SCREENING RACE ALEXANDRA MCCALLA The “hood” spaces of South Central in Los Angeles and — North Kensington in West London—known as Grove, Boyz n the Hood (1991) short for the area’s main road Ladbroke Grove—both Kidulthood (2006) experienced an influx of black migrant workers in the first half of the 20th century. The films Boyz n the Hood (1991) and Kidulthood (2006) explore the current problems of the South Central and Grove hoods respectively, while presenting the effects of the historical construction of these spaces. Both are written and directed by black men, set and shot in the areas in which they grew up, John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood (Boyz) and Noel Clarke’s Kidulthood intimately reveal the nuances of their hoods. Through analysing the two hood films’ depiction of race and space, the socio-economic effects on race relations in London and LA can be examined. The “Great Migration” in the US, out of the South from 1910-1930, due to obtainable wealth in factory jobs, caused a shift in the African American identity; black people were not simply associated with the South’s con- 4 notations of slavery. Rheid-Pharr explains, “the black American was in some ways losing her ability to name Alexandra is currently in her third year completng herself properly, distinctly. Black identity could no lon- a double major in Economics and Cinema Studies. Within cinema studies, she has a particular ger be associated with a specific region, caste, economic interest in racial representation and identity of status, erotic affinity, or biology” (5). Following the the black diaspora in the UK. She was born in Canada, but grew up mainly in London, UK, in the Depression, the structure of hood spaces—like South area where Kidhulthood (2006) is set. Her essay Central LA, the setting of Boyz—and the flight of the interrogates issues of identity in multicultural cites, some of which she herself has experienced. black middle class convey “the cityscape as a metaphor Currently, she is also taking courses in behavioural for African American experience” (Massood, “Mapping” and experimental economics, with the aim to complete a research study on media’s financial 94). Singleton conveys this experience, “while Boyz reactons to new convergent media consumpton. explores the limits placed on the residents of the hood, ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 49 its solutions actually replicate the problems that first contributed to the conditions with his food, not intently watching Doughboy. Tre does not look up and acknowledge under investigation—demonization of the black mother and the flight of the black Doughboy walking towards him until after the drug deal. Does this display Tre dis- middle classes from the inner city” (Massood, Black City 161). Migration, therefore, tancing himself from the effects of drugs on the neighbourhood to enable his escape, strongly affected African Americans’ view of their identity. or is it simply ingrained in his environment, and no longer noticeable? Either way the The UK, however, experienced a black Caribbean influx around 1950, often referred editing informs us that it is actually our gaze, not Tre’s, which drives this shot. It is to as the ‘Windrush Generation’, who were invited to work in industries like transport the viewer’s intrigue in the operation of the space as a separate entity, yet within, the to build the British economy. The immigrants settled in areas previously dominated well-known stable environment of LA. by the white working class, because the cheaper rents and space allowed the close- Doughboy’s nihilistic thought process and involvement in drug dealing are knit community to remain together. The Grove area—the setting of Kidhulthood—is purposely revealed side-by-side. Doughboy’s nihilistic chat with Tre about shooting exemplary of this pattern; this area like others has experienced other waves of immi- Ricky’s killers follows the drug deal: “Shit just goes on and on, you know. Next thing gration since, for example Moroccans. Grove’s multicultural construction in Kidhult- you know somebody might try and smoke me… Don’t matter though we all gotta go hood facilitates the examination of how race, and British Blackness, functions within a sometime huh?” Doughboy’s understanding of, and resignation to, his ceaseless nihil- London hood film and space. Understanding the differences between the Black British istic situation hints towards the psyche of the colonial subject. Nadell states, “low-end and African American experience of the socially constructed hood space elucidates retail sector of the narcotics industry, [is] invariably projected to be young African the affect of colonisation and immigration on current dialectics. Gilroy explains this American Lumpenmen and women. […] American racist capitalism, via the institu- relationship: “The communicative networks produced across the Atlantic triangle are tions of slavery and its offspring internal colonialism, created the psychological/polit- pre-colonial, and understanding their complex effects is only obscured by simplistic ical/economic/cultural oppression suffered by African Americans” (456). As Furious appeals to the unifying potency of an overarching ‘colonial discourse’. […] The his- says, “we are not the people who are flyin’ and floatin’ that shit in here […] Why? They tories of these different ‘racial’ groups, though connected, are markedly different” want us to kill ourselves.” The importance of his message is emphasized by the low (98-99). The fabrication of the cityscape, or hood, and how this is conveyed on film, angle of Furious with the billboard in the background and the shot reverse shot on the is a metaphor for the African American experience, and arguably the Black British separate groups—framing him as a teacher. The shot reverse shot changes to over the experience too. shoulder between Furious and one boy who raises the question, “what am I supposed After the Great Depression factories closed in LA, and the ludicrous concentrated to do? Fool roll up and try to smoke me. Ima shoot the muthafucker before he kill me unem-ployment that followed became accepted by inhabitants of the hood. The per- first.” Stuart Hall identifies this attitude as an overall problem with the US as opposed petual state of un-employment led to the rise of crime and drug use, a cyclical duo. to the UK, “there is a kind of “nothing ever changes, the system always wins” (Hall, Massood explains this rise, “introduced in the early to mid-1980s [crack cocaine] “Black Popular” 24). The quote suggests that internal colonisation embeds a deeper changed the urbanscape. […] Crack became a way to make a profitable living, and this complex within the psyche of the colonised. translated in to the expansion of materialism and nihilism in black youth culture” Conversely, Clarke endeavours to diversify the Black British experience. He (Black City 151). Doughboy, played by rapper Ice Cube, embodies the ramifications of therefore battles with the “issue [that] can be characterized as the critical difference unemployment and the presence of drugs. He personifies the perpetual cycle that between a monologic tendency in black film which tends to homogenize and totalize these impoverishing factors create—in and out of jail, shooting and being shot. After the black experience in Britain, and a dialogic tendency which is responsive to the Ricky dies, Doughboy goes over to talk to Tre and the audience witnesses Doughboy’s diverse and complex qualities of our black Britishness and British blackness” (Mer- illegal activity for the first time. The use of a long shot, capturing the whole casual cer 62). Clarke does this by recruiting a varied ensemble cast—different genders and exchange on the deserted street, and the quiet diegetic sound suggests the interplay races—and combines this with the use of montage, especially leading up to the suicide between the normality and perversity of the action. Initially the audience assumes that discovery. A dialogic black experience is then conveyed in this multifaceted story of this represents Tre’s gaze from his porch, but the cut back to Tre reveals him concerned one-day. For example, Jay’s identity as the only white, feasibly Moroccan, key male 50 CAMÉRA STYLO ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 51 character, is overtly called into question. In a distinctive London back street the trio provided relevance to UK films. However, unlike in American hip-hop neo-colonialist find themselves in a fight with two black males also of their social class. As Jay acci- relations influence British slang less. The influence of music in general can be related dentally bumps into one male it cuts to a closer shot, emphasising this collision. These to its vernacular, “nicknames and jargon are often healthy expressions of humour, shots signify Jay’s identity construction issues, the “labour […] of making identity [is] affection, and creativity, enabling a group or subculture to carve out a small domain a process that takes place at the point of collision of perspectives” (Munoz 6). The cam- of linguistic autonomy in defiance of authority. […] At a deeper level of analysis, the era tightly circles around the action as the man retorts, “I’m gonna buss you in your frequent use of the word nigger in the discourse of Boyz speaks to an internalization of head you fucking white pussyhole.” Gilroy’s postulations apply to the dynamics within the colonizers’ label on the part of the colonized” (Nadell 458). Comparatively, grime this scene: “the complex pluralism of Britain’s inner-urban streets demonstrates that, and Kidulthood excessively use the word “blud”, meaning brother—part of ones blood- among the poor, elaborate syncretic processes are under way. This is not simple inte- line—in Jamaican patois. This word does not possess the same strength of relationship gration, but a complex, non-linear phenomenon.