Southall and West London College

City Of God by Fernano Meirelles (2002)

Synopsis:
Rio de Janeiro, 1960s. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is an 11-year-old boy in the favela or shanty town of Cidade de Deus (City of God). As he grows up he watches the other children around him. He first focuses on the small-time gangsters called the Tender Trio: Shaggy (Jonathan Haagensen), Clipper (Jefechander Suplino) and Goose (Renato de Souza). The group dissolve after they carry out an armed robbery of a brothel. Shaggy is killed by police.

As we move into the 1970s brutal psychopath Li'l Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora) (formerly Li'l Dice) takes over the new drug-dealing business. We later learn that his first taste of murder was at the brothel. Ze is barely held in check by Bené (Phellipe Haagensen), a less violent hoodlum. Meanwhile Rocket has acquired a camera and starts to hang out at a newspaper office. Bené is accidentally murdered at his farewell party and Ze rapes the girlfriend of peaceful Knockout Ned. Reluctantly Ned allies himself with Carrot, another big drug baron, and by the early 1980s gang warfare has completely taken over the ghetto. Ned is killed in a final shoot-out. Ze, freed by corrupt police, is shot by a child gangster. Rocket becomes a professional photographer

Boyz 'n' The Hood by John Singleton (1991)

trailer



Cast:
Cuba Gooding Jr (Tre Styles), Ice Cube (Doughboy), Tyra Ferrell (Mrs Baker), Larry Fishburne (Furious Styles), Angela Bassett (Reva Devereaux), Morris Chestnut (Ricky Baker)

Genre:
Contemporary drama

Setting:
Los Angeles in 1990 at a time when racial tensions and gang warfare in America were a prevalent concern

Main characters:
Tre Styles, a popular eighteen year old: Furious Styles, Tre's father who brings Tre up.

Narrative focus:
Tre is the focus across one summer with his family and friends

Synopsis:
LA, 1984. At the start of the film, Tre Styles is a confident and popular 11-year-old living with his mother in south central LA. As a teenager, he goes to live with his father who teaches him how to deal with problems and conflicts and encourages him not to use drugs. He has hopes of going on to college, a girlfriend, Brandy, and his two close friends Doughboy and Ricky. Doughboy has a tendency to get into trouble with a rival gang. Tre and Ricky apply for college. In their neighbourhood gang, tensions rise. Tre's best friend is shot dead in a drive-by shooting. Tre gets his place at college and leaves south central LA behind

Background:
"The issue of racism is central to American politics and culture and has been part of its film history since the earliest years, in films such as Birth of a Nation (US, 1933, D W Griffiths). Boyz N the Hood was made at a time when Los Angeles experienced riots and racial tension, sparked by police brutality towards Rodney King and followed in the tradition of Spike Lee's films, notably Do the Right Thing (US, 1989) and Malcolm X (US, 1992). Boyz N the Hood was a critical and commercial success, using conventional dramatic techniques to explore issues of gun culture, masculinity, drug use, sex and the role of parents. It is a good example of a wide-ranging collection of films about the experience of young black men in contemporary, urban America. To some extent Boyz N the Hood sparked new interest, expanding on the films of Spike Lee."

Boyz N the Hood (1991,USA)

Representaion Of Black People

My Wife And Kids



The representaion of black people in the comedy My Wife and Kids are portrayed as a higher class. The father Michael Kyle, a loving husband and modern-day patriarch who rules his household with a unique and distinct parenting style. When his wife Janet becomes a stock market trailblazer his life as he knows it changes forever. He has to play house husband with his three kids. one of them, his only son Junior idolizes a gangster rep instead of his father, his daughter Claire who is an attention seeker and always comes to Michael for help, and her little daughter Kady who lives him very much. In this comedy, the setting isnt in a ghetto area where they are all normally situated, it is situated in the suburbs on bridgeport connecticut. Michael kyle is regarded as a poweful black man in the comedy as his teaches his 3 kids a lesson about earning a living as respect while Janet Kyle is working in a high flying stock market and rarely has time for her kids until she gets fired and commits herself to her family. I think the reason they call it my wife and kids is because its about Michael Kyle really looking after the family and raising his kids. So this shows that as a black man, he is regarded in a high class. Janet Kyle (wife) has a high class job, she works in a stock market making millions and millions, in those days people wer'e successful working in that sector and she had a high class job working in high class area. Junior (son) looks up to his father, he is the real comedian in the comedy. He tries to fit in with his friends and tries to be a gangster and make a rep so Junior is portrayed as a person who wants to commit crime, do drugs and carry guns. Claire is portrayed as an attention seeker and only comes to Michael when she wants something. she is only interested in two things, boys and being popular this shows that she is just like all girls, not just black girls but all types of girls, she just wants to be knowen. Kady, the youngest of them all is portrayed ad 'daddy's little princess' and is madly adored by Franklin the little boy across the road. Franklin who isnt apart of the family, is portrayed as a very intelligient person for such a very young age. He adores Kady and will do anything for her and he is Michael little assistant, he always helps him when hes in trouble. Black people in My Wife and Kids are not portrayed as gangsters or hip hop maniacs or thugs, they are portrayed as a high class family living in a big masnion and earning money and taking care of each other. They are not like a family who dont look after each other and become thugs and stuck up, the real connotation of My Wife and Kids in Micahels case is 'his life' and 'his love'

By Nabil Qazi And Vipesh Lakhani.