1. Genre Research Urban Drama

2. Urban Drama What is “urban drama”? As a Sub-Genre, Urban Drama, has the aim of providing a realistic outlook on society, in comparison to the conventional “Drama” piece As mentioned before, society has a prominent role to play, as the protagonist, can be a reflection of where he or she originates from, almost making them a “Product of their environment”. These films, can be seen as “educational” as they seek to educate the audience on the on going's within the urban areas of major cities. They also focus on major social issues such as Race/Sexuality/Gun-Knife Crime/Inner city gangs and the violence that may dominate the lives of the main characters.

3. Where did it start? The wider Drama genre, films can be traced back to the early 20 th century. Drama films initially depended on in-depth development of realistic characters and emotional themes, which would only have educated the audience on different aspects of life, during the respective periods. Early films such as “The Grapes of Wrath”(1940) was used to show the effects of “Depression”. While “Citizen Kane” (1941) focused more on complex character relationships and emotions. As the influx of inhabitants from the country, moved to inner city states, the interest in the lives of inner city civilians inevitably grew. As time went on, the “drama’s” started to evolve into more sinister substances, as they sought to reflect the change in “street life”

4. Early Urban Dramas Do the right thing (1989)New Jack City (1991)Boyz N the Hood (1991)Juice (1992) Poetic Justice (1993)Above the Rim (1994)Menace to society (1993) Dead Presidents (1995)

5. The Birth of Urban Drama Urban Drama was undoubtedly born out of a new found fascination from within cinema about the influx of country people to inner-city states. Early urban dramas, also strived to pay more attention to the aspects involved with Urban Life. Early Urban Dramas, were predominantly based around white characters, which is evident in Midnight Cowboys (1969). Midnight Cowboys, focuses on country people trying to adjust to the “big city lights” that inner states bring. Their upbringing, can lead to them influencing not only the actions of themselves, but of those around them. This often makes theses films able to add a humour, as the “country” people, will almost certainly act and talk in a different manner to the “city” people, which may endear themselves to the audience, while the film does not stray to far from its aim of social commentary. As African American Hip Hop became a more prominent feature in society, “Hood Films” started to emerge to compensate the growing interest in African American culture.

6. Modern Urban Dramas Belly (1998) The Wood (1999) Love & Basketball (2000) Training Day (2001) Baby Boy (2001) Paid in Full (2002) KiDULTHOOD (2006) Shank (2010)

7. Modern Urban Dramas Ctd. As urban and society life in general becomes more diverse, the more it could be argued that the true meaning of modern urban drama becomes harder to identify. In society, there is a more than growing interest in Urban Dramas. As modern Urban music becomes more prominent, the more the focus in the main issues in urban dramas is often lost. This is mainly because, most black films have been mostly affiliated with “black hip hop”. However, there are still films that aim to create a social realism for the audience, in which topics are in the fore of urban society. Topics such as Racism, Oppression and Violence.

8. Themes Ideological: The most common theme within Urban Dramas, involves predominately young men, as the protagonists. The characters, often live in “the ghetto” or a run down area, in which they face obstacles in their day to day life. Obstacles that they may face include: peer pressure, violence, racism and prejudice. Relationships are explored within Urban Dramas, as is evident in films such as “KiDULTHOOD”, in which the protagonist, has a “girlfriend”, which could act as a “prize trophy” which means that the female was highly coveted within the neighbourhood. The girlfriend, could also act as an educational tool, as she may be from a different ethnic group in comparison to the protagonist, therefore educating the audience on inter-racial relationships. There is also usually a summary of what happens to the protagonists and what the conclusion to his “quest” through the piece was. Most endings show the protagonists overcoming the obstacles they once faced, or either ending up in jail or even worse, dead. This reinforces the idea of educating the audience, with more socio-realism.