Hood film
Hood film is a film genre originating in the United States in the late 1980s to early 1990s, which features aspects of urban culture such as hip hop music, street gangs, racial discrimination, poverty, and the problems of young black men coming of age or struggling in a predominantly white society. Such films predominantly feature African American actors.
The prototypical hood films are Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society, whose serious storytelling approach popularized the type. As early as 1996, however, hood films were seen as a stereotype against which black filmmakers constantly struggled to avoid comparison or compartmentalization. The genre has also been parodied with such films as Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.
British films of this genre have also been made, such as Bullet Boy. The French films La Haine and Banlieue 13 are also examples of this genre.
John Singleton, Mario Van Peebles, Hughes Brothers, and Spike Lee are examples of directors in this genre.
Several critical essays about the genre were written by Paula J. Massood, now a professor at Brooklyn College. Critic Murray Forman notes that the "spatial logic" of hip-hop culture, with heavy emphasis on place-based identity, locates "black youth urban experience within an environment of continual proximate danger", and this quality defines the hood film.[1] In a 1992 essay in Cineaction, Canadian critic Rinaldo Walcott identified the hood film's primary concerns as issues of masculinity and "(re)gaining manhood for black men".[2]
[edit] List of Hood Films
- Colors (film), 1988
- Boyz n the Hood, 1991
- New Jack City, 1991
- Straight Out of Brooklyn, 1991
- Juice, 1992
- South Central, 1992
- Menace II Society, 1993
- Strapped,1993
- Poetic Justice, 1993
- Above the Rim, 1994
- Sugar Hill, 1994
- Fresh, 1994
- Jason's Lyric, 1994
- Clockers, 1995
- Dead Presidents, 1995
- New Jersey Drive, 1995
- Set It Off, 1996
- One Eight Seven, 1997
- He Got Game, 1998
- Caught Up (film)
- Belly, 1998
- In Too Deep (film), 1999
- The Wood
- Hot Boyz
- Baller Blockin' 2000
- Baby Boy, 2001
- Shottas, 2002
- Blue Hill Avenue
- Training Day, 2001
- 8 Mile, 2002
- State Property
- Paid In Full, 2002
- Never Die Alone, 2004
- Coach Carter, 2005
- Shooting Gallery
- Harsh Times, 2005
- Back in the Day
- Bullet Boy, 2005
- Get Rich or Die Tryin' (film)
- Dirty, 2005
- ATL, 2006
- Waist Deep, 2006
- Gridiron Gang, 2006
- Kidulthood, 2006
- Freedom Writers, 2007
- Adulthood (film), 2008
- Before I Self Destruct (film)
- Brooklyn's Finest, 2010
- Ghetto Stories: The Movie 2010
[edit] References
- ^ Murray Forman (2002). The 'Hood Comes First: race, space, and place in rap and hip-hop. Wesleyan University Press.
- ^ John McCullough (2006). "Rude and the Representation of Class Relations in Canadian Film". Working on Screen: Representations of the Working Class in Canadian Cinema. University of Toronto Press. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0802093884&id=S04JUEA3FnsC&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&ots=46rh9mgpWM&dq=hood.film&sig=8YgAp-tKRCranf7nJWzzG5Iv1Wg#PPA247,M1.
[edit] Sources
- "Menace II Society" - Cineaste review pointing out several aspects of the "hood film" genre
- Which Way to the Promised Land?: Spike Lee's Clockers and the Legacy of the African American City, Paula J. Massood, African American Review, Summer 2001
- Lowering the bar: State of black film at the moment, by the Unknown Film Critic; defines hood film as one of three predominant subgenres of African-American film
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