FMS 394: Lesson 11 TEENS, RACE, AND MASCULINITY IN THE 1990S
What is going on in the early 1990s (and the years leading up to that period) that shape discourses of race, youth, and masculinity? What are the patterns of representing black men that Boyz N the Hood disrupts? How does Singleton’s film “demythologize” tropes of black masculinity? What new representations does he offer? What are their strengths and limitations? GUIDING QUESTIONS
“The dramatic decline in black male life” (Dyson, 121) Black men as victims and villains Rodney King Rap Music and Resistance HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE 1990S
Long history of stereotypes Symbolic annihilation Popular film vs. other media Cooley High (1975) Cooley High (1975) REPRESENTING BLACK MEN
Coming of age in the urban ghetto Specific NOT universal experience How is manhood defined? How does one achieve it? What are the limitations of this vision of masculinity? BOYZ N THE HOOD (1991)
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