Undeserving, Underserved, or the Most Deserving? In White Men Can't Jump, Ron Shelton uses the streetball scene in a poor LA neighborhood to examine the friendship of Billy Hoyle and Sidney Deane. Examining the ways in which the two financially struggling protagonists treat each other, Shelton challenges the viewer to reflect on whether to value the cutthroat “smoke or be smoked” mentality or prioritize one's honor above all else. The former characterizes most of their actions in the first half of the movie, while the latter is a way of thinking they adopt only by the end. This change results in their development of a true “bromance.” In the competitive, egocentric environment of the LA streetball courts, Shelton glorifies the transition …show more content…
Everyone is expected to know The Code for their own safety, so regardless of a resident's judgment of it, their children must know about it. Due to its accessibility and pervasiveness, it is considered to be fair. In an environment where people feel oppressed by forces out of their control, respect is a sensitive matter. The Code, heavily influenced by lack of police accountability, rewards those believed capable of taking care of themselves, people whose entire being—facial expressions, gait, verbal expressions, clothing, jewelry—“deters transgressions.”1 The status of jewelry within The Code stems not just from the fact that it represents wealth, but from the willingness to show off something worth defending, as if wearing jewelry is, by definition, a challenge to the status of others. Given that the idea of respect and manhood are predicated on one's ability to dominate socially, the system is inherently aggressive.2 The Code values impulse and honor over deliberate, rational thinking, as shown blatantly by the song “Still Fly” by Big Tymers, in which Big Tymers show no regard for their lack of jobs …show more content…
Poverty is certainly present in the movies' portrayal of LA. In a scene where Sidney is debating whether or not to purchase a new house, there are children in the background jumping rope and singing a disturbing nursery rhyme: “Mommas in the kitchen cooking rock, daddies outside shooting the dice.” It is this level of poverty where parents are desperate enough to turn to drugs and gambling that causes a fragility of respect, mentioned prior as a reason The Code takes on so much power. On the courts, all it takes is Player 1 to deliver the slightest insult to the opposing Player 2 for Player 2's respect to be in jeopardy. As a result, the two often end up face to face trading “Yo Mama” jokes. While the outrageousness of their jokes presents the interaction as comedic (“Yo mama so poor I seen her kicking a can down the road. I said: 'what you doing?' She said: 'moving.'”), a larger, more serious issue is being depicted where the smallest perceived confrontation can quickly escalate into a serious conflict. All it takes to invoke the reaction in the picture shown to the right is Sidney simply muttering a “Yo Mama” joke. In accordance with The Code, demonstrating one's ability to take care of oneself on the basketball courts is essential to being able to function within the
Social mobility is within the grasp of each person so long as they earnestly invest themselves. There exists, however, a dissonance between the achievement ideology and reality as discussed in Jay Macleod’s Ain’t No Makin’ It. In his book, Macleod perfors a longitudinal study over a group of young black men, the Brothers, living in the projects of Clarendon Heights and reveals the insidious social factors that
The year 1969 was a year full of extreme racial tension. Race riots had already started, protests were in full swing, and racism was very front and center. Set around this time, in the play “No Saco Nada De La Escuela” by Luis Valdez, there are a group of six kids named Francisco, Moctezuma (Monty), Malcolm, Florence, Abraham, and Esperanza (Hopi), who go to school together, and each experience racism in their own way. Luis Valdez’s “No Saco Nada De La Escuela” highlights different aspects of racism through experiences in the lives of several students as they progress through elementary school, high school, and college.
This week we were assigned to read to different articles. The first article was written by Peggy McIntosh titled, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. Throughout the article, Peggy showed the readers what it means to have white privilege. She showed the readers 50 different types of “advantages” that whites get over other races, such as African Americans. This is the biggest theme throughout her entire piece.
The first literary device that enhances the theme of wealth/ poverty is imagery. Eddie, Gabriel and the many other characters live in a neighborhood that’s descripted to be very dangerous and fortuneless, which appeals to your physical senses. Lopez stated, “The cops and prosecutors had a name for this part of town, which took in areas of Kensington and North Philadelphia and was good for several shootings a night and a drug trade that rivaled the gross national product of a dozen small nations. They called it the Badlands.”
Of course, only Flick is able to imagine them as such, which tells how much Flick is rivetted in the past. Thus, the variety of uses of figurative language show the reader what is going on in Flick’s mind, and the reader sees that Flick is eluding into fantasies about former victories. Updike depicts Former athlete to the current gas station attendant, allowing the reader to sympathize with Flick’s partiality for reminiscing. Updike employs a number of words regularly linked with sports to imply the former athlete’s skill. Words such as “runs,” “bends,” “stops” and “cut off” (Updike) are strong action words often used to express actions in basketball.
In the reading “The logic of stupid poor people” by Tressie McMillan Cottom, Ms.Cottom speaks on her childhood experiences and explains to us the logic of why poor people buy expensive apparel when they can’t afford to pay for it later, or just done need it. She named the story “The logic of stupid poor people” because she wanted to emphasize, explaining this in her own words “one thing I’ve learned is that one person’s illogical belief is another person’s survival skill”. The stories main focus is on how society judges you by how you talk, dress and how much what you wear is worth. She further explains that these status symbols help you pass the “gatekeepers” which could mean the difference between working for minimum wage or having better
Black and White, a novel written by Paul Volponi, tells the story of two teenagers by the name of Marcus and Eddie. Marcus, who is black, lives on the rough side of town, while Eddie, who is white, lives on the nice side of town. Despite their differences in looks and social class, the two quickly become the best of friends. The two are inseparable, they share love for basketball and are teammates on the high school squad. Their brotherly bond has earned them the nicknames, Black And White.
As an eighth grader, Tamika Catchings would always go watch her sister’s practice with her high school varsity basketball team and as she would watch, she would literally itch to get out there and play and she looked forward to playing in another year because if she was an even match to her sister in the driveway, she could imagine herself fitting in against juniors and seniors without any problem. Tamika and her sister Tauj were super close but while playing on the varsity basketball team together, there were some rough patches like sadness, distance, frustration, and jealousy. So, after Tamika made the varsity basketball team, they called her and tauj “the Catching Sisters”. Tamika and her sister were doing very special things together
Imagine someone going up an escalator while everyone else is going down. Or, better yet, imagine trying to pull a door toward you while someone else is pushing it outward. These kind of scenarios are similar to the posture that Jackie Robinson finds himself in the 2013 film 42, by Brian Helgeland. 42 is about the racial integration of American professional baseball player Jackie Robinson. The movie has many sociological concepts.
It is made very apparent that that the main characters are every bit as obsessed with “things” as they are with celebrities, and there is absolutely an important connection there. The teens associate worth and meaning with materialism, the “Bling Ring” celebrates the idea
Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.
A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities (Hero). A Villain is a person who has evil actions or motives to harm people (Villain). In my opinion, a hero is usually the person in the story that everyone likes or looks to for help and the villain is the misunderstood or worst person in a situation. As humans we can be portrayed as a hero or villain when diverse situations occur. In August Wilson’s play, “Fences” Troy Maxson’s past, present and future caused significant traits of being called a hero and a villain in segments throughout the play.
According to Price, Price, and McKenry (2010) the intragroup diversity among African Americans is growing, in that there are more African Americans among the middle and upper class now than ever before in United States history. This change in socioeconomic status has had a major impact for many African Americans, in which the increasing diversity has created significant social and economic tensions within their ethnic community (Price et al., 2010). Jumping the Broom has illustrated this recent phenomenon by showing viewers just how much the changing socioeconomic status can impact family relationships and the family system. The stressors associated with division of class between the Taylor and Watson families are particularly salient throughout the duration of the film. Viewers are shown many of these correlated stressors, and how they can cause major ramifications in the lives of today’s
He played well and made the game winning three-pointer—is first one all season. At the game, Andy noticed that Rob’s parents were there, but Andy’s parents weren’t. In the conversation with the psychiatrist Andy said that his parents never come to any games, but Rob parents had come to every game. He is offended by his parents not coming to games, but he is afraid to admit it. When talking about his younger brother, he said, “My parents are no help—they don’t even know there is a problem, let alone how to solve it.”
If you stop by the basketball court on Fridays in my neighborhood, you see many kids wearing various team jerseys, shooting hoops. You would see Adam playing basketball in an orange jersey with the number 16 printed in black on the back. He is there every day after school and basketball is all he talks about. The number 16 on his jersey is his lucky number; his dad got it made for him as a birthday gift, and ever since then, he always wears it while playing. Aside from Adam and the other players on the court, two girls sit amongst a group of friends shuffling cards and laughing at almost everything, while trying to entertain everyone around them.