•rage 12 The Broncos' Voice September, 1991
Entertainment
... And Criticism
John Singleton is the writer and director of "Boyz N The Hood", a
Columbia Pictures release.
In the past few years, a
wave of Black films featuring
Black actors, writers, directors,
and producers, has swept through
Hollywood’s movie making
machine. With Spike Lee’s
controversial films, Hollywood
has received only a taste of many
films to come. One of the latest
Black films to emerge on the
scene is Boyz n the Hood.
Directed and written by
23 year old John Singleton, the
film makes a diligent effort to be
a superb and unique film, but it
fails in this effort. Singleton
contends that this film is a drama
that offers a message to the
Black community. Yet, it fails to
dramatize any issues that are
relevant to the Black community.
The three young teenagers
- Tre (Cuba Gooding, Jr.),
Doughboy (Ice Cube), and Ricky
(Morris Chestnut) - sit around on
a porch all day. The audience is
to assume they do this because
they cannot get jobs. Singleton,
here, places Blacks in jsi
stereotype. He portrays Black
teenagers as unintelligible,
unemployable, and lazy. The
purpose of a drama is to
dramatize. Singleton should have
shown these kids going into an
unemployment office and being
denied an application. Don’t talk
about it - SHOW IT. The
dramatization of this would have
had more effect than having the
characters merely talk about
unemployment.
Singleton claims that he
wants to present the reality of the
Black urban neighborhood. If he
is going to present reality, then
he should present a clear reality.
The character Doughboy sells
drugs in the film, but Singleton
fails to show how he acquired
these drugs. Sure, he may have
got them from someone in his
Black community, but the
members of the community did
not actually bring them into the
nation, or into the community for
that matter. Tre’s father. Furious
Styles (Larry Fishburne), TELLS
him that the white man is
bringing drugs into the
community. This statement would
have had more effect if it had
been manifested visually.
Singleton should have revealed
White people bringing drugs into
the Black community and into
the nation. He should have shown
them at the dock on the
California coast packing drugs
into vans to be distributed
throughout the community.
Singleton’s failure to
dramatize instead of verbalize
hurt the movie. Messages are
illustrated distinctly to people if
one demonstrates and dramatizes.
For example, if one’s friend
needs to know how to get to the
shopping mall from a house 4
miles away, it will be easier for
one to show him how to get there
rather than to tell him how to get
there. Singleton, I’m sure, is
aware of this, but he is getting
caught up in the insatiable desire
for dollar signs that so many
directors use as basis for making
their movies. Singleton’s movie
is targeted to a Black audience;
an audience to which he says he
wants to present reality. Black
people know the reality he
portrays in the movie; most live
it everyday.
Singleton, if he ever
wants to truly succeed in the film
industry, should concentrate more
on presenting solutions to
problems and portraying a
positive image. Black people
know what the problems are in
the community. If he wants to be
effective, he should offer some
solutions to the problem.
Blacks do not need to see
all the violence, guns, sex, etc. Is
Singleton aware that people
usually emulate what they see -
what is dramatized to them? If
negativity is dramatized, then
negativity is emulated. If
positivity is dramatized, then
positivity is emulated. Singleton
should have shown more
positivity or a clearer reality. If
this movie portrays Singleton’s
view of Black reality, then the
boy should stay in the hood.
- Wayne Hodges
(con't from page 6)
central role as the world’s
mercenary policemen,
suppressing Third World
nationalism and preserving
western cooperate and political
domination. The Arab world’s
greatest threat is not Saddam
Hussein, it is the power and
exploitation of western
governments and corporations.
U.S. intervention ensures more
decades of American dominance,
and provides a warning to all
non-European countries
struggling against neocolonialism.
Second, the American
intervention justifies the
ex_pansion of the military budget,
the production of nuclear and
conventional weapons,
eliminating the peace dividend.
Thirdly, in terms of domestic
politics, it divided the Democratic
party into pro-war and anti-war
camps. Pro-war Democrats were
manipulated to grant Bush
unprecedented authority to
initiate massive warfare ajjroad.
The only language the
American political and corporate
elite understand is resistance.
This means conducting teach-ins,
explaining why the war was
unnecessary. It means civil
disobedience, marches,
demonstrations, and political
organizing, bringing together
religious groups, trade unions,
civil rights, feminist and other
progressive constituencies.
Creative, democratic protest for
peace abroad and social justice at
home should be our focus.
- Dr. Manning Marable is
Professor of Political Science,
University of Colorado, Boulder.
"Along the Color Line" appears
in over 170 newspapers
internationally.