Analysis of The Film The Hurricane The movie that was analyzed was "The Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington. The movie was based on a true story, which was about a boxer who was wrongfully accused for murders he did not commit. Rubin Carter had been a victim of racial prejudice since the age of 11. From that time on he had been haunted by the racial prejudice that would take most of his natural life away from him. At the age of fifty he ended up going to the Supreme courts to get his trial heard and at this time he was set free. This is a short summary leaving a lot to be unsaid, but I believe the portrayal will tell most of the story in itself. In the beginning of the movie one can tell that the less developed, or "slums", was where Rubin Carter was forced to grow up. This is an example of minority group status and stratification. This society was one where African Americans did not have access to wealth, power, prestige, or income. With this type of environment forces these African Americans to be more prone to violence and criminal acts. So as a kid Rubin was involved with a crime where an older white male came up to him and his friends down by the local river. This male was trying to molest one of the little boys, so Rubin threw a bottle at him and they ran. The man caught up to them and got a hold of Rubin and threatened to throw him over the edge of a cliff, so Rubin at age 11 pulled a knife and stabbed him in the arm to get away. The police caught him and since the older man was a public figure, Rubin Carter was sentenced to a juvenile detention center until the age of thirteen. This was the first time that we seen the racial prejudice from the head police chief towards Carter. The next principle t... ... middle of paper ... ...at the prejudice cops seen white people do the same thing that the blacks were doing they would make up excuses for why it was all right for them to do it. This is what is called the ultimate attribution error. The portrayal of the principles of ethnic relations was considered to be accurate for that time of the 1960's. Economic inequality was not something that was unusual for the African American culture. They were concentrated in the slums and ghettos were opportunity was not something they had a lot of. The other principles like discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes like that portrayed in this movie was much like the real life that African Americans had to live in, and even still do just not as extreme as in the 60' and in years before. So as disturbing as it maybe this video did a good job at portraying the principles analyzed in this time frame.
There is no doubt in the minds of many people who are familiar with the Rubin "Hurricane" Carter story that he, and the man who was convicted for murder with him, John Artis, are innocent of those crimes. While no one knows for sure who is guilty of the crime, but the one thing that is for certain is that Carter and Artis were victims of racial bias from many people who would see them in jail. This story is truly a tragic one of a promising career, and of a life that was spoiled by prejudice and one that reviles some of the ways in which, society's present legal system can fail to ensure the right of justice for people in our society.
With this movie set in the 1962 the majority of white people still looked down on blacks and thought t...
White people and rappers during the late 1970’s and 1980’s seem to be offended when asked about their role in the hip hop community. They think that black people are becoming a part of a cultural movement and they should join in. The heated responses from the white people in the film are typical answers. They symbolize people who are afraid. The white people are joining a movement that is becoming more and more popular. Black communities feel like others are joining in on their fun. They seem to not enjoy people of another race
The film I watched in class is called "Black is Black ain 't" by Marton Riggs -a homosexual man dying of aids. Through various clips Riggs demonstrates different themes about what it "really" means to be black. During the video famous activists and ordinary African Americans spoke about how they felt on certain issues faced by the black community. These individuals clarify certain myths that are sought to portray African Americans as incompetent, aggressive people. Due to this, many African Americans have been excluded from their community for reasons such as race, color, physical feature, masculinity, sexuality, gender, culture, and speech.
Silver Rights is a true story from the front lines of the civil rights struggle--the story of the Carter family of Sunflower County, Mississippi. African-American sharecroppers and the parents of seven children, Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter accepted their school district's 1965 "Freedom of Choice" offer and enrolled their seven school-age children in the formerly all-white schools of Drew, Mississippi. The Carter family was the only family brave enough to send their seven children to be the first children to ever desegregate the previously all white schools. Through the Carter children and their experiences we learn that it is important to stand up for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone, because you never know what kind of difference you could be making in the world.
The Conflict Perspective, in itself, focuses on the ruling class and the ruled class. In the perspective, the ruling class defines what is deviant based on how it helps them. In this case, the ruling class would be defined as upper-class and white. The ruled class would be defined as lower-class and black. This is illustrated through the emphasis placed on the impact of the differences between the woman who was raped and the young men who were accused of raping her. The woman who was raped was a white and wealthy business woman who worked as an investment banker on Wall Street. The young men who raped her were lower class, black, and from Harlem. Due to these extreme differences, there was immense media attention. The media was often one sided and viewed the young men as criminals and animals in order to make them social pariahs. The media and upper-class wanted to make an example of them to reinforce the laws and separate the two groups even further. Also, the court system had the woman give a testimony despite the fact that she could not remember anything that happened that night. The documentary stated that her testimony was simply used to “pack an emotional punch,” and make the young men look even more inhuman. Finally, when the men were exonerated, the media barely covered it. The news was no longer about showing the lower-class where they belonged. Anything
The 1960’s were one of the most significant decades in the twentieth century. The sixties were filled with new music, clothes, and an overall change in the way people acted, but most importantly it was a decade filled with civil rights movements. On February 1, 1960, four black freshmen from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College in Greensboro went to a Woolworth’s lunch counter and sat down politely and asked for service. The waitress refused to serve them and the students remained sitting there until the store closed for the night. The very next day they returned, this time with some more black students and even a few white ones. They were all well dressed, doing their homework, while crowds began to form outside the store. A columnist for the segregation minded Richmond News Leader wrote, “Here were the colored students in coats, white shirts, and ties and one of them was reading Goethe and one was taking notes from a biology text. And here, on the sidewalk outside was a gang of white boys come to heckle, a ragtail rabble, slack-jawed, black-jacketed, grinning fit to kill, and some of them, God save the mark, were waving the proud and honored flag of the Southern States in the last war fought by gentlemen. Eheu! It gives one pause”(Chalmers 21). As one can see, African-Americans didn’t have it easy trying to gain their civil rights. Several Acts were passed in the 60’s, such as Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. This was also, unfortunately, the time that the assassinations of important leaders took place. The deaths of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr., all happened in the 60’s.
...Their dialogues included nothing very intellectually stimulating, which would suggest a lack of intelligence. By portraying the characters as such, the film was able to represent the judgmental racial stereotypes commonly associated with African Americans.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
The “Coming of Age in Mississippi” is highly accurate to the time period. Showing how different life was. The truth being, racism was real, and still is. Not to the same extent were lynching were open ceremonies, or it was okay to discriminate because of color. The world we live in today is constantly changing and racism still evident. The reason most people of color are treated different is because racism still lingers throughout our society. In order to change society, people must first recognize the problem. Allowing the perspective of the past such as the “Coming of Age in Mississippi” could change the future. Showing how radical people were towards the idea would allow them to understand why not repeat the same mistakes.
This shows us how white people thought of African Americans as inferior, and they just wanted to dominate the society making no place for other races to express themselves. Even though African Americans were citizens of the state of Mississippi they were still discriminated against. This documentary does a great job of showing us the suffering of these people in hopes to remind everyone, especially the government, to not make the same mistakes and discriminate against citizens no matter what their race is because this will only cause a division to our nation when everyone should be
This presentation related closely to political and economic justice; however, this documentary is certainly related to social justice too. It was evident that this documentary was educating us about the policies and laws in America that have oppressed people who are non-white. It was disheartening to learn that America has a history of making laws that segregate non-whites in our society. I was well aware that African Americans have been oppressed by the policies that were put in place; however, I was shocked to learn that other non-white people too were oppressed by these policies. The documentary talks about what it means to be white by law; I was shocked to learn that our government never
Ultimately, it is my opinion that this film is a perfect example of what is wrong with society. Society and the social “norm” dictate what is acceptable. Society (or a select few in power) has determined that racism is an acceptable practice. Society is oblivious to the fact that this acceptable “norm” is something that can and should be changed. Until the day that the “races” can come together and demand equal treatment of all, regardless of race, racism will persists.
In conclusion, after view this film, it is clear that one can see how black youth are being viewed as killers and savages. This is not true. There have been many admirable scholars and scientists who come from the African American culture. This movie, though it depicts what goes on in South America, takes the violence committed by black youth too far. One cannot view a film and take it that this is what a race is like. The filmmakers depicted black youth in a harsher light.
The movie accurately portrayed the horrific acts done to African-Americans in 1964-65. The main issue is that the lynchings and burning did not occur suddenly right after each other. It could be due to the limited time, the movie had to get the point across within 2 hours. The burning of 31 churches occurred in a 6 month span of time throughout the month of June 1964 to January 1965. Lastly, the greatest difference between the two was that the movie never went into detail what happened to the case. Fail to the mention that the case went to the supreme court. Also, the convictions took multiple trials that lasted up to 4 years to sentence the men involved in the killing.