Input on da Hood

"Either they don't know, or don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the hood." - Dough Boy

Now I am somewhat of a fan of "hood movies". You know the movies that take place in gangsta war zone, barbecue infested, juice drenched neighborhood of Los Angeles or Detroit and sometimes even the Deep South. I'm not trying to be stereotypical, those are just the things I see in almost every one of these movies.

I like these movies, even if they aren't a favorite genre. There is always a running theme of escape and freedom. No one wants to live in the hood but they don't seem willing to leave either. There is always one character, who probably has a child, that desperately wishes he/she could leave...Even when there is nothing holding him/her back. You wanna leave? Pack up and walk away.

There are always similar characters too. There is a hardcore killer, an OG, the religious one, the wise and inspirational elder, the desperate single mother, drug addicts, and of course the confused protagonist. Not to mention that every character is a fuckin asshole or a poser. I always liked the inspirational elders, they are always played by tough guys with cool voices, such as Lawrence Fishburne (true and hilarious) and Charles S. Dutton (hardened and realistic), but surprisingly not Morgan Freeman. I never really liked the confused protagonist very much, they seem to have a mood swing every five seconds and only seem to exist to advance the plot and give us someone to relate to as a voyeur to the carnage we see.

Something else that always bothered me was that overall feeling that The Hood was a civilization all of it's own. It was always annoying when a character spouted some line like "This is how things go down in The Hood". Not to be offensive it was just weird. I mean it's shitty but you're not going to war, unless your Morris Chestnut's character. Another example would be the narration at the end of the opening scene of Menace II Society about how a simple walk in a convenience store implicated him in a double homicide and that "it's funny like that in The Hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen or when." I think that can be said for anywhere, bud. That's a part of life, you don't know what's gonna happen.

But, aside from Get Rich or Die Tryin', I've liked these movies. My favorites are Hustle and Flow and, ironically, Friday. I'd say the two best however would be John Singleton's Boyz in da Hood and Allen and Albert Hughes' Menace 2 Society, the last being my favorite. Menace 2 Society shows it the most unflinching and straightforward while I thought Boyz in da Hood was made to be a bit too appealing. They are both tragic and brutal movies, but Menace 2 Society moreso. It's one of those movies with the famous scenes: The opening convenience store robbery, the hamburger junkie, the "You done fucked up" interrogation. Scenes also examine what depraved and flawed logic exist within this world: two elder gangstas give booze to a toddler and show him how to handle a loaded gun, a sociopathic gangsta replays his videotaped murder for kicks, the protagonist watches his cousin get gunned down and leaves him to die, etc. I suppose one scene from one of these movies in particular I admired was one involving a group of 3rd grade looking kids going to see a dead body at a crime scene and look on with indifferent eyes. They're reactions to it are reminiscent to someone watching "the two girls-one cup video" more than once: they do it for the sick but somehow enjoyable thrill. The scene reminded me of a toned down version of The Wild Bunch (a popular western and considered one of the most violent movies ever) opening that involved kids torturing scorpions with fire ants. The kids who weren't laughing playfully just stared unemotionally. I don't know what is worse, the ones who laugh at violence or the ones who feel nothing about it. I suppose in The Hood violence is about as meaningful as a crushed ant hill. But what do I know. I live in an Indiana ghetto. I watch Training Day or Do The Right Thing to find out what to do and what not to do in The Hood. Though I don't plan on visiting any time soon.

This has been an in depth, sort of, look at Hood Movies by Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.