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Butler’s classroom motivates Caine to reflect upon his life, but the effect of Mr. Butler, himself a father of Sharif, an ex-knucklehead and now a Muslim convert, is only a minor character. Caine can neither accept his grandfather’s religious beliefs nor respond when his grandfather poses the pivotal question, “Don’t you care whether you live or die? ” Caine’s former teacher, Mr.īutler, also attempts to intervene, suggesting that Caine get out of the hood before he gets into any more trouble. While responsibility for Caine’s welfare also falls into his grandparents’ hands and home, their attempts (especially his grandfather’s) to set him straight are disregarded. Introduced in flashback when he murders a man in front of his young son in their home, Caine’s father initiates his son into a life of crime.Īfter his death, Caine’s father figure becomes Pernell, and serves as Caine’s criminal mentor and surrogate father until a life term in prison limits his daily influence. Menace II Society also strives, with varying degrees of success, to break from traditional and generic depictions of violence. In this narration, Caine repeatedly questions his actions and seemingly makes a decision, only to oppose that decision through his actions that follow, without offering any explanation. This is Caine’s story, made literal through the film’s use of voice-over narration to convey his point of view. Menace II Society is a coming of age film detailing the summer after its protagonist, Caine, graduates from high school. The directors use these clips from the Watts riots to stimulate the audience and to make them think more deeply about not only the scenes and occurrences of the film, but of all films and all instances relating to colonization and the oppression of the African American race as a whole. The Watts riots are extremely important in this film and are shown to illustrate and symbolize the oppression of the African American race, which was taken to an extreme during the Civil Rights Movement of this era. The riots lasted for six days, leaving 34 dead, over a thousand people injured, nearly 4,000 arrested, and hundreds of buildings destroyed. On August 11, 1965, a routine traffic stop in South Central Los Angeles provided the spark that lit the fire of those incensed feelings. This, and other acts, created a feeling of injustice and despair in the inner cities. California reacted with Proposition 14, which moved to block the fair housing components of the Civil Rights Act. But the states acted quickly to circumvent the new federal law. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act, a new age in race relations appeared to begin. The next scenes are of the Watts riots in 1965. While it builds tension and a false sense of foreboding, nothing comes of it the video never connects directly to the film’s later events. While an innovative means of conveying action, the video becomes nothing more than a diversion. Thus, while the robbery introduces violence, O-Dog’s shooting of the Korean market owner is shown directly only further into the story, when black and white images of the store’s stolen surveillance video are played and replayed for the entertainment of Caine, O-Dog, and their friends. ” Although most of the violence is filmed realistically and unfolds in real time, the Hughes can’t seem to resist stylizing some of the more important narrative events.
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“In this instance, the film succeeds in painting a disturbing picture of violence, one in which the characters’ lack of remorse, rather than stylistic convention, shapes and colors the horror of the image. From the very first scene, detailing Caine and O-Dog’s fatal armed robbery of a Korean market, violence is cruelly graphic. Two short films established the twins’ reputation as innovative filmmakers and allowed them to direct Menace II Society (1993), which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and grossed nearly 10 times as much as its $3 million budget.Īfter following up with Dead Presidents (1995) they directed the feature-length documentary American Pimp (1999). After high school, Albert began taking classes at the Los Angeles Community College Film School. Their next work, Uncensored Videos, was broadcast on cable, introducing them to a wider audience.
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They soon made a short film entitled How To Be A Burglar and people began to take notice.