All Eyes on Me
The perspective about law and order association with African American delinquency is a discourse that has transcended generations. In particular, African American culture is associated with increased defiance that plague the community. Precisely, it transcends from racial relations, youth counterculture, family life, and gender as well as open rebellion (Watkins, 1998). The Movie, All Eyes on Me is a clear depiction of this racial disparity in the American culture.
About the article written by Watkins (1998), the African American culture is renowned for increased delinquency, especially among the youth. In the movie, All Eyes on Me, the audience is introduced to Tupac Shakur. The documentary tries to explain the death of the famous singer in the 1990s and what may have transpired. In detail, it is evident that the young man, a teenager, was characterized as a man full of violence and rage. For instance, as the movie begins, the audience is introduced to Tupac Shakur, who is in jail at the Clinton Correctional Facility in 1995. Consequently, the number of times that Tupac goes back to prison is more than five on different charges. He, at one point, is imprisoned for illegally touching a woman after he was acquitted of the allegations of rape against Briana. There are other instances where Tupac’s mother, Afeni, and his father, Mukulu, are jailed for defying the law. The consistency of emphasis on the delinquency factor in the African American culture is exposed throughout the movie. As such, it reiterates that background characterization of the hip hop culture and the community regarding violence and disregard for the law.
Another factor that characterizes the African American community is the aspect of broken homes. Since time immemorial, the American conception about African American individuals is that there is a lack of a proper element of family unity and cohesion (Pough, 2015). According to the movie, All Eyes on Me, it is evident that Tupac’s family is disoriented and lacks a proper cohesive factor that unites them. At one point, the audience is shown the dysfunctionality in the family. Tupac and his sister opt to relocate to another apartment away from the mother (All Eyez on Me (2017) – IMDb). His mother, Tupac’s mother, decides to indulge in street drugs to contain the depression she hides.
Crime is an issue that is rampant among the African American community. According to Watkin, the prevalence of crime transcends from parents to gender to youth. There are numerous reasons for crime rates in African American societies (Washington, 2018). The hip-Hop culture emphasizes poverty, social disadvantage ad pitfalls inherent to adolescent decision making (Pough, 2015). In the movie, All Eyes on Me, Tupac releases a song known as Brenda’s Got a Baby. The song talks about reality in the community regarding poverty, wrong decisions, and crime. The aspect of crime is also shown through Tupac, where, alongside his friends, he decided to take on mischief. He is documented taking on mob justice on a few characters, including a man they thought to have stolen his necklace.
A profound factor that is considered in the African American community is feminism. According to Watkins (1998), the clear conception about feminism in the African American community is the disparity in perception about the role of women. In Tupac’s eyes, for instance, he saw women as unworthy. It is a common conception in the African American community where black women are perceived of lower value (Emerson, 2002). For instance, he sings about Brenda’s Got a Baby, which was riddled with misogynistic comments. Similarly, he begins spreading rumors about Quincy Jones on his appetite for white women. In his view, when African American men become wealthy, they do not perceive their counterpart women as worthy of them. In other words, the ideology of African American women is degrading, saying the least.
Finally, the preconception is that African American culture and the perception of it is based on the ideologies presented in the media (Jenkins, 2011). As seen in All Eyes on Me, the depiction of the society is about violence and crime, low-end and poor neighborhoods. It has been the norm in the media to portray the community as poor, crim-prone, and delinquent. It has been the norm in society for a very long time, as seen in other hip-hop movies. Ideally, it emphasizes the culture of hip hop and the violence that surrounds the culture.
In summary, the ideologies of African American culture are often too emphasized in movies. The perception that documentary filmmaker, Hill Harper displays shows the hip hop culture mentality in the American viewpoint. As observed throughout the paper, the concept of African American ideology on family, crime, delinquency, and misogyny have been consistent. Therefore, the conclusion is that African American culture is characterized by increased traditional concepts of crime, delinquency, and family distortion.
References
All Eyez on Me (2017) – IMDb. www.imdb.com, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1666185/plotsummary. Accessed 11 May 2020.
Emerson, R. A. (2002). “Where my girls at?” Negotiating black womanhood in music videos. Gender & Society, 16(1), 115-135.
Jenkins, T. S. (2011). A beautiful mind: Black male intellectual identity and hip-hop culture. Journal of Black Studies, 42(8), 1231-1251.
Pough, G. D. (2015). Check it while I wreck it: Black womanhood, hip-hop culture, and the public sphere. Northeastern University Press.
Watkins, S. C. (1998). Representing: Hip hop culture and the production of black cinema. University of Chicago Press.
Washington, A. R. (2018). Integrating hip‐hop culture and rap music into social justice counseling with Black males. Journal of Counseling & Development, 96(1), 97-105.