Critical Investigation Task #1

Straight Outta Compton: LAPD Harasses NWA Outside Their Recording Studio R Movie Clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_lKAOeZT8Y

This a scene from straight outta Compton where you see the NWA members being harassed while outside their studio. This scene/clip is a classic example of the police brutality that the band faced while 'doing absolutely nothing'. The black officer in the clip states that "Rap is not an art" this quote clearly shows the officer and society in general trying to discredit these artists from what they do. This then reinforces the stereotype that black males do nothing with their lives or waste their time however rapping and influencing many people globally is considered a huge achievement but the officer attempts to dismiss this fact. He also then continues to say "These 'rappers' of yours look like bangers (gang members)" This also raises the point that black youth are often judged on how they look. This creates many ideas of these young men, even though they are innocently eating their lunch outside the studio, their appearance has once again raised and alert to the police department claiming they are doing something wrong or misbehaving. This links to Dyer's theory of stereotypes stating the more powerful often stereotype the less powerful. This can be clearly seen in the scene where the police instinctively judged these rappers just because they hold more power in society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVFOoYpmOB8

In this scene you can see Ice Cube being arrested outside his home for nothing once again. This repetition of these artists being arrested for doing nothing highlights the racism factor of it. You can see that Ice Cube is stereotyped by the police as being another black troubled youth. The scene also then consists of Cube's parents coming out to say 'that's my son'. The police still continue to arrest him and order the parents to get off the scene very aggressively. Cube is then slammed onto the carbonate after telling the police "you ain't gotta talk to my moms like that" from then you see a close up Ice Cube against the police car as his face shows pain while the siren lights are flashing on his face. This shot is an extremely powerful one because it is able to tell many stories and give many ideas just from one shot. The shot allows the audience to empathize with Ice Cube as they see the innocence or frustration in his face due to this occurring very regularly in his everyday life as a young black man in south central LA. Ice Cube then continues to say "officer can I ask why you jacking us right now?" this shows a clear and reasonable question asked by a man that is being arrested. The officer then says "man I ain't explaining shit to you" this just reinforces the message of black youth in America being mistreated by Police. This scene shows police brutality to be very serious and strictly down to race. Ice Cube's parents are told to get out the way and his father steps on the pavement and claims he isn't moving because this is his property. The officer then steps off, this shows that officers and law enforcement usually don't try and trouble educated people due to their inability to protect and fight for themselves through the law.