208

Tre was the most sympathetic character in the movie. If anything the movie was about his temptations in joining Doughboy in the gangster lifestyle but in the end, he chose to move and go to college with his girlfriend. But he was tempted in the same manner all kids in the hood are.

Doughboy was portrayed in a sympathetic manner as well, but not in the same way. He was portrayed as a victim of his own lifestyle and the community he was raised in. Unlike Tre, who had a father (Laurence Fishborne) who raised him how to be a proper man and to refrain from the hood life, Doughboy is fatherless and embraces the culture he was raised in. He paid the consequences with a prison sentence in his teenage years and later being murdered after his revenge murder of the gangster who killed his younger brother.

The movie is actually a pretty good statement on the futility of hood life, IMO.

209

If you are 17, who do you go with?

210

Tre, obviously

211

Depends on the person watching.

From a purely logical point of view, Tre’s route out of the hood is the only logical path to take. It was the only one that didn’t end with him imprisoned or being murdered in a revenge killing.

To an influential teen being raised in that environment, then they would possibly see Doughboy as themselves.

But the movie itself wasn’t about glorifying the hood life. IMO, it was a warning about the inevitability of the hood life (Doughboy) and the potential to do more with your life (Tre).

2 Likes
212

Exactly! It gives a great depiction of the realities of the hood.

Gang culture
Gentrification
Single mother (no dad involved)
Single father (mother and father join custody)
Racial profiling
The “good kid in the hood” bubble effect

213

Ok, back on topic please.

214

Agreed.

Now take Menace to Society, for example.

The main character, tries to get out of the hood and gets killed in a drive by because of who he associated with.

I had friends like O Dog. He makes doughboy look like an alter boy.

215
Mod Note

Back on topic please.

216

How is it off topic?

You were trying to attribute thug culture to movies. Which is an interesting angle

1 Like
217

You completely missed the point, no I didn’t. The medium is not the point, the romanticization is.

You are not going to derail the thread with a critique of every thug movie ever made.

218

True story, Boyz and Menace made me realize how foolish it is to ever throw your lot in with an organization, crew or gang or whatever. I spent my teenage years conducting this delicate diplomacy where I stayed okay with everyone without ever being expected to put in work.

219

And you used thug movies to drive a point. No you don’t like that we analyze your examples

220

I’ve asked nicely twice and then a third time.

221

In my opinion, a culture must deal with it’s thug subculture in order to be successful. It will never disappear, mostly because new members (male mostly) susceptible to the lure of thugism, banditry, rebelling, are born every day. And then coming of age for the phase. Most grow out of it, some make it a way of life. Some a way of death.

Any culture that revels in its thug culture is doomed to fail.

Who is held up as a hero and why is important.

When excuses are made for robbery, theft, and violence the subculture is being accepted. Even promoted. Especially when it is done collectively.

Young men are always on the edge of it anyway, the slightest excuse is enough.

Young men need a male role model, one who is accessible pretty much all of the time. One that knows them, can predict, and sets a standard that must be enforced. They must be taught how to choose their friends.

There is a culture that has accepted a subculture of drug abuse. A lot of meth. “There’s nothing to be done about it.” Horse ■■■■■

American men need to step up and be the moral, physical and spiritual leaders of their households. Need to take responsibility and hold themselves accountable.

And we all need to stop propagating the lie that a woman can “do it just as good”. Young males crave the approval of older men. They just aren’t always good at picking out which ones.

Spreading children around like $1 a ton grass seed is not the mark of a man.

2 Likes
222

I agree. However I disagree that “black nation” revels in it.

We don’t.

223

11 posts were merged into an existing topic: General Off-Topic Slop from Various Threads +fd

226

James McCune Smith

Taurus Tremani Bartlett

227

They are both black?

228

Yes, and so is Thomas Sowell.

229

Do you have a point?