American Politics & Pop Culture

The film Boyz 'N The Hood reveals many issues that African American men and women faced during the 1980’s and 90’s. Covering everything from teen-pregnancy to incarceration, drive by shootings, and racial discrimination, Singleton’s film paints a harsh picture of life in the inner-city. Throughout the movie we see the main character Tre’s friends become a product of life in the inner-city while he tries to take his father’s advice and rise above his negative environment. Thinking about his future, Tre sees the mistakes of his friends like “Doughboy” and, up until the last few moments of the movie, stays resistant to pressures around him. However, after his best friends Ricky dies, he falters and turns to violence and revenge on the young men who murdered his friend. Ultimately, he decides not to follow through with his plans to kill; however, Ricky’s brother is on a mission as well and succeeds in killing the three boys. Many feel that Boyz 'N The Hood portrays its character’s lives as meaningless; however, the characters’ messages are strong and truthful, which gives them powerful meaning. One other criticism of the film is its lack of perspective of African American women. I would agree with this statement; however, I feel that the movie does not focus on women because during that time they were not seen as strong or significant by many African American men. While I am positive that women during this time were affected by what was going on around them, they are not given a voice in this film because in reality they did not have one while living in the inner-city. Very little respect was given to them, and the words “bitch”, “ho”, and “whore” were used to put them in their place. We see this throughout the movie with Doughboy and his lack of respect for his mother and other women. Only when boys were taught to respect women are they given power and a voice, like with Tre and his mother and also his girlfriend.