RSS 2.0
This movie has gotten so much favorable press about the redemptive message conveyed by the story of a gritty, Memphis pimp who wants to make something of his life and break into the rap star business. The tagline states Everybody gotta have a dream. Ok, but what happens when the dream is exploitive? I mean Enron executives were probably just following their dreams too. Is being a rap star who makes a ton of money with a song about beating his hos really that much more admirable than the being the pimp who actually beats them? The plot disturbed me so much I could hardly concentrate on any of the truly amazing aspects of this film.
Firstly, I do want to give props. The acting was superb. Terrance Dashon Howard gave one of the finest performances I have seen in a long time. After just seeing him in Crash as a character who is the polar opposite of DJay the drug dealing, rapper wanna-be, it’s obvious his range is extraordinary. His southern drawl was so on the money that it brought me back to a childhood in the south that I thought I didnt even remember. He sweats so much throughout the movie, you cant for one minute forget you are watching a story about to the deep-south. Taryn Manning was also outstanding. She had such intensity and in the quiet moments where she was opposite Howard she managed to look both hard edged and incredibly vulnerable.
The movie is commendable also for how accurately it captured a poverty that is rarely seen on the big screen. Memphis makes a perfect backdrop and some of the scenes are truly amazing for how well they capture the oppressing heat and the pervasive poverty. Much more than movies like 8 Mile, however, this movie doesnt exaggerate the poverty or use it for narrative drama. The dream that DJay is chasing appeals to his solidly middle class high school acquaintance and also to the white working class musician who helps create DJays product. And the dream is to make it big and make a lot of money.
DJay seems fairly frustrated with his inability to make a decent living by pimping three women. The catalyst for him to begin thinking about music is first a keyboard traded to him for drugs by an addict and then reuniting with an acquaintance from high school. One would think that when DJay sees his high school friends nice house and stable job that it would inspire him to have dreams of living a modestly successful life, in the music industry rather than on the streets hussling. But even the high school friend doesnt seem satisfied with his level of financial success. Each of the men in this movie seem bent on achieving rap star level fame.
Of course, in order to achieve such fame, DJay needs more money from his investor who is the woman whom he brings out to the streets as a prostitute. He also needs vocals help from the pregnant prostitute who has been working for him for years. None of this assistance is ever discussed with these women. It is simply expected that his position of dominator and exploiter will continue on until he is successful enough that he no longer has need for them. And the unbelievably misogynistic lyrics are simply taken for granted and any level of rap stardom DJay is likely to achieve will undoubtedly perpetuate the idea that the pimping out of poverty stricken women is an acceptable way to claw your own way out of poverty. And none of the men see any problem with that. In fact, few reviewers of this movie seem to have a problem with that.
That this movie is held up as one of human redemption sickens me. There doesnt seem to be one single redeeming quality about the idea of pursuing your personal greed at any cost to others. The Hollywood style ending that shows DJay achieving success even as he is incarcerated, gives false hope to the thousands of young men (and some women) who will all try to be rap stars and end up in jail without any such success. Wouldnt it have been such a more powerful ending if he had failed. Im thinking of Requiem For a Dream as an example. I dont mind seeing a movie that portrays reality in a disturbing manner, but lets not hold up the concept of a pimp or a misogynist rap star for that matter as positive examples of redemptive spirit. As a woman, Im frankly outraged.
marisa (44 posts)Lives happily in upstate Manhattan with a small dog and an amazing woman who weirdly doesn't watch movies very often. (I guess you can't have perfection.)
7 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
I not interested in this type of movies. I’m going to take a pass.
Comment by Donna A. — Wed July 27, 2005 @ 15:55Donna A.
I can see how being a pimp isn’t commendable. No arguments on that. His dream was to be a rapper. So everybody gotta have a dream is a great tagline. You were close, but not quite when you said Is being a rap star who makes a ton of money with a song about beating his hos really that much more admirable than the being the pimp who actually beats them? The song Whoop that Trick, which I assume youre referring to isnt about beating hos, its actually about fights that may occur when someone [male] steps out of line, i.e., Ludacriss character and his posse. In no way is he rapping about beating his girls, hes rapping about beating tricks [males who may benefit from his entrepreneurship].
Comment by Leo Procise — Thu August 11, 2005 @ 0:28That’s a creative interpretation, but when he is creating the song’s hook “Whoop that trick” … the keyboardist starts by brainstorming with the production guy off the line “beat that bitch.” What they come up with as acceptable for radio play is “Whoop that trick.”
I can’t imagine Biggie having sung about Tupac as being his “trick” and they indeed had the male rivalry you are alluding to.
I realize that DJay was made slightly sympathetic by showing him getting very angry at one of his protitutes but he doesn’t hit her he only throws her stuff out of the house.
Nonetheless, I find the whole premise, as a woman, very offensive.
Comment by marisa — Thu August 11, 2005 @ 19:52Taking offense to a movie is another issue; its made to entertain not to offend. B.I.G. and 2pac had discrepancies between them that went far beyond a pimp and his clientele. Again, they were from the East and West coasts, respectively. Instead of calling each other tricks, which may be just a Southern thing, they laid tracks down with very straight forward lyrics. From 2pac came Hit em up where he states First off, f#ck your bitch/And the click you claim/West side when we ride/Come equipped with game/You claim to be a playa/But, I f#cked your wife/We bust on Bad Boys. That stuff was far beyond tricks, pimps, and hos. Southern rappers use a whole different mindset when it comes to making music. Watch the movie, when he explains the issues that the unborn baby is going to go through later in life not knowing which trick is her father to Anthony Andersons character. Thats way off track though. Listen to the song in its entirety, or read the lyrics if you prefer, but b the end of the song you should be able to notice that lines like you get your ass beat for real, boy infers that he is talking about a male. Its not hard to interpret the song Whoop that trick, its pretty simple to listen and hear what the song is saying. Finally, pimping women is still happening, I bet someone was sold or sold themselves for money with in the past 24 hours. How can you take offense to a movie that exploits what really goes on in America; albeit unpopular and often unrecognized?
Comment by Leo — Fri August 12, 2005 @ 14:58I don’t have a problem with seeing a movie that shows the truth
about what happens in America … because i know very well that
prostitution exists. I take offense at making a heroic character out
of a man who is show to be expoiting women.
Can we imagine if in the year 2005 someone made a historically accurate movie that showed a white southerner in the 19th century making his “dream come true” while supporting himself off the labor of slaves? That reality happened, but I think most reasonable people would be outraged to see that type of character being portrayed as heroic.
Comment by marisa — Wed August 17, 2005 @ 0:06Regardlesspeople love movies. The movies that get the most criticism get rave reviews elsewhere. I loved it. Finally, to everyone out there, watch movies before you read reviews. Go see a movie because you have an interest, or dont go see a movie if you have no interest. Its really easy.
P.S. You have to be brave (synonym for heroic) if you want to survive in a bad environment. It was nice chatting with you
Comment by Leo Procise — Thu August 18, 2005 @ 22:07This was good. That was sum good acting, i thought it was real good because everybody has got to have a dream(tagline) and DJay just suddenly went from this pimp to this rapper and Shug had an amazing voice for a first time and they picked a pretty good cast. With Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning umm… The New Guy and …Shug
Comment by Sajeeda — Tue October 4, 2005 @ 12:48