Boyz 'N The Hood
I agree that women’s perspectives are largely ignored in the film, but the pressing issues are visible in the violent and derogatory language directed at either the female characters in the movie, or when discussing women in general. Too seldom does a woman in the movie talk back or defend herself, and when it does happen she is immediately silenced with further degradation, for example (two exchanges between Shalika and DoughBoy): “Who you callin' a ho', I ain't no ho'.” “Oops, I'm sorry, bitch.” and “Why is it every time you talk about a female you gotta say bitch, ho, or hootchie?” “'Cause that's what you are.” Although the audience gets to see the treatment of women in the hood, these issues are not given ample scrutiny, not nearly as much as the violence between the men. And I understand that the movie is called “Boyz ‘N the Hood,” but these are “boys” treating women in an unacceptable and vicious manner, and I agree with the critics that believe these situations should not have been ignored.
The language directed at the women honestly makes the movie difficult to watch. Although the movie is not supposed to send a positive, “be like me” message, a lot of viewers walk away identifying with the characters and, therefore, imitating some of their behavior, specifically, the treatment of women. Some viewers may even find those scenes funny and less serious than others, whereas I believe them to be the most attention-worthy. Why do relationships, hardships, discrimination and injustices between men always conjure more immediate attention and publicity than those facing women?
The film would have been different if it had been told from the viewpoints of women only in the sense that most of the violence would have been more direct physical contact and sexual abuse. Women, whether raped within the home, on the streets, or sexually mistreated through unfortunate choices such as prostitution and stripping, are equally, if not more often abused. Men come home from the hard street life and may find comfort in beating up on their woman, so as to relieve the frustrations of being the one beaten. Also, had the movie been told from a woman’s perspective, the language directed at men would not have been remotely as offensive – we don’t have nearly as large an arsenal of violent male-directed vocabulary.