Boyz 'N the Hood powerfully portrays struggles of Black youth
1991 1991-09Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 20 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1991 19 Boyz 'N the Hood, a film written and directed by John Singleton.
John Singleton pulls no punches in this portrayal of the lives of Black youth growing up in the ghettos of Los Angeles. The camera not only brings the viewer eye to eye with the characters, but the closeness of the shots are designed to put you within arms reach of them.
If you are looking for the standard moral lessons on the evils of drug addiction or how gang membership ruins the lives of the young, then watch "The Cosby Show." But if you want a true picture of how MOVIE-REVIEW poverty, joblessness, racism, and the political and economic structure of our society set out to destroy lives, then see this movie. In it, you will meet the true heroes of today, fighting a life and death battle in the streets of the "Hood."
The intentions of the film are stated from the very beginning when we are given two statistics that effect the lives of Black Americans every day: First, one in 20 Black males will be murdered in their lifetime. Second, 80 percent of those murders will be committed by other Black males. After those statistics are given in bold text, this extraordinary story begins.
There are no stereotypic characters in this film. Singleton succeeds through clear, frank shots with vivid colors and mostly bright, warm sunny days to describe the conditions that exist in ghettos of poverty all over the world. The story centers around the lives of three main characters. Cuba Gooding Jr. acts the role of Tres, Ice Cube is Dough Boy, and Larry Fishburne is Furious Styles, Tres's father.
At the beginning of the film, Tres, about 12 years old, is seen in his classroom trying to pay attention to a history lesson about the Pilgrims and how they survived the winter with the help of the "Indians." His teacher, a young white woman with good intentions, is simply dishing out the curriculum-the "important facts."
The classroom is unruly, and Tres makes some smart remark. The teacher asks if he would like to conduct the class. Tres eagerly steps to the front of the room, pulls down a map of Africa, and begins a lecture on African-American history—which he has learned from his father. For this he gets into serious trouble.
His mother, trying to work and go to school herself, believes that her son needs more guidance than she can give him. Reluctantly, she sends Tres to live with his father, Furious Styles, who is self educated, intelligent and strong.
The father is keenly aware of the dilemma most Black Americans face in this society. He sees his role in his son's life as not only to teach him basic human integrity but to clearly explain how the system is designed to tear a person down Tres is best friends with his father's next-door neighbors, Rickey and his younger half-brother, Dough Boy. In Rickey's and Dough Boy's house there is no father. Dough Boy, chubby with low self-esteem, is constantly criticized by his mother, who always compares him to her "good son," Rickey.
After creating a foundation for the characters, Singleton reintroduces them seven years later around the ages of 15 and 16. The scene is a backyard homecoming party for Dough Boy, who is just out of jail. Tres and Rickey are in high school now and thinking about their future. Both want to go to college. Perhaps that way they can escape.
Dough Boy is selling drugs and living day by day hanging out. All the time, he is rooting for his brother's escape from this life through a football scholarship, but he sees no escape for himself Throughout the film, Singleton shows how the humanity of the characters surSociAlist Action