Boyz 'N The Hood and Nihilism - Ned Rupp
I think that traits of nihilism were evident in many characters in the movie, but to say that they didn't care about anything, or didn't see any purpose to life, is definitely not true. Ricky, for example, had ambition, which is shown through his dreams of becoming a football player at USC. He works hard at school, and seems to have his priorities straight, even while having a child. From the beginning of the movie we know that Tre has morals, because his dad stresses them constantly. A good example is when he stops Tre and yells at him when Tre grabs his gun and is about to go out and look for Ricky's killer. Tre seems to be the smartest one of the teenagers. He doesn't go along with Darin when Darin shoots Ricky's killer, which shows that he has at least a healthy amount of common sense. I think Ricky's brother, Darin, does shows traits of nihilism by just drinking on his porch all day, with apparently no ambition whatsoever, and by shooting Ricky's killer, although I guess you can say that that was somewhat justified in a way. The director showed nihilistic traits well in his characters, but his characters weren't totally nihilistic.