies.
This summer I’ve read the book Heat by Mike Lupica. This baseball themed book is a out of the park excitement. It’s about a 12 year old cuban boy named Michael who is newly orphaned but loves to throw killer heat. But everything goes downhill when Michael can't prove his age by a lost birth certificate and gets kicked off the team. Michael tries to do his best by supporting the team by the sidelines. It gets worst, since his brother Carlos is only 17, they have to stay in the shadows so they don't get separated into foster homes.
In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance.
What if I told you that I know the outcome of your life and where you will end up before you even know it? Wouldn’t you be scared? See for a regular person who has a supporting family around them this question will almost feel almost like a death sentence. Nobody wants anyone to judge them before they even go through life on what they will end up being.
Within the content of this paper, I will be describing the four theories learned from the readings this week. The theory’s that will be covered are Racial Identity Theory, Social Capital Theory, Critical Race Theory, and what Cultural Competency is. I will also provide examples of each theory along with a brief video and movie clips to further demonstrate my comprehension.
“S*** rolls downward” an old army phrase is what exactly happened to 1st platoon of the 101st Airborne Division. Black Hearts is a fictional book on soldiers in the 101st Airborne division in the 502 Infantry Regiment during deployment to Iraq in 2005. Black Hearts is a book which gives the reader the point of views the different types of stress a soldier goes through during a deployment both physically and especially mentally. The book goes in depth and paints realistic events throughout the deployment and the impact it had one specific company.
Boyz in the Hood is a statement of how urban youth have been passed a legacy of tragic indifference, and the writer has shown that it is an almost inescapable fate for those born into racism and poverty to repeat the patterns they wish to escape. The movie’s characters are clear representations of how the system fails young black youth in the United States, and the difference one mentor can make for these kids. During segregation young black children became targets for white brutality. This movie reflects what the European mentality and what it has done to the African American culture.
Some challenges between anti-social behaviors and geographic are evident in the film Boyz n the Hood. It a 90’s films created by John Singleton, about a boy Tre styles who is sent to live with his father Furious styles in South Central Los Angeles after he got into a fight at school. At his father 's house, he is taught morals and values of being a respected man. On the other hand, his friends Ricky and Doughboy who are half-brothers has a different upbringing with no real support system, resulting in forming a gang, involvement with drugs and a tragic ending. This film is based on the African American experience in terms of environmental conditions which results in a great deal of African American males being pushed into the criminal justice system.
The book opens with a squad of soldiers running a tactical control point just outside of a village called Yusufiyah. They are approached when a man Abu Muhammad had found his cousins family brutally murdered not too far off. Sgt. Tony Yribe and 3 others went to go investigate it. Although it was a terrible scene Sgt. Yribe had just assumed that it was like most other situations in Iraq in that the family was a victim of Iraqis attacking other Iraqis. The one thing that bothered him was that there was a shotgun shell and Iraqis do not normally use shotguns.
John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood is an American teen drama film released in 1991 that focuses on three black teens who live in the dangerous neighbourhood of Crenshaw, Los Angeles. The main characters Doughboy, his half-brother Ricky, and their friend Tre grow up together but meet drastically different fates as young adults. As Swanson (2011) points out, it is important to understand the tension within black communities in Los Angeles at the time of the film’s release; the Rodney King beating had taken place only months before and LA’s gang wars were reaching a peak. As a Los Angeles native, Singleton’s goal with the film was to alert people about the situation around them, as he said: “I couldn’t rhyme. I wasn’t a rapper. So I made this movie” (Swanson 2011). To reflect the environment as accurately as possible, the film was shot on the streets of South Los Angeles, so the crew was just as on edge as their characters would be; there were even threats of gun violence from local gang members.
Richard Wright’s memoir Black Boy (American Hunger): A Record of Childhood and Youth recounts the author’s personal experience growing up as an African American male in the Jim Crow South, as well as his initial years in the North in the late 1920s. While it is a personal account of one man’s life in this time period, Wright’s memoir also sheds light on the broader role of black men in American society in the early twentieth century, particularly with respect to race, gender, and class relations. By no accident, insight on these relations can be gleaned from the title of Wright’s memoir itself. I argue that Wright chose the provocative title Black Boy (American Hunger): A Record of Childhood and Youth in order to both utilize shock