Environmental factors have a significant impact on the behavior of people within a community. A film that showcases the sincerity of environmental factors within a community is Boyz N The Hood. The film displays an environment flooded by crime, specifically gang affiliations and drug dealing since it is the norm of the area. The adverse effects of an unfavorable environment on those who live within it, while represented in the movie are supported in other ways. Scientifically researched theories have helped in showcasing the relationship between people's behavior and their environment. Specific theories that indicate the linkage of behavior to the community are Merton’s Strain Theory, Agnew’s Strain Theory, Social Disorganization Theory, Elijah …show more content…
Exactly how culture impacts people depends on the environment of the culture as it can create deviant behavior. This theory is supported by Elijah Andersons’ Code of the Streets as, according to Anderson (2000), he indicates that crime is the result of varying cultural influences on the people within the community, specifically urban communities (p. 11). What better way to depict the effects of culture on a community than by comparing it to the community of Crenshaw? Crenshaw is filled with deviant behavior and this behavior has caused the people within the community to acclimate to it. Not only is the community filled with immoral behavior, but it is an area that is filled with struggling ethnic minorities. According to Youtube (1991), what can be seen throughout the film is a struggling ethnic minority community encompassed by crime since that is the norm of the environment. This norm is what Tre and his friends fell victim to, and because of the community's crime culture, most of Tre's friends were killed. Essentially, the suffering of Tre and his friends because of Crenshaw's crime culture sustains Elijah Andersons’ Code of the …show more content…
A theory that discusses the effects of a tainted community on the psychology of a person is the Psychodynamic Theory. According to Point Park University (2021), the Psychodynamic Theory suggests that crime is the result of conflict between the id, ego, and superego. The application of the theory can be seen in the film, according to Youtube (1991), when Tre becomes involved in drug dealing. Despite his father's teachings, Tre is drawn into the life of drug dealing as it is a standard in Crenshaw. Within the film, he constantly struggles with trying to do the right thing by staying away from other wrongdoers. But, it is not until the end of the movie that he realizes that most of his friends are dead because of their deviant lives, which results in Tre's perception becoming clear from thoughts of partaking in deviant behavior. It is Tre's internal struggles with not wanting to acclimate to Crenshaw's society that satisfies the Psychodynamic
In “The Code of the Streets”, Elijah Anderson go in details and shows us on how teens are getting killed on a daily basis. Dr. Anderson discuss some social intuitions that influence crime in the urban neighborhoods. The first one I would discuss is the “Decent and Street Families”. The Decent and Street Families represent two poles of value orientation, two contrasting conceptual categories Dr. Anderson stated. Decent residents judge themselves as for judging others in the streets as for streets families express themselves as a decent their not.
The film Boyz N’ the hood follows the lives of a group of young African American men growing up in the hood where poverty, crime and violence are rampant. The three main characters are Darin (Dough boy), Ricky (Darin’s brother), and Tre. In this this film there are many schools of criminology’s that help explain the roots of the criminality portrayed.
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
It is very common for acts of deviance to go on in these types of places. Lonnie was notorious for stealing cars and employing his friends and other members of his community to get rid of his evidence. Lonnie provided crack to the women he raped and murdered so he portrayed deviance in the act of drug dealing as well as murder and rape. The women he picked up were prostitutes and therefore instigated participation in illegal activities. The lack of education within the community can lead to deviance in the sense that criminals don’t have a chance to excel and escape their current class system.
Throughout the movie it shows many different obstacles Tre had faced, trying to grow up to be successful, meet his fathers expectations, and to also avoid the peer pressure from Doughboy and Chris to be more involved in the gang related happenings with Doughboy's crew. In this environment gangs played a huge role, this being another stereotype and relating back to the article from Dr.Nerdlove "The Selling of Masculinity", Dr.Nerdlove makes a point of saying, "All male life is a struggle of dominance of others." Which is perfectly depicted in this movie. Gang killings is a good example of how men thought it was essential to kill and make sure that they were not to be messed with.
The bonds are between the two main characters, Brian Taylor and Miguel Zavala, the Los Angeles Police Department, and Miguel and Bloods gang member, Tre. In this essay, I plan to demonstrate a working knowledge of the social control theory and how it relates to the main characters of the movie. Social Control Theory
However, in cities where this is not the social scene, violence is active and occurring. Once violence is a part of someone’s daily life respect and family reputation become important (Matsuda, Melde, Taylor, Freng, & Esbensen, 2013). Gangs become a sense of security and a mindset of toughness and revenge become normal. In the social realm of gangs and violence, a community would create their own “Code” like Anderson talks about. They create their own rules, morals and expectations that are reinforced by gang group members (Matsuda et al. 2013).
Decisions to Escape the Pipeline: Portrayal of the Urban Ghetto in Boyz n the Hood In different genres, from different perspectives, there is a definitive subset of city-bazed movies that are united around the theme of the urban environment as a determinant of personality. The stories of these movies center on thinking through the role the cities and sociological entities play in a life of a person (Mennel 23). In some cases, a protagonist may be in an angry conflict with a dark underbelly of the city, as in Taxi Driver (1974), in other he may be a comical embodiment of his surroundings, like Woody Allen in virtually all of his movies, including Anny Hall (1975).
Integrative Paper on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence of the At-Risk-Youth Tara Hill Liberty Abstract At-risk youth can be at risk due to family problems. There are several factors that play a part in the roles of at-risk youth such as in the film Boyz N the Hood. Boyz N the hood is a movie about a group of friends that lived in the inner city and faced multiple factors leading to the juvenile delinquency and youth violence.
In 1985 Robert Agnew a sociologist come to an interest of studying the theory and finds a potential for the theory in explaining several causes of crime in society, but due to its limitation he developed and reformulated the theory to widen its dimension or scope. After revising the theory he come up into General strain theory of crime and builds its foundation in 1992. General strain theory argues that frustrations and anger leads someone to deviance and may result into committing a crime (Agnew, 1992). GST defines strains as negative life events and conditions which are commonly disliked by the people who experience it or negative experiences of a person in a given group (Agnew, 1992; 2001; 2006). Strain is often classified in two distinct types, the Objective Strain and the Subjective Strain.
The blacks engage in crimes as it seems to be their only source of income. Those engage in criminal activities also desire to have order in their neighborhoods. This results to formation of closer ties between the criminals and the non-criminals based on residential stability and high home ownership rates. The residents in these neighborhoods are also most likely to prevent any efforts by law enforcers to curb the existing crimes amongst them. Boys and girls in the neighborhoods, especially the street oriented, lack hopes for the future and tend to live their lives on the edge.
John Singleton’s film, Boyz N the Hood, displays the challenging upbringing of adolescents who have to live with harsh conditions around not only their home but also their surrounding town. The film compares the differences between the lifestyles of Tre Styles and his friends’, Darren and Ricky Baker. Darren and Ricky are half-brothers who are nothing alike. Singleton demonstrates the importance of male leadership in a home in the ghetto of Los Angeles by comparing the difference between the lifestyles of Tre and his friends. While many adolescents in the hood have close friendships, some form close relationships by assembling gangs and create a world of violence due to alcohol abuse, which together ultimately breeds discrimination.
Gangster Affects Community Anecdote: According to the website article written by Doyle Murphy in the New York Daily News L.A. gangsters were charged in 2002 for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a teen. In 2002, a fifteen-year-old teenage named Brenda Sierra was on her way to her school in the morning. As she was walking on the sidewalk suddenly she was snatched off by the fearsome Lott 13 gang. The next day, her body was found in the San Bernardino Mountains.
I chose to analyze one of my favorite movies, The Basketball Diaries. In this paper, I will be explaining the crime and deviance in the film, the social disorganization theory, and Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory. There is plenty of crime and deviance in this film including prostitution, underage drinking, drug use, robbery, and murder. The basketball diaries is about a 13 year-old basketball star, Jim Carroll, who is raised in New York by a single-mother. Jim is raised in a neighborhood where crime and deviance is very active and lives in a lower-class home.
In particular I believe the writer focuses more on Tre Styles and his point of view. Those that viewed this movie got to witness how racism, violence, gangs, and growing up in the hood shaped the future of all three boys. The movie starts out in the year 1984 focusing on Tre Styles and how his behavior in school forces his mom to take him to live with his father. His father has more strict rules in his home and his mother believes that he needs his dad in his life to turn him and shape him into a young mature man. Tre immediately reunites with his childhood friends Ricky and Darrin and they spend time catching up.