This popular film ‘Boyz N the Hood’, which was nominated for both best director and original screenplay takes place in South Central Los Angeles, California. Before the opening seen of the movie there are two messages that come across the screen about violence in South Central, LA. The one message states that one out of every twenty one black American males will be murdered in their lifetime. The other message says that most will die at the hands of another black male. The plot of the movie is based about a young male named Tre’ who was sent to live with his father in South Central to learn discipline and life lessons.
Before moving in with his father Tre’ was following the path of a criminal lifestyle. Tre’ then learns from his father ways to live life the correct and respectful way. The movie shows examples of different types of crime that are common in South Central. There crimes such as murder, robbery, assault, and drug use. Boyz N the Hood shows the struggles that these black Americans have living in these inner city neighborhoods. They show how even black males that are trying to stay clean and out of trouble are victimized from the actions of other people.
In the movie the character Dough Boy’s brother Ricky was a football star and on his way to get a scholarship to the University of South California until he was murdered from his brother’s criminal actions towards another rival gang. The sociological theory I felt was portrayed most in this movie was social learning theory. Social learning theory is a theory when a child or younger teen takes after the behaviors they have seen from a parent or elder. The young black Americans in South Central only really know crime because that is all the see on a daily basis.
Tre’ was sent to live with his father so he can learn better life lessons from the views of a “man’s” perspective. In this movie social learning theory shows two perspectives, one being young black men learning crime from their elders and the other being Tre’ learning from his father, the respectful and honest lifestyle of living. In the movie Boyz N the Hood, it shows the lives of young kids growing up in the hood of South Central Los Angeles, California. As the movie starts, it talks about two statistics that I found extremely interesting.
The first statistic that was put up on screen said one out of every twenty one black American males will be murdered in their lifetime. The next statistic said that most will die at the hands of another black man. At the beginning of the movie it starts off with a little young boy named Tre’ that lived with his mother. After starting a fight in school, his mom had enough of his actions and Tre’ voided his contract with him mom saying he wouldn’t get into any more fights. His mom sent Tre’ to live with his father in South Central. Upon arriving at his house he quickly learns the ropes of his father’s way of handling things.
Tre’ was not there for five minutes and his father had him raking up the leaves in the front yard. Later on that night his father fills him in on the other rules of the house. This showed me that there was a good discipline in the house. That type of discipline helped Tre’ out in the long run and changed his life for the better. The theory that I think really explains this movie is the routine activities theory. This theory talks about three requirements, the first being a suitable target, the second is absences of capable guardians, and the final being motivated offenders.
Growing up Tre’ lived in a neighborhood where suitable targets were all around him. It was a poor neighborhood with a lot of drugs and alcohol around. Growing up with a solid father figure in the picture he did not commit any crimes. This could be because of the fact that he had a capable guardian around telling him right and wrong and guiding him down the right path. I believe that having a capable guardian in your life with a good head on their shoulders could be the difference between being in jail and a free person. It shows in this movie after one of Tre’s best friends gets killed.
Tre’ reacts on instincts and goes out with his other buddies to hunt down the killers of his best friend. But as they are driving around you can see it in Tre’s face that he is contemplating following through with it, it was almost like you could hear his dad in his head telling him that this is not the right thing to do. Tre’ ends up making the right decision and asks for them to pull over and he exits the car. There were motivated offenders around Tre’ but the help of his capable guardian made him overcome these obstacles.
Tre’s friends however, were not so lucky. One of Tre’s friends, dough boy, was a perfect example of how this theory fits the movie. Dough boy lived right across the street from Tre’ so he too had suitable targets all around him. The difference in this case was that Dough Boy’s mom did not seem to care about him. She seemed to care about what Ricky, (Dough Boy’s brother and Tre’s best friend) and how he did. This lack of attention from Dough Boy was crucial because this left him without a capable guardian.
Dough Boy did whatever he wanted and made decisions for himself, he never had a mother that could steer him down the right road and teach him right from wrong. The fact that Dough Boy also had motivated offenders with him at all times was the third and final requirement that led him down the right path. The routine activities theory is a very thought out theory that covers all the points. Not having one of these things could mean the difference between staying out of trouble. The movie showed that having one of them, the capable guardian, can be very beneficial to you and keep you on a straightened arrow.
