Boys N the Hood Critical Paper
The movie Boys in the Hood takes place in Los Angeles California, and centers around a group of African American youth that grow up together in the same neighborhood. We get a glimpse into the world they live in, and the environment that many African Americans had to endure and cope with. Through the trials, tribulations, and encounters that these youths have we can see some of the social and economic problems that face many African Americans then and now. These problems and issues include drug abuse, violence, and poverty are all portrayed and acted out by these youth throughout the movie. We can see the impact of drug abuse and its impact on the African American community in the movie through the main character’s (Cuba Gooding Jr.) interaction with his neighbor. In one scene Cuba Gooding Jr. grabs a child in the street to avoid it being hit by a car, and when he takes it back to the mother we can see that she is high and intoxicated off drugs. The mother’s blatant negligence of her child is further shown through her attempt to buy drugs off Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character. Violence is a very common theme that is preset throughout much of the movie, and was expressed in varying degrees. One truly tragic scene included the brutal and unfair death of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s best friend, who had just gotten into college right before he was violently gunned down by a rival group of youth. This death was further exasperated by the fact that when he was shot, he was simply dragged into his own home and laid on the couch for the paramedics to take away as if it was nothing and a daily occurrence in the community. These types of struggles are still being experienced today in many communities. Poverty and economic problems were prevalent throughout much of the movie as well. This was expressed through the environment and housing that many people lived in. We see that many of the people in the community lived in small houses and had many financial troubles that were