Boyz N The Hood Leadership

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.

The social structure perspective is based on the relationship between social status and criminal behavior. Social structure theories tie delinquency rates to socioeconomic conditions such as poverty and cultural values such as gang culture. Social structure theories focus on three predominate views; social disorganization, anomie/strain, and cultural deviance. Boys N the Hood directed by John Singlton is a great illustration of the social structure perspective in explaining criminal behavior. The movie is about three friends who struggle to survive in South Central Los Angeles where friendship, pain, danger, and love form a true picture of life in the "hood." The three main characters are Tre Styles, Doughboy, and Ricky Baker. Tre Styles is a teen who was pushed in a mature direction to overcome living in the hood by his parents Reva and Furious Styles. Ricky Baker is Tre's best friend who is a talented football player who gets a scholarship to move out of the hood. Doughboy is Ricky's brother who sells cocaine and succumbs to the pressures and lifestyle of living in the hood.

“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.

Hernandez does what she can to keep her own head above water by getting a job at a local McDonalds and keeping her grades up in school. Though guilty of her own successes Hernandez did what she had to do, to survive and create her own future.

Throughout the 1992 film, “Boyz in the Hood,” John Singleton takes a closer look at urban black America in South Central Los Angeles. Doughboy, Ricky and Trey, along with their parents are chronicled from childhood to adulthood. Each person, though living in the same neighborhood chooses different paths in life. These characters were raised in a very deviant community, however there were many causes as to why they did not all become deviant. Deviance is defined as behavior that goes against what is socially acceptable. It is when a person disregards what is normal in a specific society and acts upon it. Throughout the movie these characters had many chances to engage in deviant behavior, as some did while

Discusses how race is a conceptualized concept most often through stereotypes of different groups with the presence of a systematic structure of racism where the dominant group has placed themselves as superior and all other groups are deemed inferior. This structure often produces a negative impact on same race relations. Identity, according to this theory is created due to psychological enforcement of repeated racial oppression. The movie “Boyz N’ The Hood” demonstrates the effect of this enforced systematic structure and its negative impact on same race relations which lead to the ultimate death of some of the characters in this film (Singleton,1991). The movie takes place in impoverished South Central Los Angeles and depicts scenes of violence perpetrated by gangs against the main characters of the movie. Janet Helms points out that racial theory consists of four models White Identity, Black Identity, People of Color, and the Racial interaction model. She points out that the more an individual becomes aware of the social constructs of race and the racist system the closer

“Free will and determinism are like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt is determinism. The way you play your hand is free will.” (Norman Cousins) “The Lost Boyz” by Justin Rollins, is a remarkable, personal recount of the author’s dejected youth as well as a deep, raw and vivid insight into the ways and consequences of a broken youths’ mind (Rollins, 2011). Throughout his book, Rollins depicts the divergent factors responsible for his descend into the criminal lifestyle, ultimately attributing them to two key criminological theories; classicism and positivism (Newburn, 2017). Classicist criminology, or the classical approach to criminal behaviour is centred around the idea of free will and rational thinking, defining the criminal

Boyz in the Hood starts off with the character Tre Styles as a young man who lives in South Central, Los Angeles with his mom Rita. The social work student viewed this beginning portion of the movie portraying his young life as a social worker. The social work student noticed that Tre lived with his mother in an apartment in a rough neighborhood. Tre went to school but had problems acting out and being the class clown. Tre and the friends he hung around here had foul language and used profanity as young kids. This is just one example of how Tre’s surroundings influenced his life. According to Newman & Newman (2014), the Social Role theory suggests that a person learns behaviors from observing in their environments. Young Tre Styles learned profanity from somewhere in his rough environment and this is a method of learning socially. Rita, his mother was working on her Master’s degree and wanted better for Tre, so it is unlikely she promoted the use of profanity in her household. A contract between the two was drafter and Tre agreed with his mother that if he did not behave he would move in with his father. Rita stayed true to the contract they drafted and took Tre to live with his father Furious, so Tre could learn how to be a man.

In this paper, I will analysis the film Boyz N the Hood based on and around the criminology concept of the General Strain Theory. The film Boyz N the Hood depicts a story about an African-American boy growing up in “the hood” of South Central LA. South Central is a place where on average 1 out of 21 African American men will be die as a result of “the streets”. African Americans within the African-American community are more susceptible to becoming a casualty to gang affiliation and violence. If a person makes the wrong choices in life or even if they are faced with the right circumstances that force this person to join a gang their likelihood of dying as a result dramatically increases.

In the case of Doughboy and Ricky, neither have a father figure like Tre, however their mother does play a role in their lives. Though both Ricky and doughboys sare the same fate, Picky has a legitimate shot of breaking out of the hood. Their mother clearly favors Ricky; more over he is a popular social figure, athletic and has some value of education. Due to these reasons, Doughboy gets very little parental support and lives in the shadow of his brother; this causes doughboy to become the stereotypical boy in the hood. “One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime” and “most will die at the hands of another Black

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.

Throughout the film, common tragedies of a black community plagued with gangs are shown, such as violence, police brutality, poverty, and racism. Because of this, Boyz N the Hood initially appears to just be another typical film about the perils of black communities and a character’s mission to escape. However, it is seen through the main characters that Singleton places an importance on the role of fathers and the lack thereof within black families; this is still relevant today as

Almost twenty-five years after the film’s theatrical release in 1991, the significance and importance of Boyz n the Hood is incalculable. The film continues to be one of the most realistic portrayals of life as a young African-American male growing up in South Central Los Angeles during the 1990s. It presents inner city Los Angeles in non-biased, true to life manner. Only few films after have tried to take this innovative approach, all not receiving the success and lasting impact of Boyz n the Hood. The film uses this to its advantage to realistically investigate issues of race, violence, and other hardships in Los Angeles ghettos.

Set in lower-middle-class, predominately black, south central Los Angeles, a neighborhood where constant gunshots regularly interrupt study time and the sound of police helicopters flying above is a familiar tune, Boyz N the Hood is basically the story of three

Furthermore, Boyz N the Hood also offers an honest and realistic portrayal of a father's absence in urban America. This is best exemplified by Tre's boyhood friends, who lack a strong fatherly influence, end up involved in gang violence, selling drugs, and other societal traps. More specifically, a close friend, Doughboy, lacks a father in his life. And although Doughboy's mother ties to lead him in the right direction, she favors Doughboy's brother Ricky over him, and Doughboy ends up spending time in prison and dealing drugs. Doughboy experiences gang-related violence first-hand and ultimately becomes a neighborhood victim. Without a strong father figure, Doughboy never valued responsibility, dedication, respect for women, or morality. Resultantly, he succumbs to his neighborhood's social ills.