“California is such a weird place.” This is my first feeling after I finished watching the film, “Wassup Rockers,” by Larry Clark.
What I was impressed utmost by his film is “the break” between ethnic groups (White, Hispanic, and Black). LA is also a ethnically mixed city like NY. However, the difference is people in LA do not know about the place and its social situation which they do not belong to. The things Hispanic kids told were completely things about in the different world for a White girl. The things Hispanic kids saw and experienced would never be the reality in “ghetto.”
Even though Beverly Hills is located within those kids’ access, they do not know and see each other at all. There is definitely some kind of wall exists between different ethnicity. It could be ethnic isolation. It could be social status isolation. It could be anything. The distinctive scenes for me are two polar opposite situational gun shot murder. One was taken place in South Central, and another was in Beverly Hills. For Hispanic Kids, they do not have any place to take a breath and play around peacefully. The death is always behind them. I felt that incessant Kids’ escaping by skateboard scenes imply that they must keep running to not to being killed.
The sense of discrimination is rooted as a standard feature into everyone in LA, even in the Police.
What is the extraordinary situation or day? It is unexpectedly near from your ordinary place. You can reach extraordinary place take two buses in LA at least.
The break between ethnic groups actually reminds me a lot of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The different varieties of the species (that is, our different races) constantly competing over a limited environment. Competition leads to selection, to propagation–not melding.
I wish humanity would progress to the stage where our mental facilities can overcome our base instincts. But when I think about the ethnic divisions as represented in the movies, it makes me wonder somewhat of our progress. How can we claim we are any better than animals?
And this is rather off-topic, I realized. But it’s true, or at least I think so. The division is so extreme, the competition turned to violence, that a couple hours’ distance can make a world of a difference. Is the breakdown of this division even possible?
By: NeNegazmatron on March 5, 2008
at 8:20 pm