Gangsta Films

The 1990s inspired an onslaught of what "my people" like to call Black Pride (or some shit like that). This time is a crucial period, seeing as the 1960s and 1970s were far too serious/reminiscent of that angry sort of racism (as opposed to the funny, ironic kind) and because Michael Jackson had paved the way by causing a stir during the mid-1980s, FINALLY giving us something to be proud about. Society was finally acknowledging us, so, naturally, the next step was to instill the fear of God into them. From the 1990s emerged a striking media presence, unprecedentedly in films. It's a good thing too; jazz and minstrel shows were a bit trite and confusing to modern audiences.

Most notably, the "Gangsta" genre arrived on the scene. This is not to be confused with the "Gangster" genre, seeing as it demeans cinematic feats such as The Godfather and gives Ice Cube far too much credit. On the other hand, Gangsta films were a new phenomenon and assured audiences everywhere that all those horrible things that they thought about black people were, for the most part, relatively true. It's a shame; John Singleton single-handedly ushered our people into a age of reckoning, mass-producing a ridiculous amount of these Gangsta films and peddling them as modern "coming-of-age" dramas. Color me impressionable, but I sort of thought that "coming-of-age" implied some sort of acquired knowledge or over-coming some sort of obstacle? Singleton's films convey one message: it sucks being poor, but it sucks even more to be black.

Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, Poetic Justice, Friday and more recently Baby Boy all employ the same formulaic narrative centralizing on Black youth, and they're proud of it too. First, they usually start with an ominous quote commenting on the endangerment of Black youth/the importance of literacy/the fading jazz scene. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a major supplier of said quotes, or Malcolm X if it's an especially poignant film.

The setting is always a lower-than-low-income slum, simply referred to as "the hood" or "da hood" if you're jiggy with it (this term is used rather loosely seeing as Will Smith has no clout as a Black person whatsoever). "Da hood" is personified as raging beast that consumes lives and threaten the livelihood of Black men aged 12-33. The predictable plot usually focuses on a group of perpetually unemployed Black men, or Janet Jackson if you're lucky. They're days consist of drinking malt liquor, engaging in petty conflicts, going to convenience stores for more malt liquor, swearing and impregnating sassy women. It wouldn't progress very far beyond these means, but there's always one character who aspires to escape the dreaded hood. First and foremost, there's going to be a barbecue, a house party or a scene where you're introduced to somebody who's just gotten out of jail. Someone will shoot something. Several people will be shot at. There will be one character who cherishes education/religion and strives to be a productive member of society...but fails miserably. There's usually several children between the ages of 2-7, usually shown exhibiting the same unsavory habits (swearing, prodding dead bodies with sticks) the protagonist is falling victim to. Someone will shirk their parenting responsibilities or be fondly referred to as a "baby mama." Police are nearly always present, but usually only make short appearances to harass people or say racist remarks towards Mexicans. The streets are always teeming with crackheads who are good for providing cheap laughs or offering to suck someone's penis. There must be at least four welfare references. Most importantly, someone always dies. The less the person deserves to die, the bigger lesson the protagonist makes (and alas, he's one step closer from getting off of his ass and actually leaving the hood).

The average cast is largely comprised of rap stars who are now dead or who don't really matter anymore (Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, etc). The remaining roles are filled with the all-purpose, all-mighty cast of recyclable Black actors; namely Angela Bassett, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, both of the Goodings (Cuba Jr. and the lesser known Omar) and so on. The thinly veiled message Singleton tries to convey is that although "da hood" is a scary fucking place where you'll either get shot or addicted to crack, there's nothing scarier than upper-middle class White people, police, pregnancy or Asian convenience store clerks. If you inspect these films too closely, you'll get the impression that they're all horrendously racist (seeing as all the characters are unproductive, unemployed, uneducated and show an unwavering passion for shiny car accessories, marijuana and drinking cheap liquor in the afternoon). But, never fear, because it's a Black filmmaker (who graduated from US-fucking-C nonetheless) it's alright. It's innovative. Besides, who doesn't want to see Laurence Fishburne play a trifling asshole's overbearing father figure?

Don't get me wrong. These films are amusing as hell-- who hasn't wondered what it'd be like to be spend countless hours on a porch drinking malt liquor and wielding a seemingly endless supply of firearms. And, unlike Spike Lee's righteous ass, John Singleton rarely tries to get all up his own ass with preachy morals and stinging social commentary (and when he does, he usually fails miserably).