"Set It Off" and bell hooks
"All attempts to repress our/black people's right to gaze had produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze." (bell hooks 198)
Cleo from "Set It Off" is the basis of my analysis of hooks' quote. Throughout the film, there are close ups on Cleo's face where you can see that intense and furious stare. It is evident when her of one of her friends is being treated unfairly and unjustly. She fights the system in multiple ways. She fights the heterosexual norm through her relationship with Ursula. She fights the white capitalist supremecist system through bank robbing and cheating the very people who steal from her. She is bold and outrageous: challenging the "feminine" roles in society. Cleo utilizes her stare and her gaze to fight against repression and the injustices that happen to her and her friends. She continues to gaze up until the point when she steps out of the car and continues to start shooting.